Sixteen gamers are getting ready to take part in the Grand Final of the MotoGP eSport Championship that takes place on Friday, November 10th. The event will be held at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Spain, just two days before the 2017 MotoGP season-ending Valencia GP.
The MotoGP eSport Championship was launched earlier this year to coincide with the release of the video-game, MotoGP 17. The championship utilized the game on the PlayStation 4 platform exclusively to host a series of qualification events. Players first had to beat pre-determined lap-times in time trial modes in order to gain access to the next stage; six different challenges with different circuits and conditions for the players to master. MotoGP world champions such as Valentino Rossi, Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo also got involved in these stages by offering advice to all the hopefuls as part of the coverage of the event.
After 2.5 million kilometres and 15,000 hours of virtual racing in the qualification stages, the best sixteen were selected as finalists that will journey to Valencia for the grand final. Spanish gamers fill six of the available sixteen spots, five will represent Italy, two will represent Great Britain, with the remaining three spots being taken by three gamers from the Netherlands, Germany and South Africa.
Credit: Dorna Sports
The grand final will feature two hours of coverage that will be broadcast to over 190 countries via motogp.com as well as the championship’s social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Twitch. Coverage of the qualification rounds leading up to the grand final has already brought in seventeen-million views across the different outlets.
“We are delighted and somewhat surprised by the incredible reception from fans during the first official championship of eSports in MotoGP, I am also thrilled that the level of the participants during the season has been so high, and this will make the final very competitive.” said Pau Serracanta, the commercial area managing director for Dorna Sports, “Even now, it is difficult to predict who will be the MotoGP eSport World Champion. No doubt we will continue working so that the future of the MotoGP eSport World Championship can continue to grow as it has done this year.”
Not only do the sixteen competitors have the chance to become the first ever MotoGP eSports champion in front of a live audience across the world, but there is also a rather sizable prize-pool thanks to MotoGP’s title sponsors. Some of the prizes include a BMW M240i Coupé, a KTM390 motorcycle as well as other prizes courtesy of Samsung, Red Bull and others.
The MotoGP eSport Championship finale will be streamed live at 17.00 CET on Friday, November 10th. Be sure to tune in to witness the crowning of the first ever MotoGP virtual champion.
