This weekend will see who will be crowned the three regional champions in the Lamborghini The Real Race competition.
Image credit: Lamborghini / Kunos Simulazioni
After 24 races across three regions whittled the field down to 48 drivers, three hopefuls will earn the opportunity to earn a place on the Lamborghini esports team. This weekend, all drivers will compete in three sets of races on Assetto Corsa Competizione to decide who will be the regional champions in the Lamborghini The Real Race this year.
Like last year’s EMEA champion Jordan Sherratt from South Africa, that one lucky winner will compete for Lamborghini across SRO championships on ACC next year. So who will be competing and how is it structured?
The Real Race Format
Back in July and September, the first two sets of Group Stage events took place. Those events had a format of a 15 minute race with a grid set by qualifying, and a 45 minute race with a mandatory pit stop with the shorter race’s result seeing the top eight reversed to set the grid. It’s much the same in the finals.
Asia-Pacific finalists will compete at Suzuka, the Europe-Middle East-Africa finalists on the Spa-Francorchamps circuit and last but not least, the North America-Latin America finalists will do battle on Laguna Seca. The drivers who accumulate the most points across the two races will be crowned regional champions.
The Contenders
In the Asia-Pacific group, the top points scoring driver from the Group Stages was Andika Rama Maulana from Indonesia, who won GT World Challenge Asia Esports in 2020 and was runner-up in 2021 and 2022. However, there are no guarantees it will be a clean sweep for the Legions of Racers driver. Close behind him was last year’s The Real Race APAC champion Andrew O’Hara and his fellow Aussie Lukas Birss.
Maulana finished on 113 points, O’Hara on 112 and Birss on 105. It’s perhaps a safe bet that it will be between these three for the APAC title as they finished a fair few points ahead of the next best placed driver from the Group Stages.
Next up is EMEA. Lamborghini’s esports driver Giorgio Simioni also doubles up as manager for GTWR Esports, so he will be happy to see that two of his drivers have made it into the finals. Top qualifier from the Group Stages was Niklas Houben, who won the last race of the GT World Challenge Europe Esports Sprint season in 2021. Right behind him though is his GTWR teammate Luke Whitehead.
Whitehead has had a stellar 2022 season, winning the GT World Challenge America Esports pro title. One should expect it to be between Houben and Whitehead, but there are a few others who could spring a surprise. For example, there is TRITON Racing’s Mateusz Tyszkiewicz and also Unicorns of Love’s Bastian Richter, who earned his spot through the Last Chance Qualifier.
For the NALA group, it is difficult to bet against Igor de Oliveira Rodrigues if the group stages are anything to go by. Rodrigues had a very convincing gap at the top of the standings. It doesn’t guarantee he will have an easy run to the title but it certainly provides an idea of just how fast he truly is!
Out of the three Group Stage top qualifiers, de Oliveira Rodrigues may have had the most dominant display but it doesn’t mean there isn’t talent in this region. Last year’s NALA regional champion Fidel Moreira only managed sixth in the Group Stages so it may be an uphill task for him to repeat his 2021 success.
How to Follow Lamborghini The Real Race
The broadcast for The Real Race finals will begin at 1:30pm European time on Lamborghini Squadra Corse’s YouTube channel. The Asia-Pacific drivers will have their final first, then the Europe-Middle East-Africa drivers and after that, the North America-Latin America final.
Will you be watching the finals for the Lamborghini The Real Race? Tell us on Twitter at @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below!
