Williams Esports have celebrated a weekend of success with race victories in five different series, including four titles plus an award.
They won the Motorsport UK British F4 Esports championship on Friday, two titles at SimExpo in Germany (the Simracing.gp Professional Trophy and the headline GT500 event), the MundoGT Jarama 6h in Madrid, plus an online round of the 24hr Series Esports at Monza.
Finally, Williams Esports secured the Engineer of the Future Award at Autosport’s end of season celebration.
British F4 Title Winners
On Friday night, the Williams Esports-run Munster Rugby Gaming team of Alx Spetz and Josh Lad secured the British F4 Esports teams’ championship after both drivers achieved podiums in the final round at Brands Hatch.
Lad also finished runner-up in the drivers’ championship, with Spetz in P5.
Heading into the final round, Munster Rugby Gaming were three points off the lead of the Championship after a strong season from both drivers which included a win in the opening round of the season for Lad at Donington Park.
A great showing from both drivers in the final round saw the team win the title.
SimExpo Double Winners
SimTrophy.gp Professional Trophy
On Saturday December 3rd, the driver line-up of Daire McCormack, Tinko Van der Velde and Igor Rodrigues (who was racing from home in Brazil following recent shoulder surgery), won the Simracing.gp Professional Trophy race and also claimed the overall series title.
The team started on pole, ahead of their nearest rivals Triton Racing, and held them off for the whole race, finishing their dominant season at the top of the leaderboard.
The trio recently also won the first round of the VCOxLFM FLExTREME COTA 9hr event in commanding fashion, with Igor Rodrigues driving with only one hand.
McCormack closed out the SimExpo by winning the fastest lap competition, too.
You can find a link to the live race and interviews here:
SimExpo GT500
On Sunday December 4th, Louis Nahser, Daniel Pasztor, Alessandro Bico and Moreno Sirica added more success in the GT500 on Sunday with a 1-2 finish for the team.
Sirica and Bico won the race in the Williams Esports Razer car, with Nahser and Pasztor – last year’s event winners – second in the team’s Chillblast entry.
The win rounded out a dominant SimExpo performance from the team which also saw McCormack closing out the Expo by winning the fastest lap competition.
Williams Esports at Jarama 6hr event
The action continued into the evening on Sunday, with Williams Esports contesting the 6hr of Jarama event at the Spanish circuit, collaborating with team partner DUX Gaming.
Williams’ Daniel Lafuente put in a dominant performance, backed up by Coque Lopez and Jorge Alberola to claim the victory after a close battle with Team Fordzilla. After a race-long battle, contact on the last lap caused the Williams car to spin, but Fordzilla sportingly handed back the place before the finish line.
Each driver had to drive for at least one hour with the split for the team being Lafuente taking three hours, and the two DUX drivers of Lopez and Alberola driving for an hour and a half each.
DUX will also partner with Williams Esports for their first F1 Esports event, with the drivers hoping to end the season on a high in Event 4.
24hr Series Race Winners – Monza 6hr
The weekend closed with the fifth round of the 24h Series Esports, the Monza 6h.
Atte Kauppinen and Alx Spetz controlled the race to claim the second win of the season for the Williams Esports BenQ car – an even more incredible result considering Spetz was only called up for the race on the day, when Vasilios Beletsiotis had to withdraw through illness.
The result leaves the BenQ car in 2nd place in the teams’ championship, just three points off of top spot with two races to go.
Williams Esports win at Autosport Awards 2022
There was yet more success to come off the track, as the team’s Esports Chief Engineer Michael Preston received the Autosport Williams Engineer of the Future Award at the Autosport Awards in London.
He shared the stage with the likes of Sebastian Vettel, George Russell and Roger Penske, as he was recognised for his achievements in sim racing and developing a pathway for future engineering students to use esports to help achieve their dream of a career in real world motorsport.
Speaking on stage at the Autosport Awards at Grosvenor House after receiving his Award trophy from new Williams F1 driver Logan Sargeant, Preston said: “If you told me in January that I’d be winning at the Autosport Awards, I’d call you crazy. This time last year I was driving around delivering Christmas trees as a job!
“It is a great honour to win this award and follow in the footsteps of the likes of Adrian Newey. There are only two awards an engineer can win at the Autosport Awards, this one, and the international car of the year.”
Related article: Rocket League Williams Resolve roster announced in British-themed video
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.
