While real-world motor racing is on hiatus, dozens of top drivers from around the world will be competing online this weekend.
IndyCar will begin its official Esports series on Saturday and has impressively attracted over two dozen of its regular drivers to the iRacing-based series. The championship has updated its car model to include the new-for-2020 Aeroscreen and has put the choice of track for its first race to a fan vote.NASCAR’s official series will also continue, taking the place of the races which have been scratched from its 2020 scheduled. Though unusually its events aren’t being broadcast on the most popular video platforms.
F1 drivers of present and past can be found in Torque Esports and Veloce Esports’ continuing series. Both have revealed new competitions for this weekend intended to attract a broader range of drivers.
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| Date | Series | Organiser | Event | Game | Track | Format | Start time (UK) | Start time (US Eastern) | Watch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28/03/2020 | Legends Trophy | Torque Esports | Legends Trophy | rFactor 2 | TBC | Qualifying, race | 16:00 | 12:00 | YouTube |
| 28/03/2020 | IndyCar iRacing Challenge | IndyCar | Fan Vote Race | iRacing | TBC | Qualifying, race | 20:00 | 16:00 | YouTube Facebook Twitch |
| 28/03/2020 | All-Star Battle | Torque Esports | All-Star Battle | rFactor 2 | TBC | Heats | After Legends Trophy | YouTube | |
| 29/03/2020 | SRO E-Sport GT Series | SRO | GT Series Charity Challenge | Assetto Corsa Competizione | Monza | Qualifying, two races, final | 13:00 | 09:00 | YouTube Facebook Twitch |
| 29/03/2020 | eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series | NASCAR | Texas Motor Speedway 125 | iRacing | Texas Motor Speedway | Qualifying, race | 17:00 | 13:00 | Fox, FS1, Fox Sports app |
| 29/03/2020 | Veloce Pro Series | Veloce Esports | Veloce Pro Series | TBC | 18:00 | 14:00 | YouTube | ||
| 29/03/2020 | Exhibition Race | F1 | Challenge Lando | F1 2019 | TBC | TBC | 20:00 | 16:00 | YouTube |
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Notable drivers
IndyCar iRacing Challenge
Legends Trophy
Emerson Fittipaldi, Helio Castroneves, Dario Franchitti, Juan Pablo Montoya, Johnny Herbert, David Brabham, Jan Magnussen, Paul Tracy, Gil de Ferran, Tony Kanaan, Bryan Herta, Adrian Fernandez, Oriol Servia, Max Papis.
All-Star Battle
Juan Pablo Montoya, Marcus Ericsson, Esteban Gutierrez, Antonio Felix da Costa, Nyck de Vries, Stoffel Vandoorne, Maximilian Guenther, Felix Rosenqvist, Alexander Rossi, James Davison, Colton Herta, Philipp Eng, Daniel Juncadella, Bruno Spengler, Tom Dillmann, Charlie Eastwood, Maxime Martin, Jonny Adam, Nicki Thiim, James Baldwin, Rudy van Buren.
Veloce Pro Series
Lando Norris, other drivers TBA.
GT Series Charity Challenge
Daniel Juncadella, Luca Ghiotto, Andy Soucek, Johnny Cecotto, David Tonizza, Enzo Bonito
eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series
Justin Allgaier, Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Matt DiBenedetto, Austin Dillon, Dale Earnhardt Jnr, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Bobby Labonte, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Ricky Stenhouse Jnr, Bubba Wallace.
Over to you
Will you be watching any of this weekend’s Esports races? Which series have you enjoyed most so far? Have your say in the comments.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
27th March 2020, 8:30
Thanks Keith, very handy to have this in a single place. Particularly with the links in the table.
JC
27th March 2020, 9:56
Very useful list, thanks.
Lando Norris still the highlight of all this covid-19 lockdown for me!
RG
27th March 2020, 10:20
Great article. Team Redline is also organizing an iRacing event tonight. live.teamredline.com
40 Pro drivers like Max Verstappen, Lando Norris etc. are competing this competition.
Rob M (@robm)
27th March 2020, 14:58
Wednesday night’s TeamRedline event was good with Lando and Max both racing – looks like they’re running another event again tonight @ 20:00, but not sure who is attending https://live.teamredline.com/
budchekov (@budchekov)
27th March 2020, 15:06
+1 All set thanks Keith…
Nerrticus (@nerrticus)
27th March 2020, 17:18
In the US TV ratings and live sports are still king, so its makes sense Fox and NASCAR are putting it on live TV first. Fox paid millions for the TV rights…might as well get a return on it!
Afterwards they do post the race on Youtube, complete with the TV quality presentation. Live TV commercial $$$ followed by mass internet exposure? Pretty smart if you ask me!
budchekov (@budchekov)
27th March 2020, 18:17
Yep agreed, any F1 or Indy E’races should be on one of the many NBCSports/ESPN channels respectively. It’s a no brainer.
Broke84 (@broke84)
28th March 2020, 9:09
It’s great to find an article that shows all the gaming events but I’d like to suggest including the channel in your list, not just mentioning youtube or twitch. Last weekend it took me a while to find out where on youtube all the gaming was, especially tricky when being knew to this
Phylyp (@phylyp)
28th March 2020, 9:36
@broke84 – don’t the links in the rightmost column of the table link to that?
Broke84 (@broke84)
28th March 2020, 13:19
@phylyp Thanks, didn’t realise they were links