Two British teenagers have won the Rokit Racing Star esports tournament, and in doing so, have taken their first steps to racing on the real life Formula One track.
Deagen Fairclough (pictured right) and Monica Boulton Ramos (left), both aged 16, will now spend six months training to race on the track next season in a Formula 4 car as part of a £500,000 programme to prepare them for the pinnacle of motor racing.
They won the the finals of the Rokit Racing Star esports competition which was held at the University of Bolton’s National Centre for Motorsport Engineering (NCME) on the weekend.
The Rokit Racing Star scheme is unique in British motor racing in that it’s aimed at seeking out youngsters who struggle to find the tens of thousands of pounds needed to compete in motor racing.
The competition tested more than a thousand youngsters from all over Britain in the digital world by allowing them to race online in an esports competition for the chance to transfer their skills from the computer to the track. These were whittled down to 15 finalists – eight boys and seven girls – who competed in the NCME atrium.
Deagen from Crawley and Monica from Towcester, who wants to become a full-time female driver in Formula One, were over the moon with their wins. They will now be the focus of a £250,000 budget – each – as they train to become leaders of a Formula 4 team.
Monica dominated her final, winning both races on a digital version of the famous Brands Hatch racetrack on simulators worth more than £85,000 imported from Switzerland.
Monica said:
“I am still speechless. I had performed well in the qualifying races online and thought I had a chance but the competition from the other girls here in Bolton was tremendous and I am just delighted I have come through.”
Monica Boulton Ramos
And Deagen described his win as “life-changing”.
Monica and Deagen will now be handed over to Motorsport UK, the governing body for motor racing in Britain, and the Hitech Race Team Academy, which is based at Silverstone, who will begin the arduous process of turning a talented esports gamer into a fully-fledged racing driver.
They will be tested physically and trained in the cockpit of the 160mph Formula 4 car before applying for a coveted full racing licence. The Rokit Racing Star programme will then cover all their costs in a sport that usually requires drivers to find tens of thousands of pounds worth of sponsorship.
If Monica and Deagen are successful, they will be on the grid for the 2023 ROKiT Formula 4 Championships next season aiming to progress to the ultimate goal – Formula One.
The competition was the brainchild of Bob Fernley, former deputy team principal of the Force India Formula One team, which is now Aston Martin and based at Silverstone.
“Women are hugely under-represented in motor racing, and I wanted to give an opportunity to a new talent,” Fernley said. “Monica fits the bill. She is a talented gamer and now we want to take that talent and translate into performance in a real car in the real world. It is the opportunity of a lifetime, and I am sure she will grasp it.
“And Deagen has shown fantastic quality, too, in our finals. The driving standards were incredibly high and these two are great prospects for the future of motor racing in Britain. This is only the first year of Racing Star, but we have already unearthed great talent among youngsters who might otherwise never get a chance to drive to the top of motor racing.”
You can watch the finals back here:
In other recent sim racing UK news, McLaren Racing recently hosted the F1 Esports Series Women’s Wildcard launch at the McLaren Shadow Studio.
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.
