Ferrari Esports Series qualifying continues | FOS Future Lab

Vallelunga hosted the third of four qualifying rounds, each of which will grant a dozen drivers entry to the main series which will run from August to December, and see racers have to contend with a variety of Ferrari machinery.

The list of drivers already qualified from the first two rounds, at Brands Hatch and Laguna Seca, is littered with big names from the esports world. Isaac Price, often seen in Porsche esports series – including the Carrera Cup GB and the Porsche Esports Supercup – won the first round. The British driver led from lights to flag against drivers like Kamil Pawlowski and Maichol Tonizza, brother of Ferrari Esports driver and 2019 F1 Esports champion David Tonizza. Arnaud Lacombe, who just missed out on the 2020 Ferrari Esports title to Giovanni De Salvo, then demolished a high quality field to win the Laguna Seca race.

This time round it was the turn of Bastien Marti, who’d just missed out on qualifying at Laguna Seca with a 13^th place finish. There was no mistake at Vallelunga though, as Marti – the fastest qualifier for the event – stuck his FXXK onto pole and led throughout the 30-minute race. Though Davide Adami kept the race close, the Italian later picked up a ten-second penalty that dropped him back to fourth, behind Jurica Slovinac and Ruben Garcia.

The final hotlap qualifying for the Zandvoort round is now open and will run through to 18^th July if you wish to try your hand at the series.

If you prefer McLaren to Ferrari, the Logitech McLaren G Challenge will return for 2021 too. The event is free to enter, though you will need either iRacing or Assetto Corsa Competizione for your PC – no consoles allowed! There’ll be a series of online time trial challenges running across the year, with one each month from July through to November, with a choice of disciplines: sports cars, open wheel, and stock cars.

Each event will select the top three drivers from each challenge in each of four regions, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, North America, and Europe/Middle East/Africa. From there you advance to an online semi-final, with three drivers qualifying from each bracket to the grand final in December.

Along with these three finalists, each region will also have a wildcard finalist. They’ll be selected from as-yet unannounced wildcard events running across the year, and a live wildcard semi-final that will take place in Las Vegas.

These four racers from each region – 16 in total – will then race in the grand final for an exclusive McLaren VIP experience, which includes a driving day with McLaren cars and a VIP trip to the British Grand Prix in 2022.

Gran Turismo’s top driver will be back in action this week, as the second World Series round takes place. The new-look competition will see the same field of drivers – 14 in the Nations Cup and 12 in the Manufacturer Series – as contested the first round last month, as they look to score more points towards their 2021 season tally.

Olympic champion Valerio Gallo of Italy leads the way in the Nations Cup, having taken the three points for winning the first round, while Team Porsche heads up the Manufacturer Series courtesy of Chilean driver Angel Inostroza’s win last month.

Of course this coming weekend will also see Goodwood’s own esports event reach its climax, as the Mastercard Hot Laps competition final takes place during the Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard weekend. You’ll be able to tune in on the official event stream right here on GRR to watch the final following the Timed Shootout on Sunday 11^th July.

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