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Esports tournament provider Gfinity has entered into a five-year agreement with Abu Dhabi Motorsport Management (ADMM) to produce a new esports racing championship.
The tournament will be jointly owned by Gfinity and ADMM.
Gfinity has experienced in motorsports esports with the F1 Esports Series and Virtual Grand Prix, while ADMM has produced the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and supports the ongoing investment in racing products and services.
The new racing championship will feature some of the fastest professional simulation racing drivers with a roster of teams from digital motorsport.
There will be two seasons in each calendar year, with the first season taking place in 2020. The races will be hosted by Gfinity, with drivers joining remotely from around the world competing behind the wheel of a bespoke, single seater car.
Gfinity’s ‘race control’ technology will be used for in-race adjudication and data feeds delivering insight to fans about driver and car performance.
Under the terms of the agreement, Gfinity will provide services to the championship, including production and tournament operations. ADMM and Gfinity are jointly responsible for commercialising the ERC.
Sports companies and broadcasters have had a greater involvement in esports during lockdown, and gambling companies have seen a rise, whether it’s an online casino site or betting on sports and esports.
The Gfinity Digital Media group will work with ADMM’s marketing and social media teams to build the new channels, supported by promotion from Gfinity’s existing community of 11 million users across gfinityesports.com, realsport101.com, stealthoptional.com, realgaming101.es and realgaming101.pt.
This will be supported via the Arabic language site www.RealGaming101.me, which targets gaming fans in the MENA region and was created by Gfinity in partnership with YaLLa Esports in April this year.
Al Tareq Al Ameri, ADMM CEO, said: “ADMM has a strategic focus to develop and invest in premium racing ventures and virtual racing is an important pillar in this vision. The Esports Racing Championship will welcome the very best teams and drivers from around the world to compete on a global stage at the highest level.”
John Clarke, Gfinity CEO, added: “Motorsports is a key pillar of our strategy and we are excited to be entering into a long-term partnership with Abu Dhabi Motorsport Management.
“We have a shared passion for the Esports Racing Championship and a desire to build a product that will sit alongside the biggest brands in motorsport.”
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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.
