22 year old British F1 esports player, James Baldwin, has taken first place at the Worlds Fastest Gamer finals in Las Vegas.
James has won the prize of landing a place in the R-Motorsport Aston Martin team for 2020, worth some $1m, after a 10 second lead above racers in the tournament.
The Briton started the race in second place, quickly taking pole position after overtaking Mitchell de Jong.
James earned himself the fastest lap of the entire tournament, showing his calibre over the rest of the competition.
So much so, James impressed former F1 driver Juan Pable Montoyo, Worlds Fastest Gamer season one winner, Rudy van Buren and Japanese Super GT star Jann Mardenborough.
Additionally, Worlds Fastest Gamer founder Darren Cox and F1 legends Rubens Barrichello made an appearance, who judged his impressive performance.
James has therefore been crowned the World’s Fastest Gamer, and will now receive a real-world race in 2020.
Next year, James will attend an intensive driver training programme in the UK, to prepare him for his professional race debut next season.
Previously, James won the electronic Race of Champions tournament, was 1/3rd of the Le Mans Esports Series-winning team and is a representative of the professional Project CARS title.
James has a history of competing in racing.
Prior to becoming a sim racer, James partook in kart racing, although he changed his career path after funding ran out to further his career.
Winning the World’s Fastest Gamer tournament is an amazing achievement for his career.
“You need to be ready to go first thing next year. James is really the only one that is ready to be a real-world racing driver immediately, starting right now.”
Rudy van Buren
“It feels surreal to be the World’s Fastest Gamer,” Baldwin said.
“I don’t believe it yet, and I won’t believe it for a few days. My whole career, my whole life almost have revolved around racing. This makes it all worth it.
“The last 12 days have been an absolute pressure cooker. But, that’s the point of it, to train you to be a racing driver.
James is clearly a natural-born racer and will follow one of the most interesting career paths into professional F1.
James Baldwin will compete in a GT Sportscar team next year, where he can show his potential once again on an earthly track.
