For the second to last race of the season, the eSports WTCC went to Suzuka in Japan. Clear skies greeted the drivers, first in Division 2. Sascha Gemeinhardt and Jonathan Schelstraete were in the front row, but the race was dominated by other drivers. Jonas Hillert was leading the race for a long time, but on the final lap, Manuel Alves made the move stick in turn one and took the lead, while Hillert lost another position to Mesca Vlad. In the end, Alves finally took his first win, after coming close numerous times. In qualifying of Division 1, championship contender Alexander Dornieden finally scored a pole position, ahead of Norbert Leitner, Bence Bánki and Jan Stange. Championship leader Márk Nándori was in 8th. The start was clean initially, and Dornieden kept the lead, but halfway around the first lap, disaster struck for Nándori, as he was hit by Wisniewski, spun off in the hairpin and dropped back to 21st position. At the front of the field, a three-way-fight between Dornieden, Leitner and Bánki developed, with Stange waiting patiently behind them. Leitner seemed to be the fastest man on track, and just after the halfway mark, he capitalized on a mistake by Dornieden in the first sector and took the lead. Dornieden was quick to strike back though, and after a bit of contact in the hairpin and going side-by-side with Leitner for a while, he was back in front. Behind the leading quartet, Gergo Baldi drove a lonely race in 5th, a few seconds clear of a frantic battle of Fossto, Theot, Olsson, Wisniewski and Semard. Two laps before the end, Leitner attempted a pass on Dornieden into turn 1 and sent the German into a slide. Dornieden immediately recovered, made contact with Bánki coming back onto the track and went passed Leitner in a forceful manner in turn 3, which allowed Bánki and Stange through as well. Leitner tried his best to get back, but in the end, Dornieden, Bánki and Stange made it onto the podium. Leitner was fourth ahead of Baldi, Fossto, Theot, the impressive rookie Vromant, Olsson and Wisniewski, who secured the pole position for race 2. Nándori only finished in 24th position and lost the championship lead. Wisniewski won the start of the second race, while Olsson and Theot behind immediately made contact in turn one, which resulted in Theot sliding into the gravel trap. Dornieden and Stange made slow progress through the top 10, while Nándori was far away from the points. Wisniewski had a clear lead, but halfway through the race, he dropped back. Disaster hit for Stange, who had an accident off camera with Fossto and had to retire from the race. After all of this, Olsson suddenly found himself in the lead, but under big pressure by Norbert Leitner. Leitner made the move stick into the Casio triangle and took the lead. From the championship contenders, Dornieden was the only one left in the points. Right before the end of the race, Baldi managed to steal 2nd place from Olsson, while Dornieden went past Wisniewski and Vromant to finish fourth. The victory went to Norbert Leitner though, the second win of the season for the Hungarian driver from the Oscaro eSports outfit. Wisniewski was fifth in the end, ahead of Vromant, Bánki, Semard, Fossto and Team CS Sport's Dirk Knatz. In the championship standings, Alexander Dornieden has taken the provisional lead. The German driver of the Impact Racing Team is 23 points ahead of Nándori, who scored no points in the event, but now has his previous drop score of six points count. Jan Stange is third on 171 points ahead of Gergo Baldi, sitting on 165 points. Dornieden goes into the last race as the clear favourite, but he still has to await the steward's decision on his move against Leitner though. The last event will be held on one of the most demanding circuits in the world – Macau. The extremely fast and dangerous street circuit rewards patience, but there is also a little bit of luck required in order to score a good result. The race will take place on Sunday, November 12th. If you have missed the racing action of Suzuka, you can watch the replay here: