Esports

The professional racing drivers of the world are still sitting idle as tracks remain closed and large gatherings are banned. That means they have plenty of time on their hands to get involved in the new breed of esports events which fill the gap until society returns to normal (and hopefully beyond).

There’s no end in sight yet to the pause in real world racing, so virtual motorsport is again taking its place.

Although we’ve seen plenty of esports events stepping in to fill the gaping gulf in the world motorsport calendar, they’ve all been rather serious affairs on rather serious sims (and bizarrely serious results). With Assetto Corsa Competizione, rFactor 2, and iRacing all staging events, there’s not been much hosted on the more accessible racing games. That’s set to change this afternoon, courtesy of Renault Sport.

NASCAR Series partner Blue-Emu has terminated its sponsorship of Cup Series driver Bubba Wallace in a truly bizarre set of circumstances.

Once again the virtual motorsport world is filling in this weekend for where the real-world can’t. With large events and gatherings on a pause for the near future, drivers and fans find themselves at a loose end, and are uniting in the digital realm.

Since most of the motorsports calendar has gone down the drain for 2020, esports has filled the gap. We’ve seen a number of series spring up — some official, some not — in the virtual world to grab the bored and quarantined eyes of the motorsports fan.

As the world faces the increasingly grim threat of the coronavirus, a bright spot of joy popped up this weekend thanks to sim racing. Two major events were hastily organized in just a few days: Veloce Esports’ “#NotTheAusGP” and Torque Esports’ “All-Star Esports Battle”, both of which we detailed in our preview article.

The cancellation of at least four of this season’s Formula One grands prix so far might have put a bit of a dent in a few schedules. Not only is there not much racing to watch, the drivers are at a loose end too. Fortunately, esports is filling the gap, with two events running this Sunday featuring some of the biggest names in motorsport.

After making its debut in the esports category of the 2019 National Sports Festival of Japan — or Kokutai — GT Sport will again feature as an event for the 2020 tournament.

World famous soft drinks brand Coca-Cola has signed a multi-year deal with iRacing to become the title sponsor of the eNASCAR series.

In a freak bout of Opposites Day, ex-F1 driver and double Indy 500 champion Juan Pablo Montoya can now lay claim to being the fastest gamer in the world.

The Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) has announced it will again hold the FIA Motorsport Games in 2020. It follows on from a successful 2019 event which saw Russia take the title in the Olympics-style motorsport event.

January might not seem like a month for motorsport milestones, but January 14 does mark a very significant occasions. It was on this day in 2012 that a team of drivers made up entirely of racing gamers took a podium finish at a major 24-hour race.

These days, esports events are pretty big business. Any major real-world race series that doesn’t already have an esports championship is behind the curve, and even the great Scuderia Ferrari now has its own virtual F1 team.

Slovenia’s Kevin Rebernak has claimed the 2019 McLaren Shadow title, after the Grand Final at the McLaren Technology Center this weekend.

Champions of motorsport from across the world will gather tonight at The Louvre in Paris in a celebration of the sport in all its forms. The Federation International de l’Automobile (FIA) will honor everyone who has won an FIA-certified event in any discipline, in its annual Prize-Giving ceremony.

The F1 Esports New Balance Pro Series reaches its climax this evening, and for the first time in three years there’ll be a new champion lifting the trophy.

GT Sport World Tour regular Cody Latkovski has won the first ever Digital Cup at the FIA Motorsport games. Latkovski, representing Team Australia, took the win after a hard-fought race at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in which the lead seemed to change on almost a corner-by-corner basis.

The FIA’s new international, multi-discipline Motorsport Games get underway this weekend, at Italy’s Vallelunga Circuit.

The Le Mans Esport Series will return for a second season in 2020, with a new format and a doubled prize fund of $200,000.