Forget UK eSports prize pools of £10,000 – the world’s best World Rally Championship (WRC) player will win a car worth €20,000.
The eSports WRC Championship – hosted by ESL – is a global tournament for the WRC 5 racing game with matches held on combined platforms (PS4, Xbox One and PC).
Qualifications will take place most of this year, then the best 18 drivers will fight for the title during an on-site LAN final at Wales Rally GB from October 27th to 30th.
The winner will become eSports WRC Champion and drive home a ‘premium’ Hyundai i20.
The firms say the car is ‘stylish and sophisticated’, combining ‘a pleasurable ride with great performance’ – not unlike UK eSports pros, no?
The WRC 5 tournament got underway in Rallye Monte-Carlo in January – the next leg will be at Rally Argentina from April 21st to 24th.
Each stage of the eSports competition is taking place in parallel with a real-life WRC round, featuring WRC stars like Thierry Neuville, Hayden Paddon and Dani Sordo.
Benoît Clerc, head of software at Bigben Interactive, said: “eSports WRC is a big challenge for us, since creating a virtual tournament which runs simultaneously to the calendar of an official FIA competition is something never seen in the gaming industry.
“As an innovative company, Hyundai will support us by providing a marvellous prize for the winner of the most exciting online racing competition.”
The WRC eSports tournament is organised by Bigben Interactive, Kylotonn Games and WRC Promoter in conjunction with ESL.
You can check out the ESL Play WRC page and the WRC 5 eSports tournament rulebook here.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
