The World Final for the 2019 FIA Online Championship might be just around the corner, but your chance to qualify for next year has already started.
Early November saw the first of the Exhibition Series ahead of the 2020 season come to a close. The second stage gets underway on Wednesday November 13, with ten more rounds in both Nations Cup and Manufacturer series taking us to the end of the year.
While technically an exhibition event only, it may have implications for the 2020 calendar. Players who met the criteria from the first Exhibition Series are already able to register for Star Player status. That means they have access to the high-value races in season two, which will help them qualify again for the special ranking in the first 2020 series. We might also see invitations for an early-2020 World Tour event based on December’s rankings.
The full calendar for both events in season two is below:
Nations Cup
- Round 1 – November 13 – Autodrome Lago Maggiore – GP/Gr.2
- Round 2 – November 16 – Dragon Trail – Seaside II/Gr.4
- Round 3 – November 20 – Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps/Gr.1
- Round 4 – November 30 – Autodromo de Interlagos/Gr.3
- Round 5 – December 4 – Tokyo Expressway – South Inner Loop/N500*
- Round 6 – December 7 – Kyoto Driving Park – Yamagiwa/Gr.3
- Round 7 – December 14 – Sardegna – Road Track A II/Gr.2
- Round 8 – December 21 – Dragon Trail – Gardens/One-Make
- Round 9 – December 25 – Autodrome Lago Maggiore – West/N300
- Round 10 – December 28 – Sardegna – Road Track A/Gr.1
Manufacturer Series
- Round 1 – November 13 – Tokyo Expressway – South Outer Loop/Gr.4
- Round 2 – November 16 – Nurburgring – GP/Gr.3
- Round 3 – November 20 – Red Bull Ring/Gr.4
- Round 4 – November 30 – Sardegna – Road Track C II/Gr.3
- Round 5 – December 4 – Dragon Trail – Seaside/Gr.4*
- Round 6 – December 7 – Autodromo Nazionale Monza No Chicane/Gr.4
- Round 7 – December 14 – Autodrome Lago Maggiore – GP II/Gr.3
- Round 8 – December 21 – Tsukuba Circuit/Gr.4
- Round 9 – December 25 – Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps/Gr.3
- Round 10 – December 28 – TBA/TBA
Each schedule contains a Star Player race for Round 5. There’s also gaps to accommodate the World Final in Monaco, and an apparently allergy to Wednesdays in December — with the curious exception of Christmas Day! One race has no details just yet, which could hint at a new circuit debuting in Monaco and arriving in a late-November or December update.
For the second season, the Exhibition Series retains both the “required tire” system — mandating that drivers use certain tire grades during a race — and the new time format introduced in the first season. For the Europe/Middle East/Africa region (EMEA), that looks as follows:
- 1700 UTC – Nations Cup
- 1820 UTC – Manufacturer Series
- 1940 UTC – Nations Cup
- 2100 UTC – Manufacturer Series
- 2220 UTC – Nations Cup
- 2340 UTC – Manufacturer Series
You’ll find your own region’s time slots both on the official game website and in Sport Mode within the game itself.
One change for season two is in the points system. Although Polyphony Digital has not gone into specifics, it will reduce the total number of points available for any given race, although it’ll still use the lobby’s average Driver Rating as a basis. This means that the more highly ranked your opponents are, the more points you’ll score. Previous FIA races have reduced the available points when the lobby is not full, or if drivers bail or are disconnected before the finish, but this will change for the season too.
Featured image courtesy of Stephan.
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