‘Lewis and Toto’ cause ‘technical issues’ for Max

Michelle Foster
Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen PA

Max Verstappen had to settle for fifth place in the iRacing 24 Hours of Spa, after “Lewis and Toto” caused a few technical issues during the race.

The Dutchman joined his Team Redline team-mates, Jeff Giassi and Gianni Vecchio, racing a Porsche in this past weekend’s 24 Hours of Spa sim race.

 

The sim race was Verstappen’s first ‘race’ since his huge British Grand Prix crash but while the Dutchman was left bruised and battered from that, his sense of humour didn’t suffer.

“I’m having some technical issues here, the cats are running through the sim,” Verstappen told his team-mates during the race.

Following a few choice words in his attempt to get the cats to leave, he added: “I hope the cat doesn’t jump behind my brake pedal because it will become a pancake.”

Asked what are the names of his cats, he replied: “Jimmy and Sassy” before adding that “Lewis and Toto” may be more appropriate these days.

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The BMW Team Redline Red entry of Maximilian Benecke, Patrik Holzmann and Jonas Wallmeier took the win by 29 seconds.

Verstappen’s team was fifth after internet problems for Giassi meant the team dropped down the order when their car was sent back to the pits as the Brazilian lost his connection.

Verstappen was quick to take over from his team-mate, but the unfortunate technical issue meant they were out of sync in the pit stops and had to put in a late quick stop to see the finish line.

They crossed the line P5.

The sim race was Verstappen’s fourth iRacing appearance of the year with the Red Bull driver having won the Bathurst 12 Hour and Nurburgring 24 Hours.

He did not see the chequered flag at the iRacing 24 Hours of Daytona, retiring due to car damage.