Thereâs plenty of esports racing in October, here are five must watch esports races that you should definitely follow.
Image credit: Veloce
We are back once more to provide you with tips on upcoming major esports racing events that can keep you all entertained throughout the month. In this new monthly series, we began by informing you on events going on in September, and now let’s do it all again!
Here are five esports racing events going on in October that we think you should follow.
IGTC Spa 24 hours
The final round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge Esports series takes place 22-23 October, and it’s the Spa 24 hours. But wait… didn’t this already happen in June? Yes, but it was postponed. Roughly about four hours into the event, server issues reared their ugly heads, and subsequently the event was rescheduled for October.
Last time out in the IGTC Esports series was the 9 hours of Kyalami, and on that occasion it was Unicorns of Love that claimed victory. They join Bathurst winners Lamborghini and also Veloce who won the Indianapolis and Suzuka rounds.
With only the Spa 24 hours to go, the Pro category sees Veloce leading on 107 points ahead of BS+COMPETITION on 92. The Silver category though is even closer, with FFS Racing on 108 points and AJA Simracing Team being only eight points back. It’s all to play for in both categories.
When they attempted to run the race back in June, it was Veloce that took pole. However, they were involved in an incident which sent them tumbling down the order. Veloce will certainly hope for better fortunes since they will want an easier path to sealing the title.
Follow the action on the SROMotorsports Twitch channel or the GTWorld YouTube channel.
ERL Fall Cup
The third and final seasonal cup of the VCO Esports Racing League in 2022 is well underway. The multi-platform series has already seen its iRacing and Assetto Corsa Competizione action, with Apex Racing Team coming out on top of their specialist platform in the iR-04. Then, on ACC with the BMW M2 CS Racing, a new team joined the winner’s circle in the form of YAS HEAT.
For the last regular season round, which will decide the teams that will compete in the Masters, it has the potential to be the biggest shake-up of the running order. Teams will take to rFactor 2 in the Stock Car 2018, a beast from the world of NASCAR.
So far, Team Redline are undefeated on rFactor 2, having raced in the World Cup and Spring Cup in the Formula Pro and the Summer Cup and Summer Masters in the Toyota Corolla BTCC. With the Stock Car 2018 being typically not a car used in many major competitions of this scale, will they be able to go through all of 2022 undefeated on at least one of the three platforms?
Apex Racing Team will be wanting a decent result since they’re heavily favoured to win the Masters which is taking place on iRacing. They placed fifth on ACC so it will take a disaster for them not to qualify for the Masters. Will they be able to make it three different seasonal champions in the first running of ERL?
All the action on 12 October can be followed on VCO’s official Twitch and YouTube.
Lamborghini The Real Race
The finals of the Lamborghini The Real Race will be taking place 16 October with three regional finals of 16 drivers each. The winners of the Europe-Middle East-Africa, North America-Latin America and Asia-Pacific finals will all be granted an opportunity to enter into evaluations at Lamborghini’s headquarters.
Just like last year’s EMEA champion Jordan Sherratt, one of them will be given the chance to join Lamborghini’s official esports team. Having done their first season in the GT World Challenge Europe Esports and Intercontinental GT Challenge Esports championships, who knows what is on the horizon for the sim racing leg of the raging bull.
Plenty of well known names from across the esports racing world will be in the finals. From the EMEA region, the likes of GTWR Esports trio Luke Whitehead, Andrea Capoccia and Niklas Houben have all qualified. Whitehead won the GT World Challenge America Esports series Pro title and came away from the Group Stages as top qualifier.
After the Group Stages which saw the top 15 from each region qualify, they also ran a Last Chance Qualifier event for one extra driver to enter each final. In the EMEA group, that went the way of Unicorns of Love driver Bastian Richter.
Tune in to the Lamborghini Squadra Corse YouTube channel to see all three sets of finals.
F1 Esports Pro Championship
The next three races of the F1 Esports Pro Championship take place 12-14 October, with the races being on the Red Bull Ring, Spa-Francorchamps and Zandvoort circuits. The first event saw the series increase their races to 50% distance for the first time. As a result, tyre strategies played a greater role in how the races turned out.
McLaren’s Lucas Blakeley is already looking like he’s the favourite for the championship. Taking two wins and a third whilst his rivals had their ups and downs, it may already be a safe call to suggest he could follow in the footsteps of Brendon Leigh, David Tonizza and Jarno Opmeer. But he’s not going to have it all completely his way.
Blakeley will have to contend with the likes of race three victor Frederik Rasmussen, who has consistently fought for the championship in every season since 2018 but always came up short. Then there’s Jarno Opmeer, who was second in the first race and lost what could have been a significant haul of points after being involved in an incident on the first lap of the second race.
There’s also McLaren’s other driver Bari Boroumand, who is getting ever closer to winning his first race after scoring podiums and poles last season. But perhaps the next new winner will come in the form of rookie Thomas Ronhaar, who took pole for the second race and is showing genuine championship contending pace.
To follow all three races and their respective qualifying sessions, go to F1’s official Twitch or YouTube channels.
PESC Contender Series
For fans of the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup, the Contender Series is a must-follow. After the 2022 season concluded in June, the bottom 15 in the standings would have to compete in the Contender Series to keep their place in the main series. They would compete alongside drivers from the Qualifying Series and others from national Esports Carrera Cup championships.
The opening round saw top qualifier Lasse Bak and PESC competitor Jeff Giassi share the victories. Giassi inparticular being incredibly animated when he crossed the line, since he would have practiced extensively in the hopes of avoiding elimination from the 2023 PESC grid.
For the second round, Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland 3rd place finisher Christopher Dambietz and PESC competitor Tuomas Tähtelä shared the wins. The best placed 15 drivers after the season ends will be eligible to compete in the main series when it gets underway in early 2023.
The remaining four rounds will be broadcast every Saturday with the exception of 22 October. All the action can be followed over on the official Porsche Twitch channel.
Which of these esports racing events will you be following? Tell us on Twitter at @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below!
