Rookie Otis Lawrence wins spectacular dash to the line for victory in Round 4 of F1 Sim Racing World Championship

Otis Lawrence beat Jarno Opmeer to the line in a thrilling conclusion to the fourth round of the 2025 F1 Sim Racing World Championship on Thursday night – the action taking place virtually at Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

Welshman Lawrence, representing the Aston Martin Aramco F1 Esports Team, started the 25-lap race second, behind pole-sitting Williams Esports rival Ismael Fahssi, with the pair swapping positions on a couple of occasions in the early exchanges.

After the round of stops, Lawrence held the lead from Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports Team’s Jake Benham and Daniel Bereznay, who had made early tyre swaps, but drama ensued when the latter and KICK F1 Sim Racing Team’s Thomas Ronhaar banged wheels with five laps to go.

Along with Bereznay, Alpine Sim Racing Team’s Josh Idowu and Joni Tormala, Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing’s Frederik Rasmussen and Aston Martin’s Fabrizio Donoso were eliminated from the action, as attention returned to the fight at the front and who would emerge victorious.

Opmeer picked off Benham and then Lawrence in the closing laps, initially looking set to take the chequered flag first, but a brilliant lunge around the outside of the final corner on the final tour set the Aston Martin man up to snatch victory from his Red Bull rival.

Benham held onto the final podium spot for Mercedes, following team mate Bereznay’s dramatic exit, while Ronhaar was given a five-second time penalty post-race due to “rough driving” – a sanction that dropped him from fifth to ninth in the classification.