Team vs team, head-to-head, wheel-to-wheel, let’s bring the euphoric noise of that V10 engine in the V10 R-League season 3!
Image credit: YAS HEAT
The V10 R-League is back for season three. The series will see teams competing on Assetto Corsa in a modded V10-powered Formula car. Three drivers from each team must work together to compete against another team’s three drivers.
In late 2020, the first season went the way of Porsche24 by Redline. Then in early 2021, BMW pipped Aston Martin to win the second season. Whoever will be the champions this season will do so at an onsite event in July.
How Does the V10 R-League Work?
Ten teams will do battle across five weeks to tally up points. Two groups of four teams (one team from each group will have a rest week) will select one of five tracks to race on, and they will then go up against a team from their group on a track they nominate. That contest will consist of two relay races and two sprint races. The victors of each single race will take home a team point.
The relay races feature all six drivers but only one driver per team is out on track at a time. Each driver does at least one lap before pitting, but one driver per team will do an extra lap to try and push to overcut their opponent. Then there’s the team race, which involves all the drivers on track at the same time with a points system of 10-6-4-3-2-1.
After the five weeks of action in the group stages, the top three from both groups will progress to the knockout stage. The first-placed team in each group are automatically entered into the semi finals. Group A’s second place ranking team will face off against Group B’s third place ranking team and Group A’s third place ranking team will go up against Group B’s second place ranking team.
This will all take place at an onsite final in Abu Dhabi from July 22-23. The event will consist of the Quarter Finals, Semi Finals, 3rd place Final and Grand Final. All the teams will be competing for their share of a £100,000 prize pot.
Who will be competing?
All the teams from season two will remain with the exception of McLaren Shadow. The Veloce-affiliate team downsized their esports program dramatically, and it has resulted in their V10 R-League standout driver James Baldwin jumping ship to Veloce sister team YAS HEAT. Marko Pejic and Isaac Gillissen will be joining Baldwin there.
The other teams competing include reigning champions BMW and inaugural champions Redline. Additionally, there are other major racing esports brands like Red Bull, Aston Martin, Jean Alesi Esports Academy Team Suzuki, R8G, Fordzilla and Williams.
But that all important tenth slot left vacant by McLaren will be taken by another F1 team partnered with Veloce: Mercedes! They will field two-time F1 Esports champion Jarno Opmeer and reigning Formula Pro champion Bono Huis in their line-up.
As far as other drivers, not many are officially confirmed yet, with only Fordzilla having confirmed Peyo Peev. Aston Martin’s new F1 Esports signing Manuel Biancolilla competed last year for YAS HEAT so maybe he can be expected to return for the team in green.
The same could be said for Aston’s former drivers Daniele Haddad and Shanaka Clay who have joined Williams. However, their drivers from last season might also be expected to remain. As such, Kuba Brzezinski, Nikodem Wisniewski and Martin Štefanko are all potentially in the running. It’s not certain all these names will appear but be sure that there will be some of the biggest names in esports racing competing in Round 1.
How to follow the V10 R-League
In the UK, the series can be viewed on BT Sport but thankfully for many more potential viewers, the series can also be watched on the official V10 R-League YouTube channel. The first round will be broadcast at 2pm CEST on June 3.
Will you be watching the V10 R-League? Tell us on Twitter at @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below!
