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June 14, 2025
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Ross McIntyre gives us a full breakdown of the Superlights season so far as we head into Tuesday's race at Canada.
What is Superlights?
Superlights always offers a fascinating dynamic, no matter what year. It provides top level racing with top level drivers, but always looming over the action is the knowledge that everyone is aiming for the same thing - a spot up in Superleague. Strong performances here show you have what it takes to compete with the very best in sim racing, and the entirety of the GPVWC virtual paddock keeps a close watch, not just for the excitement and entertainment, but to see who the next superstar to make their way into the big time might be.
Cast your mind back to pre-season 2024, and the ridicule that went the way of the reigning champions Road2Formula after they announced that Alex Lehoux would take a seat for the campaign - at the time, a promising but inconsistent driver who began his career Roblox racing (of all things), and who had a tendency to meet the barriers more often than not. Come season end, and the Frenchman stood tall as a dominant champion. It is moments, stories like this that makes Superlights so special - you never know what is going to happen every time you get ready for a Tuesday night. And this year is no different.
The 2025 Season
So far in 2025, we have had 4 different winners across 6 races; and those 4 names are ones that no one would have expected coming into this year, Satherly, Meschede, Soriano, Murno.
Rouven Meschede is the outlier of the race winners so far, in that he has a fair degree of GPVWC experience. The current championship leader has spent time up in Superleague, with a best finish of 5th at the opening Australian round of 2025, alongside race wins in FS1 and FS2, with a vice championship in the latter. The German is not the most experienced driver within the paddock, but one who is well known, and one who will guarantee results - no wonder that Optiminal Esports chanced their hand and offered him a seat heading into round 2. Somehow, an agreement was reached, and now he sits pretty at the top of the table, only finishing off the podium being in Bahrain, his first Superlights race of the year. A shrewd move by the Dutch team, undoubtedly, but one that has paid dividends, with 2 race wins and 2 podiums in 5 races, it's been a statement start so far.
Jose Soriano undoubtedly has more of the bombshell factor, coming into 2025 as a total newcomer to GPVWC, but with strong connections to members of the Netrex team. Having proved his worth in other series, he was snapped up heading into this season, but despite Superleague race winner and SL2 commentator Carlos Martin's best efforts (as he proclaimed the new dominant force of the series had arrived from the rooftops), everything was kept low-key, as the team wanted their new superstar to be a surprise. And a surprise he was, the Spaniard immediately picking up a podium followed by 2 wins in the opening 3 rounds of the season. If GPVWC didn't know his name before, they certainly did now. The hype train would derail afterwards however, as 2 cruel disconnects early into both rounds 4 and 5 would halt any momentum, and break Soriano's heart, momentarily threatening to quit the season as his frustration bubbled over. However, he is still positive about the year as a whole so far - when asked, he says that he was not expecting to be this competitive out of the gate, and while there has been some frustrating moment's (the disconnects), he is excited to see how it all unfolds - to quote him directly, 'The best is yet to come.'
Tom Satherly also caused quite a shock when he rocked up and won first time out in Australian for the new-to-GPVWC but still experienced elsewhere Brehm GP squad. Satherly's record going into 2025 include roughly half a season in FS1 last year, where he picked up a race win but also more DNFs than finishes, and 3 rounds in Superleague in 2020, with a best finish of 17th - in all honestly, not the best-looking CV we've seen. The Kiwi would take a very nice win in the opening round of the season however, but it has been up and down, and also quiet, since then - a DNF in round 2, and a 7th place finish in Saudi Arabia are the only other races he has entered so far this season, and it remains to be seen if we can expect more of Satherly, and more race wins, or if he is done and dusted already.
Lucas Murno, our most recent winner in Superlights, was yet again a huge surprise and another relative unknown within GPVWC. He had only entered the prior 2 rounds of Japan and Saudi Arabia in both Formula Sprint 2 and 1 before making his SL2 debut in Spain, with some impressive performances but not much to show for it in terms of results. Fusion Racing clearly liked what they saw however, and picked up the Brazilian after only 4 GPVWC starts for the Spanish round to stand in for Remco De Zeeuw. After a magical 4th place, Remco was more than happy to announce that Murno would be taking his seat for the foreseeable future, and 2 weeks later at Indianapolis, Fusion would have their first GPVWC win since 2019. Murno has been loving the whirlwind life he has had since his GPVWC career truly kicked off - similar to Soriano, he's surprised the win came so quickly in SL2, but he's determined to 'Keep this form and show (he) can be competitive enough.' Let's see what the future has in store for him and Fusion.
Conclusion
It has been yet another interesting year so far in Superlights, and you can join us for all of the action on Tuesday nights, to witness some of the most exciting racing you'll find in any sim. Next up is Silverstone - the home of the British Grand Prix. Will we have a home winner?
