Rubens Barrichello to race in esports charity cup

The Brazilian will face well-known esports racers in the VCO Cup of Nations in support of UNICEF.

Photo credit: VCO / iRacing ; bert en ernie License

The qualification for the VCO Cup of Nations in iRacing has ended. The 64 drivers and 16 countries participating in the charity tournament have been presented on July 7 by VCO. Among them is F1 legend Rubens Barichello and esports racing super talent Max Benecke.

The charity cup in support of UNICEF will have national teams of four players battling for a prize pool of £7,500. The qualification for the event took place July 1-6 in two hot lap challenges. Qualifier 1 had to be driven in a Formula Renault 3.5 at Donington Park. The second qualifier took the contenders to Spa-Francorchamps in a BMW M8 GTE.

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The final @CupofNationsSim qualifier is under way!@vcomotorsports @iracing @RaceSpotTV pic.twitter.com/VIkBKyCsFT
— Cup of Nations (@CupofNationsSim) July 6, 2020

Depending on their lap times in the two sessions, the participants were awarded points which counted towards their countries’ scores. The sixteen nations with the highest score will now face off in the main tournament. Each will be represented by the four drivers which contributed most points to their home country.

The most successful nation in the qualifying was Germany, followed by Italy and the United Kingdom. The fight for the lower spots had been close. In the end, Canada qualified on P16 just a few points in front of India.

VCO Cup of Nations — Source: VCO / iRacing

Stage one of the tournament will take place on July 25. The countries have been seeded into four groups, depending on their qualification score. They will face off in one-on-one team battles, in which all four drivers of each nation take part.

The top two teams of each group will advance to the final knockout stage on July 26, where they will fight for the winners’ prize money of £4,000. For more information on the charity cup, check out our article below.

NATIONAL TEAMS COMPETE IN ESPORTS CHARITY CUP

Groups have been seeded

Some of the biggest names of esports racing have secured a spot in the tournament. The most prominent is Maximilian Benecke, iRacing’s number one rated driver. But the German and his team need to be ready for tough challenges since there are many more talented participants in the competition.

Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup contender Jamie Fluke (UK), 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual participant Jeremy Bouteloup (France) and Pure Driving School coach Fabrice Cornelis (Belgium) will try to lead their country to victory.

And there is yet another notable pilot who will join the grid. Rubens Barichello qualified for his country Brazil. The racing legend currently holds the record for the most starts in Formula 1 (322) and reached the podium in 68 F1 races.

Find the groups with all participating drivers below.