Bleu Mercure Esport, Risi Competizione win IMSA Esports opener at Road Atlanta

The 2026 IMSA Esports Global Championship began on Sunday with two hours and 40 minutes of racing at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Bleu Mercure Esport's No. 31 Acura, driven by Atte Kauppinen and Alx Spetz, secured the GTP class victory and overall honours, holding off a late charge from the No. 8 Grid-and-Go.com eSports Valkyrie piloted by Jake Denehan and Sean Campbell. In the GTD class, Risi Competizione by GnG's No. 107 Ferrari, crewed by Nicolas Mateo and Daniel Pásztor, prevailed over the No. 161 VØRAX Mercedes-AMG of Beckham Jacir and Manuel Troncoso.

Neither winning team dominated the event from the outset. The race began on a wet track following rain during qualifying, forcing teams to make critical tire strategy decisions. Most competitors opted for wet-weather rubber, but the No. 107 Ferrari took an unconventional approach, starting on dry tires despite the damp conditions. As the track dried throughout the race, this gamble paid dividends. Mateo, who started ahead on the grid, found himself 50 seconds behind the leader in the opening laps as competitors on wet tires closed in. "It was quite hard to manage the situation," Mateo reflected post-race. "They had to avoid me because I was 15 seconds slower. After a few laps, I thought the race was over… Suddenly, we started to gain time, and the strategy was perfect." Pásztor took over from second position and executed an overcut on the No. 161 to secure the lead and ultimately the win. "It just feels surreal to me," Pásztor said. "I didn't believe that we would have any chance after seeing what we were doing on the dry tires in the first stint."

The GTP battle unfolded differently. The No. 92 Vesta Sport Porsche claimed pole position in qualifying with Niklas Beu at the wheel, while the No. 33 Verstappen Sim Racing BMW led early after the tire changes began. However, the wet-to-dry transition proved treacherous for many competitors. The No. 91 Porsche Coanda entry crashed on lap 16 with Dayne Warren driving, and the defending champion No. 1 BMW M Verstappen Sim Racing team also encountered trouble. By lap 25, the No. 89 BMW M Team BS+COMPETITION spun out as well.

The No. 31 Acura climbed through the field and took the lead as the track continued to dry. Spetz managed the opening stint, handing over to Kauppinen for the final stint. "The last few laps was complete chaos," Kauppinen said. "I just tried to survive. When they got within 2.5 seconds, I knew, one time, if I get stuck downhill, it's going to be close with them. In the end, it was really nervous." The No. 8 Valkyrie closed to within one second by the final lap, but Kauppinen held firm through heavy traffic to secure the victory by 1.124 seconds.

Bleu Mercure Esport's success extended beyond the championship race. The team swept the weekend at Road Atlanta, having won the iRacing Petit Le Mans the day prior—a 10-hour endurance event in the same machinery at the same circuit. The No. 33 Verstappen Sim Racing BMW finished third in the GTP standings, while the No. 114 EMM Esports Chevrolet rounded out the GTD podium in third place.

The championship standings after round one show Bleu Mercure Esport's No. 31 leading the GTP field with 382 points, ahead of Grid-and-Go.com eSports' No. 8 on 345 points and Verstappen Sim Racing's No. 33 on 323 points. In GTD, Risi Competizione by GnG's No. 107 tops the standings with 374 points.