History made as Pahkala wins $1 Million eRace

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Mahindra’s Olli Pahkala has won the biggest ever simulation race in the history of eSports, scooping a $210,000 prize as a result in association with the FIA Formula E Championship.

Despite a few technical glitches meaning a delayed start and a shortened race distance, the simulation race in Vegas was full of action from lights out till the virtual chequered flag was waved. Originally planned to be a 28 lap race, the 20 laps meant the 20 drivers that qualified for the eRace waited impatiently for the event to begin. With just seconds to go until the eRace got the go ahead, Lucas di Grassi from the ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport Team was told he was unable to race due to a broken sim. Once the event got underway Bono Huis, the sim racer that took pole position, held his first place with professional racer Felix Rosenqvist remaining in second place behind him just as they qualified. Five laps into the race Huis had a comfortable four second lead.

Later in the race and after plenty of overtaking, the Fanboost votes were announced with DS Virgin’s Jose Maria Lopez winning a boost, in addition to sim-racers David Greco of Renault e.dams and Olli Pahkala from Mahindra. However one of the biggest moments of the race came in lap ten when three of the most promising sim racers became involved in a monumental crash. Going three-wide into turn one, Britain Graham Carroll was taken out by the virtual cars of Greco and Aleksi Uusi-Jaakkola. Uusi was able to pit and went back out on to the track, however the other two racers suffered nasty damage and never made it back in to the top ten – seriously unfortunate for Graham Carroll who was just a spectator in the accident.

After all the carnage on track, Lopez battled his way up to third with the help of his fanboost and talents behind the wheel. With Huis and Rosenqvist still leading the race in 1-2, the two drivers pitted for their mandatory pit stop car change. Both cars had quick times but when the Faraday Future Dragon Racing car of Huis and the Mahindra of Rosenqvist emerged back on track they were surprised to see that of Olli Pahkala leading the race with a comfortable lead. This is the result that the race finished on, meaning the Finn had won the $200,000 prize pot, with an additional $10,000 for setting the fastest lap, amazing both media and fans worldwide. Huis finished the race in second with Rosenqvist in third place.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Following a post-race investigation into the legality of Pahkala’s FanBoost usage, the Finn was stripped of his win with Huis taking the honours. Pahkala also lost his fastest lap award to David Greco.

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Images courtesy of Rajan Jangda

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