There will be plenty of esports racing in December. Here are five must watch esports races that you should definitely follow.
Image credit: VCO Esports
It’s the time of the month again where we let you know of some high profile esports racing events. This December is relatively quiet, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing going on.
Some major championships are closing off their season, there are a couple of standalone events and there’s even a convention! So without further ado, here are some major esports racing events to follow in December.
VCO ProSIM INFINITY
Back in the beginning of May, the Virtual Competition Organisation hosted an event on iRacing that was widely acclaimed by both competitors and spectators. Taking the concept of 24 hour racing, VCO INFINITY flipped it from one race held in a 24 hour period to being 24 races in 24 consecutive one hour intervals.
VCO are now merging it with another very popular format of theirs, ProSIM. The series had an eight round first season run between November 2020 and March 2021, and a second season with four rounds run in successive weeks in November 2021. It had professional real world racers share a car with sim drivers, which will also happen in this ProSIM version of INFINITY.
Much like the first running of INFINITY, teams of five drivers will take it in turns competing in five different cars across five different tracks. One of the drivers must be a designated real world pro and they must do six of the 24 races, and all drivers must do at least one race in two different cars.
Those cars are the Dallara P217 LMP2, Honda Civic Type R TCR, Porsche 911 GT3 R, Dallara IR18 IndyCar and iRacing Formula iR-04. Tracks will be announced just before the event, and all the action will be streamed on VCO’s official Twitch and YouTube channels from 9-10 December.
EDIT 6/12/2022: VCO announced the Dallara P217 would be swapped out for the BMW M Hybrid V8 that was added to the service today.
World eX Super Final
The RCCO World eX is a championship held on rFactor 2 with specially created electric racing cars. Teams made up of one real world pro and one esports racer compete in short races before it’s whittled down to just one each in the final. Both entrants qualify for the all-important Super Final.
After the last regular round of the season on the Nürburgring F1 circuit, the teams will take to a two-lap dash around the combined Nordschleife to crown the champions. All entries regardless of driver that have made it into an eX Prix final qualify to be in the Super Final. Their grid position is then determined by points scored throughout the season.
Last time out, World eX tackled the Indianapolis oval and it was ultra-close racing all the way through. Expect much of the same on the Nordschleife, especially with its massive straight approaching the end of the lap. That was the sight of the crucial pass that 2021 champion Martin Štefanko made on Lasse Sørensen to win.
To follow the last regular season round and then the Super Final, tune in to World eX’s Twitch channel at 8pm CET on 20 December.
SimRacing Expo
The ADAC SimRacing Expo is back this weekend and there are plenty for avid sim racers to sink their teeth into. The event will largely consist of product reveals, of course. However, there will also be plenty of races held onsite with many of the competitors in attendance.
The expo plays host to three sets of competitions. The SimRacing Community Trophy, the Simracing.gp Professional Trophy and ADAC Digital GT500.
On Friday, the Community Trophy Final will be held on RaceRoom, with 12 of the drivers competing onsite at the Norisring from 4:45pm-6pm CET. Then from 11am-6pm CET on Saturday is the Professional Trophy finale, with over 20 teams onsite racing in Assetto Corsa Competizione on the Nürburgring GP.
Finally on Sunday, it’s the turn of iRacing to provide the action. The ADAC Digital GT500 will see GT3 cars on the Monza circuit competing from 10:15am-2pm CET. All this and more will be broadcast on the official SimRacing Expo Twitch and YouTube channels from 1-4 December.
SimGrid World Cup
After running as a full series in 2021, the SimGrid World Cup with VCO will take the form of a singular enduro event. 49 teams of 3-4 drivers will tackle the Kyalami circuit for 12 hours on ACC to win a share of a $10,000 prize pool.
Plenty of big ACC names are taking part. Team Redline are even involved despite their relative absence from ACC competition this year outside of the VCO Esports Racing League. Same goes for Apex Racing Team, who outside of ERL have never competed in a major ACC event.
The day before the race, teams will decide their starting slots through a Grand Prix-style knockout qualifying. As in F1, the qualifying will be separated into three sessions. The best five in the final session will then go into a single-lap superpole shootout.
Qualifying takes place on 16 December at 8pm CET and the race begins on 17 December at 12pm CET. All of it will be broadcast on SimGrid’s YouTube channel.
F1 Esports Pro Championship
Last but not least, the one that many fans are waiting for. F1 Esports is in the midst of its toughest championship battle yet, with the last three rounds taking place this month. Lucas Blakeley, Thomas Ronhaar, Frederik Rasmussen, Bari Boroumand and Jarno Opmeer all stand a chance of coming away with the championship.
Yes, you heard that right. All five drivers stand a realistic chance at winning the title and they are all being separated by just 22 points. 2022 has truly been F1 Esports’ most competitive season yet, and it could go any way.
Blakeley has the hole shot, as he leads on 132 points, with rookie sensation Ronhaar just eleven points behind him on 121. Blakeley’s McLaren teammate Boroumand is on 118, Rasmussen has 115 and Opmeer is on 110. Who will be the one to conquer all after the Suzuka, Interlagos and Yas Marina races?
Tune in to the official F1 Twitch and YouTube channels from 14-16 December to see both qualifying and the races.
Which of these esports racing events will you be following? Tell us on Twitter at @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below!
