The rFactor 2 GT Pro Series has started 2 March and the names that are competing could not be bigger: Formula 1 superstar Max Verstappen is to compete with some of the best sim racers in the scene.
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Max Verstappen might be the most prominent name among the 30 participants in the tournament. The Dutchman has been invested in sim racing for more than ten years and races for the popular Team RedLine. However, he’s surely not without opposition. The other 14 invitees of the 30-player strong line-up have proven their worth in numerous sim racing competitions.
The line-up of the six-race championship is stacked with sim racing heavy-weights such as team-mate Rudy van Buren, RedBull Racing driver Joni Törmälä, and Williams Esports’ Kuba Brezizinski. Another notable trio is the roster of Triple A Esports: Erhan Jajovski, Risto Kappet, and Hany Alsabti. They made a name for themselves by winning the 2019 rFactor 2 24 Hours of Le Mans, earning €3,500 for their astonishing performance.
Even more competitors enter the race
The other 15 competitors bested hundreds of opponents in the pre-qualifying event. Many of those who qualified achieved notable results at Le Mans last year. Yuri Kasdorp, Joonas Raivio, and Dawid Mroczek were the three fastest racers in the qualifier.
Kasdorp won the rFactors 24 Hours the Rerun 2019 – LMP2 with his team Singularity Racing. Jordy Zwiers, one of Kasdorp’s Sinularity team-mates, also qualified for the Pro Series. Raivio made himself a name at Le Mans as well, albeit in the GTE category. He and his team had to concede their loss to Triple A Esports and took second place, but he is surely a force to be reckoned with.
The twelve other players from the qualifiers shouldn’t be underestimated either. After all, the first 15 places of the pre-qualifier were only a mere 0.183 seconds in the end – the margin could not be closer. The 30 racers will now compete for a prize pool of €15,000 in the GT Pro Series.
The Format
On each of the six match days, the pros will compete in a 15-minute sprint race and a 45-minute main race. The first double-race is going to take place on Silverstone on March 9. After that, the next races follow on every other Monday. The tracks also include the Nürburgring, VIR, Imola, Sebring, and finally Le Mans, concluding the season on May 18.
After the season, positions 30-26 drop out of the Pro division, while positions 25-21 have to race in the relegation against positions 6-10 form the Challenger Series.
Photo credit: Studio 397
