Fisher Takes Silverstone Glory in Nations Cup Thriller as Gunthensinter Stuns with Last-Lap Overhaul 

Silverstone played host to the prestigious F1 Esports Nations Cup, and with double points on the line, the stage was set for a race that could shift the course of the championship. In one of the most dramatic showdowns of the season, Matthew Fisher claimed a statement victory in front of his home crowd—while Sebastian Gunthensinter executed a sensational final-lap overtake to finish second.

Qualifying: A Historic Margin

Jos Van Hallen narrowly secured pole by a mere 0.009 seconds over Fisher—marking the tightest qualifying gap seen in F1 Esports in the last decade. Behind them, Shane Murphy lined up third, Bono Huis fourth, Alain Dupont fifth, and Jeremy Hawkings sixth, just ahead of Gunthensinter in seventh.

Lights Out: Chaos and Precision

At the start, Van Hallen struggled for grip, while Fisher launched superbly to take the lead into Turn 1. Murphy followed him into second with an equally sharp start in the McLaren. Down the Wellington Straight, Murphy used the slipstream to challenge for the lead at Brooklands, passing Fisher—who responded moments later with a daring move into Stowe. The duo then went side by side through Maggotts, with Fisher eventually reclaiming the lead into Becketts.

The opening laps were electric. Between laps 1 and 6, Fisher and Murphy swapped the lead an astonishing 26 times, treating fans to one of the most intense duels of the year.

Pit Stop Shake-up

Fisher was the first to pit, but a slow stop and traffic cost him dearly. Murphy faced similar delays. Their misfortune handed the net race lead to Van Hallen, who now headed Huis, with Fisher rejoining just behind. As the rest of the field filtered through the pits, Murphy briefly cycled into the lead before Fisher struck back.

On lap 9, Fisher launched a stunning double overtake into Brooklands, diving past Huis and Murphy in one sweeping move to retake control of the race. But drama followed immediately at Maggots , where Fisher and Murphy made contact. Both escaped serious damage, but Fisher’s radio message was clear:

“Two weeks now, and he’s hit me twice. He needs to be investigated. He was never ahead, and everyone knows that’s a high kerb on the entry—you’d never go for it from there.”

Fisher’s Response, Gunthensinter’s Heroics

Spurred on by frustration, Fisher pulled away in dominant fashion, eventually crossing the line with a three-second lead. Behind him, Murphy fought tooth and nail to hold second place—but on the penultimate lap, Gunthensinter delivered the shock of the race, pulling off a double overtake to snatch second, charging from a mid-grid start to finish just behind his teammate.

Meanwhile, further drama struck as Bono Huis was disqualified post-race for a breach of the sporting regulations related to software usage—an unexpected twist that shook up the final standings.

Post-Race: Managing the Margins

Speaking after the race, Fisher called the battle “tricky,” adding:

“With the fighting going on, it was really hard to manage the pace and the battery. The car felt okay—yeah, there were a few silly little errors, shall we say—but when you're pushing that hard, mistakes are bound to creep in.”

He also addressed a sudden slow-down on the cooldown lap, explaining:

“I had several alarms on the car—brake temps, engine temps. I lifted off just to get them under control. I was managing the engine temp alarm throughout laps 12 and 13. If it goes over a certain threshold, you lose power—and with how close this race was, I couldn’t afford that.”