Motorsport greats and esports racing stars set to battle it out in Miami’s Fastest Gamer

Jan 30, 2020

  • IndyCar legends headline esports battle
  • Second-generation stars using esports racing to prepare for real-world racing
  • Esports racers ready to make the jump from virtual to reality
Some of the biggest names in international motorsport, young second-generation stars of the future and a hand-picked squad of the world’s fastest esports racers are set to contest the inaugural Miami’s Fastest Gamer event this Saturday.

A spin-off of the World’s Fastest Gamer esports racing program, this weekend’s Miami’s Fastest Gamer event is a prelude to the launch of regular esports racing competitions at the Torque Esports-owned Allinsports esports racing facility.

The Miami-based racing league will headline the new Miami Esports Arena, which was announced by Torque Esports in October last year and is scheduled to open in early 2021.

A total of 24 real and virtual racers will compete in Saturday’s event, doing battle for US$10,000 in prize money.

The real-world racing stars will include two-time Indy 500 winner, three-time Rolex 24 at Daytona winner and ex-Formula 1 star, Juan Pablo Montoya; 10-time IndyCar race winner and ex-American Le Mans Series champion, Adrian Fernandez; IndyCar and DTM racer and former Indy Lights champion, Ed Jones; Indy 500 and sportscar racing driver James Davidson; IMSA BMW racer winner Robbie Foley and FIA Formula 3 young star Devlin DeFrancesco.

Young second-generation racers will include Haas F1 reserve driver, Pietro Fittipaldi; Ferrari academy racer Enzo Fittipaldi; Juan Pablo Montoya’s son Sebastian Montoya and F1 legend Rubens Barrichello’s son, Eduardo Barrichello.

The esports racing stars will be led by World’s Fastest Gamer season 1 winner, Rudy van Buren; World’s Fastest Gamer season 2 winner, James Baldwin, and mobile game Gear.Club racing ace and World’s Fastest gamer finalist, Riley Gerster.

The 24 racers will compete through a series of qualifying sessions and heats before doing battle in the final aboard the virtual version of the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 car at Austria’s Red Bull Ring.

“This weekend’s Miami’s Fastest Gamer event will be the first of a series of regular competitions staged in south Florida as we prepare for the launch of our esports arena,” Torque Esports President and CEO, Darren Cox said.

“The guys will be racing on the Allinsports simulators which feature F1-level engineering quality and are manufactured across the road from the Ferrari factory in Maranello, Italy.

“Miami will be the first pilot city for these on-site competitions which will eventually expand also to incorporate racers competing internationally online. This – along with our World’s Fastest Gamer competition – is another key step in our goal to really professionalize global esports racing.”

For World’s Fastest Gamer entrants James Baldwin and Riley Gerster, this Saturday’s event will be their first opportunity to race against their mentors from last year’s World’s Fastest Gamer finals – Juan Pablo Montoya and Rudy van Buren.

Montoya will be competing after finishing fourth in last weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona while van Buren will step away from his ‘day job’ as an official simulator development driver for the Mahindra FIA Formula E race team.

“I’m looking forward to racing against James and Riley after seeing them in action as a mentor for the World’s Fastest Gamer competition last year,” Montoya said.

“Whatever I’m racing – I always want to win – whether that’s with Acura Team Penske in the IMSA championship or this weekend in Miami’s Fastest Gamer.

“I’m going to have to keep an eye out for my son Sebastian. He and I both train on the simulators at Allinsports, and he is preparing for his first season of racing in Europe this year. He would love nothing more than to beat me, but there is no way I’m going to make it easy for him.”

World’s Fastest Gamer series two winner Baldwin is set to contest a full season of GT racing in Europe throughout 2020.

Torque Esports has been making industry headlines with the announcement of the Miami Esports Arena plus the reveal of key acquisitions including motorsport simulator experts, Allinsports, and gaming competition group UMG.

Torque also recently announced it was forming a three-way partnership Frankly Media and WinView Games to create an integrated news, gaming, sports, and esports platform – Engine Media.