By Ross McIntyre; only posted by Toby Davis
Superlights always offers a fascinating dynamic, no matter what year. It provides top level racing with top level drivers, but always looming over the action is the knowledge that everyone is aiming for the same thing - a spot up in Superleague. Strong performances here show you have what it takes to compete with the very best in sim racing, and the entirety of the GPVWC virtual paddock keeps a close watch, not just for the excitement and entertainment, but to see who the next superstar to make their way into the big time might be.
Cast your mind back to pre-season 2024, and the ridicule that went the way of the reigning champions Road2Formula after they announced that Alex Lehoux would take a seat for the campaign - at the time, a promising but inconsistent driver who began his career Roblox racing (of all things), and who had a tendency to meet the barriers more often than not. Come season end, and the Frenchman stood tall as a dominant champion. It is moments, stories like this that makes Superlights so special - you never know what is going to happen every time you get ready for a Tuesday night. And this year is no different.
The 2025 Season
So far in 2025, we have had 4 different winners across 6 races; and those 4 names are ones that no one would have expected coming into this year, Satherly, Meschede, Soriano, Murno.
Rouven Meschede is the outlier of the race winners so far, in that he has a fair degree of GPVWC experience. The current championship leader has spent time up in Superleague, with a best finish of 5th at the opening Australian round of 2025, alongside race wins in FS1 and FS2, with a vice championship in the latter. The German is not the most experienced driver within the paddock, but one who is well known, and one who will guarantee results - no wonder that Optiminal Esports chanced their hand and offered him a seat heading into round 2. Somehow, an agreement was reached, and now he sits pretty at the top of the table, only finishing off the podium being in Bahrain, his first Superlights race of the year. A shrewd move by the Dutch team, undoubtedly, but one that has paid dividends, with 2 race wins and 2 podiums in 5 races, it's been a statement start so far.
Jose Soriano undoubtedly has more of the bombshell factor, coming into 2025 as a total newcomer to GPVWC, but with strong connections to members of the Netrex team. Having proved his worth in other series, he was snapped up heading into this season, but despite Superleague race winner and SL2 commentator Carlos Martin's best efforts (as he proclaimed the new dominant force of the series had arrived from the rooftops), everything was kept low-key, as the team wanted their new superstar to be a surprise. And a surprise he was, the Spaniard immediately picking up a podium followed by 2 wins in the opening 3 rounds of the season. If GPVWC didn't know his name before, they certainly did now. The hype train would derail afterwards however, as 2 cruel disconnects early into both rounds 4 and 5 would halt any momentum, and break Soriano's heart, momentarily threatening to quit the season as his frustration bubbled over. However, he is still positive about the year as a whole so far - when asked, he says that he was not expecting to be this competitive out of the gate, and while there has been some frustrating moment's (the disconnects), he is excited to see how it all unfolds - to quote him directly, 'The best is yet to come.'
Tom Satherly also caused quite a shock when he rocked up and won first time out in Australian for the new-to-GPVWC but still experienced elsewhere Brehm GP squad. Satherly's record going into 2025 include roughly half a season in FS1 last year, where he picked up a race win but also more DNFs than finishes, and 3 rounds in Superleague in 2020, with a best finish of 17th - in all honestly, not the best-looking CV we've seen. The Kiwi would take a very nice win in the opening round of the season however, but it has been up and down, and also quiet, since then - a DNF in round 2, and a 7th place finish in Saudi Arabia are the only other races he has entered so far this season, and it remains to be seen if we can expect more of Satherly, and more race wins, or if he is done and dusted already.
Lucas Murno, our most recent winner in Superlights, was yet again a huge surprise and another relative unknown within GPVWC. He had only entered the prior 2 rounds of Japan and Saudi Arabia in both Formula Sprint 2 and 1 before making his SL2 debut in Spain, with some impressive performances but not much to show for it in terms of results. Fusion Racing clearly liked what they saw however, and picked up the Brazilian after only 4 GPVWC starts for the Spanish round to stand in for Remco De Zeeuw. After a magical 4th place, Remco was more than happy to announce that Murno would be taking his seat for the foreseeable future, and 2 weeks later at Indianapolis, Fusion would have their first GPVWC win since 2019. Murno has been loving the whirlwind life he has had since his GPVWC career truly kicked off - similar to Soriano, he's surprised the win came so quickly in SL2, but he's determined to 'Keep this form and show (he) can be competitive enough.' Let's see what the future has in store for him and Fusion.
Conclusion
It has been yet another interesting year so far in Superlights, and you can join us for all of the action on Tuesday nights, to witness some of the most exciting racing you'll find in any sim. Next up is Silverstone - the home of the British Grand Prix. Will we have a home winner?
By Ross McIntyre; only posted by Toby Davis
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