$2mill+ going to sim racers in 2024
Another month, another NZ sim racing update so you don’t miss a thing.
This month there’s a bonus ~International Prizes~ section where we put a spotlight on some of the big prize money being handed out in sim racing internationally. It sure pays to be quick.
NZ Sim Racing
Kiwis racing in PRL iRacing finals. Ewan Baker and Matthew Pluck made it through the world wide qualifiers to put themselves in position to fight in the Prodigy Racing League MX5 iRacing series. While neither won the golden ticket to go from "e2real" it was a mega effort from both to get as far as they did. You can watch the finals back on youtube.
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Sim racing at Supercars Taupo Super400.
V8 Supercar Simulator. Featured the old “sim in a real car” motion simulator.
Racing Sims. Sick NZ made motion simulators running iRacing which cost $30 for 10 mins.
The Rock fm + Woodstock by LPL. Ran a hotlap competition with AC Supercars Mod around Bathurst on more standard rigs. The big draw card being the prize of a trip to watch the Bathurst 1000 later this year for the winner. Cameron “Norm” Fleming was that fastest driver, beating Chaz Mosterts time. You can hear more in his little interview on The Rock radio station.
GTWS online qualifiers are underway. The brutal format sees only one Oceania driver qualify for the events in the trimmed down but hotly contested Nations Cup. 6 online races determine the qualified drivers for this years 4 international LAN events with kiwi Matthew McEwen currently in the leading fight.
Racing Sims had their motion rigs at Armageddon Christchurch April 13/14. These NZ built rigs (the same as at the Taupo Super400) were free to try running iRacing over the weekend before moving back to their home at X-Golf Parklands where they are available for hire.
NZEHL iRacing starts in May. After the rumours back in January we finally have details on the LPL iRacing series for 2024. Coming back in a new form as part of NZEHL, with backing from NZ Esports, the full details are due out on May 6th with the series starting 3 weeks later.
Rumour: New NZ events coming for ACC and GT7. Word on the street is a new player is looking to host sim racing events with official word expected in the coming weeks.
News
Win the Super Trofeo Esports Series to represent Lamborghini Esports. An ACC competition with the APAC regional events schedule in Sept/Oct. Those interested will want to practice driving the Lamborghini Huracan around Bathurst.
Ferrari Esports Series announced. With races across AC, ACC, & iRacing 5 drivers from each region will qualify for the LAN finals and compete across all three titles to determine the Ferrari Esports Series champion.
Alpine Esports Series. Alpine desperately want to be cool so they’re also hosting an open qualifier series running on ACC (although qualifiers finished in April). The top 30 now race across 3 rounds for an unannounced prize, which last year was a bunch of Alpine fan cryptocurrencies (are we really still doing those?) and an Alpine driving experience.
EA continue to tease Esports WRC. The latest comes from their 1.7 update patch notes which mentions “Added functionality for esports WRC. Esports tab in main menu will...“
VR arrives in EA SPORT WRC. The much anticipated feature released on April 30th but only on PC.
International Prizes
Esports World Cup includes Sim Racing. Previously known as GAMERS8, the Esports World Cup 2024 will again use Rennsport for their sim racing competition. The competition is restricted to specific esports teams and will have $500,000 in prize money. GAMERS8/Esports World Cup are controversial for being run by/hosted in Saudi Arabia, a country with serious human rights issues.
Porsche Esports Supercup hands out $200,000 in cash prizes. The winner of the one make iRacing series walked away with $50,000 at the end of the 7 round series that wrapped up on April 6th.
DTM Esports dishes out $50,000 worth of prizes. After open qualifiers and 6 rounds of online racing on Race Room the champion was crowned in April. The winner has earned themselves a test drive in a Dörr Motorsport GT4.
$750,000 on the line in F1 Esports. Sorry that’s “F1 Sim Racing” on F1 23. Frederik Rasmussen leads as they head into the final races on May 7-9th.
6 races down in $500,000 eNascar iRacing series. The 2024 season will feature 18 races over the year with $100,000 awarded to 1st place.
Know of any big sim racing prizes I’ve missed? Hit reply and fill me in!
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