Sixteen drivers remain, but only one will win the chance to drive a race car. The Pfaff WorldGaming Canadian Challenge grand finals kick off very shortly, and it’ll all be live on Twitch.
Getting behind the wheel of a genuine race car is only part of the prize pot, too. All told there’s $20,000 CAD in prizes up for grabs, with first netting a handy $7,500 of it. Even last place is guaranteed to walk out of the Canadian International AutoShow a useful $125 richer.
This is the second esport tournament Pfaff has hosted, after last year’s exciting GT Sport event. This year sees Forza Motorsport 7 as the game of choice. The cars may be different, as today will be all about road cars, but with so much on the line, we’re expecting the racing to be just as close and exciting as last year.
The Drivers
The field qualified through two different methods. Eight of the drivers made it through via online qualifiers in-game in FM7. These racers come from across the country, as some of the fastest Forza pilots in Canada.
The other half of today’s competitors made the cut at CIAS itself. Each day (except yesterday), the WorldGaming booth hosted a different car/track combo on its D-Box motion rigs. The fastest player of the day earned their spot in today’s finals.
Naturally, a good chunk of this second batch of eight were those that just missed the cut-off online. The full driver lineup is as follows:
- Raceboy77
- kluch5
- UNK Ginger
- tL William
- Aloogobi
- XGN Mantis
- SSR Mosport
- l THE SUBJECT l
- BM M00SE
- SSR Marky
- SqR Gator300
- El pibe07
- Dapper McNasty
- HOTSAUCER
- I JFK 2 LAX I
- Major Bean
All eyes will be on “Raceboy77” (aka Evan Thorogood), who dominated online qualifiers and even earned a spot on the podium at the 2018 event. Thorogood’s a long-time Forza racer with multiple ForzaRC achievements to his name.
Another to watch for is David Bigauskas, otherwise known as “Hotsaucer”. The 25-year-old local was near the pointy end of the pack in last year’s GT Sport event in terms of lap times, but bad luck put him out of contention in the end. He’ll be looking for redemption this year, and if the test runs we watched him pulling earlier in the week are any indication, he’s got a shot.
We also can’t discount either “l THE SUBJECT l” or “I JFK 2 LAX I”. The latter was consistently quick in the online portion and the clear victor during Friday’s penultimate in-person qualifier. Meanwhile “l THE SUBJECT l” came out of nowhere on the final day of qualifying to blitz the leaderboard, scooping up the lead with only minutes left.
Event Structure
Today’s racing will happen in two stages. For the first, there will be two eight-player heats, running two races. For each, the top four players will qualify for the second batch of races, combining for one more group of eight competitors.
Everyone will be in an identical stock car, so it all comes down to driver skill. No meta cars here! The final race of the day will feature the 700hp Porsche 911 GT2 RS, which seems appropriate given Pfaff’s sponsorship (the team currently races a 911 GT3R in IMSA).
Stage 1
- Race 1: Audi R8 V10 Plus at Sebring (10 laps)
- Race 2: BMW M4 GTS at Laguna Seca (13 laps)
Stage 2
- Race 1: McLaren 570S at Virginia International Speedway (11 laps)
- Race 2: Porsche 911 GT2 RS at Road America (9 laps)
Where to Watch
The Frand Finals will be streamed live on Twitch, just down below. The feed goes live at 1200 EST (1700 UTC).
We’ll also be on the floor at the event, watching the races and talking with the drivers. Stay tuned to the official GTPlanet Twitter for all the live updates, and good luck to all the competitors!
See more articles on 2019 Canadian International Autoshow and Pfaff.
