Frede Rasmussen was unchallenged on his way to a double win in the Formula E esports series, Accelerate, around the virtual London ePrix venue onsite at the ExCeL.
Image credit: Formula E
Over the London ePrix weekend, 11 esports racers gathered at the ExCeL in London to compete in the Formula E Accelerate finale. Nine pro drivers plus two guests who had been invited raced around a pre-release build of the track that the Formula E real life drivers went on to compete on the following day.
The unique circuit starts inside the ExCeL, before going around the facility through London’s Docklands and then looping back inside. The track is set to be added to the simulation software used rFactor 2, although the version used featured the infamous double hairpin section from 2021 and it may be swapped out for the more satisfying quick chicane.
The Formula E Accelerate Field
There were plenty of big names competing in this event. Of course, we’ve already established Frederik Rasmussen, the Red Bull esports driver who has been runner-up in the last few F1 Esports seasons. He won the Formula E Accelerate title in 2021 and got to test a real life Formula E car as a result.
Also on the grid was two-time F1 Esports champion Jarno Opmeer. Though Opmeer is primarily known for the F1 games, he is no stranger to racing on other titles. The previous weekend, the Dutchman was in Abu Dhabi wrapping up the V10 R-League championship which used Assetto Corsa, plus he competed in FE Accelerate last season and did the first three rounds of Formula Pro this season on rFactor 2.
Opmeer’s Mercedes teammate in all of those championships was Bono Huis, and he also participated in the Accelerate finale. Huis won the Formula E Vegas eRace back in 2017 against real life Formula E drivers and took home the majority of a $1,000,000 prize pool.
R8G Esports were very well represented with three of their drivers Marcell Csincsik, Jiri Toman and Erhan Jajovski all competing. Rasmussen’s Red Bull teammate Graham Carroll was there, as were Williams Esports teammates Nikodem Wisniewski and Petar Brljak.
Finally, there were the two drivers invited to take part. The first was professional racing driver Ellis Spiezia, who took pole position in the inaugural round of the Electric Racing Academy Championship earlier this month. The other was Benjamin Daly aka Tiametmarduk, an F1 gaming YouTube content creator with over 700,000 subscribers.
What Happened?
Much like the real life ePrix, the event featured two sets of races. Also mirroring real life was the brand new for 2022 duel qualifying knockout-style format, in which the top eight drivers after initial group qualifying face off against each other.
Rasmussen ended up on top for the first race’s qualifying and at the start, he pulled out a huge lead. Nikodem Wisniewski started on the front row but was spun around after a collision with Bono Huis, which sent him to the back of the field.
While Rasmussen established an unassailable lead, Jarno Opmeer set about recovering from his lowly qualifying. He climbed five positions to get onto the podium in third place, which ended up becoming second after Huis was penalised. Rasmussen won with the fastest lap so he claimed a maximum score from the first race.
The Second Race
Qualifying for the second race was a similar affair, as Rasmussen was on top once again. However, this time, he didn’t stroll to victory in the race. Opmeer – who qualified second – kept Rasmussen honest at the start and never let him get away, although to win the championship he would need the Dane to finish off the podium.
That didn’t happen, and Rasmussen claimed pole, fastest lap and the victory to take maximum points. He retained the FE Accelerate championship title and won the majority of a €100,000 prize pool and a VIP trip to the Formula E season finale in Seoul on 13-14 August. Rasmussen will also test a real world Formula E car later this year.
Opmeer finished second with Huis third, Marcell Csincsik ended fourth ahead of Graham Carroll, Erhan Jajovski, Petar Brljak, Jiri Toman, Nikodem Wisniewski and tied on one point apiece were Ben Daly and Ellis Spiezia.
What did you make of the Formula E Accelerate finale? Tell us on Twitter at @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below!
