MOTORSPORT: carsales TCR to resume in the virtual world

Australia’s first elite e-sports racing series will fire up next week with some of the best drivers from the carsales TCR Australia Series, S5000 single-seaters and TransAm.

As motorsport adjusts to a global shutdown, with postponements and cancellations in all major championships, the carsales TCR Series promoted by the Australian Racing Group is the first locally to switch to an online competition.

TCR has beaten Supercars off the grid with its first race next week, although the V8 championship is promising to have its star drivers in a simulator championship that will be televised on the FOX network.

Pro-gamers are banned from TCR competition as a range of race winners, from TCR victors Dylan O’Keefe, Nathan Morcom and Aaron Cameron to S5000 stars Thomas Randle and Tim Macrow and TransAm front-runner George Miedecke are ready to go.

One notable absentee is TCR champion Will Brown, who has done little sim work as he concentrates instead on flight training for his commercial pilot's license.

The ARG competition comes as other major motorsport series look for an online connection.

The first contest from the USA was the All-Star Esports Battle, which drew Formula One superstar Max Verstappen and IndyCar champion Simon Pagenaud, in a line-up that also included many NASCAR stars. Yet the competition wagon won by professional eEsports racer, Jernej Simonele.

Another pro gamer, Daniel Bereznay, won a contest called ’Not the Australian Grand Prix’ in a field that included F1 drivers Lando Norris, Esteban Gutierrez and Stoffel Vandoorne.

The ARG competition starts on Thursday, April 2, using iRacing software with a mixture of touring cars and open-wheel racers for the event.

It is intended to be a short-and-sharp contest over 90 minutes, with spectators encouraged to follow the action and a number of special guests to join the racers.

“This week has been a roller coaster for everyone, here in Australia and around the world. This is a way for us to bring some normality back to our worlds as we are faced with our new environments,” said ARG boss, Matt Braid.

“The initial response from drivers and teams has been very encouraging. I would not be surprised if we end up with a grid of around 40 cars,” Braid stated.