Baldwin looks to defend title in Mobileye GT World Challenge Europe Esports Championship opener

The opening round of 2022’s Mobileye GT World Challenge Europe Esports Championship takes place this evening at Misano, (6th April 2022) featuring a field replete with some of the fastest Assetto Corsa Competizione players in the world.

Headlining the new campaign is 2021 champion, James Baldwin. The Veloce McLaren driver was notable for being the only driver to score points in every single race in last year’s GT World Challenge Europe Esports Sprint Series but still showed incredible pace to take three race wins.

His main rival last season, David Tonizza, also returns for 2022, driving a Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo for the Scuderia Ferrari Velas Esports Team. At times, Tonizza was the man to beat in 2021, also taking three wins, but two non-scores and a costly ten-second penalty in the Spa-Francorchamps finale meant he finished eight points shy of the title.

We shouldn’t expect it to be another two-horse race, however, with the likes of BMW Team BS+COMPETITION’s Nils Naujoks, Unicorns of Love’s Michael Tauscher and Tonizza’s new Ferrari team-mate Kamil Pawlowski also in the hunt.

Also of note are works-backed Aston Martin and Lamborghini teams, the latter using 2021 Lamborghini The Real Race EMEA champion Jordan Sherratt.

New for this season is a second class for Silver drivers. Designated based on last season’s finishing positions and points accrual, Silver drivers are no less quick than their Pro counterparts, so expect to see the likes of Robbie Stapleford, Dominik Blajer and Egor Ogorodnikov mixing it at the front of the field. The key for them will be to pick their battles to ensure they maximise class points.

Races remain at 60-minutes, with a mandatory pit stop spicing things up in terms of strategy. Balance of Performance remains a closely-guarded process, but organisers intend to make it more transparent by offering official tests to drivers on request.

As well as the prestige of such a competitive series, Pro category drivers are competing for €10,000 in cash and €5,000 in prizes, while Silver drivers are racing for €5,000 cash and €3,000 in prize value. Real-life test drives have also been mooted, but more details have yet to be released on this.

With the real-life GT World Challenge drivers already in esports action last weekend, fans will be interested to see how well the sim racers match up to the likes of Neil Verhagen and Nicki Thiim.

The live race stream begins at 7.50 pm BST/8.50 pm this evening and can be viewed on SRO Motorsports’ GT World YouTube channel.

Who do you think will win the title this year? Let us know in the comments below.

2022 Mobileye GT World Challenge Europe Esports Championship Calendar

• Misano – 6 April
• Zandvoort – 4 May
• Nürburgring – 8 June
• Hungaroring – 6 July
• Monza – 3 August

ROUND 1 – MISANO – ENTRY LIST – PRO CLASS

• 1 James Baldwin – McLaren 720S GT3 – Veloce
• 3 Niko Wisniewski – Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo – Mercedes-AMG E-Sports Team Williams
• 4 Andrea Capoccia – Audi R8 LMS Evo II GTWR – R8G Academy
• 7 Nils Naujoks – BMW M4 GT3 BMW Team – BS+COMPETITION
• 9 Dennis Schoeniger – Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo – Mercedes-AMG E-Sports Team HRT
• 14 Kamil Pawlowski – Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo – Scuderia Ferrari Velas Esports Team
• 22 Niklas Houben – Audi R8 LMS Evo II – R8G eSports
• 23 Eamonn Murphy – McLaren 720S GT3 – Veloce
• 27 Kevin Siclari – Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo – Mkers
• 28 Luca Losio – BMW M4 GT3 – Mobileye x Jean Alesi Esports Academy
• 38 Ben Creanor – Honda NSX Evo – HPD JAS Pro Europe
• 49 Samir Ibraimi – AMR V8 Vantage – RennWelten Esports
• 50 Arthur Kammerer – BMW M4 GT3 – BMW Team BS+COMPETITION
• 52 Tobias Gronewald – Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo – Mercedes-AMG E-Sports Team UOL
• 63 Jordan Sherratt – Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo – Automobili Lamborghini Esports Team
• 66 Tinko van der Velde – Bentley Continental GT3 2018 – Williams Esports
• 69 Manuel Biancolilla – AMR V8 Vantage – Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Esports
• 91 Michael Tauscher – Porsche 911 GT3 R (2019) – Unicorns of Love
• 92 Amir Hosseini – McLaren 720S GT3 – R8G eSports
• 95 David Tonizza – Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo – Scuderia Ferrari Velas Esports Team
• 97 Gianfranco Giglioli – Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo – Automobili Lamborghini Esports Team
• 120 Jordan Grant-Smith – Porsche 911 GT3 R (2019) – Race Anywhere Simsport
• 557 Nicolas Hillebrand – Honda NSX Evo – HPD JAS Pro Europe
• 814 Daire McCormack – Bentley Continental GT3 2018 – Munster Rugby Gaming
• 994 Maxime Batifoulier – Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo – Mker

ROUND 1 – MISANO – ENTRY LIST – SILVER CLASS

• 10 Dominik Blajer – Bentley Continental GT3 2018 – TRITON Racing
• 17 Léo Boulay – McLaren 720S GT3 – Intruder Racing Competition
• 18 Mattia Zampedri – Bentley Continental GT3 2018 – QLASH Simracing
• 21 David Pertile – Bentley Continental GT3 2018 – QLASH Simracing
• 29 Hamada Erquizi – McLaren 720S GT3 – SDL eSports | Logitech G
• 30 Tommy Razeyre – McLaren 720S GT3 – SDL eSports | Logitech G
• 31 Kévin Leaune – Porsche 911 GT3 R (2019) – SDL eSports | BenQ-Mobiuz
• 35 Mateusz Tyszkiewicz – Bentley Continental GT3 2018 – TRITON Racing
• 41 Egor Ogorodnikov – Bentley Continental GT3 2018 – VDES Academy
• 72 Valentin Barrier – Bentley Continental GT3 2018 – VirtualDrivers by TX3
• 77 Sven Hettich – McLaren 720S GT3 – PRIME eRACING
• 81 Robbie Stapleford – BMW M4 GT3 – BMW G2 Esports
• 105 Kieran Prendergast – Honda NSX Evo – Privateer
• 113 Jesse Kauppinen – AMR V8 Vantage – Griphax Engineering
• 123 Joe McAuley – Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo – FFS Racing
• 142 Mikhail Bykov – Bentley Continental GT3 2018 – Simware.pro by VDES
• 195 Fabien Piffet – Bentley Continental GT3 2018 – Team Fordzilla
• 203 Marco Jonkers – McLaren 720S GT3 – MJKartracing
• 215 Nils Klinkmüller – Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo – Mercedes-AMG E-Sports Team HRT
• 227 Mathys Leitao – Audi R8 LMS Evo II – FullMotorsport By RACE eSport Team
• 340 Giuseppe Montalbano – Bentley Continental GT3 2018 – R8G eSport
• 369 Alexander Novikov – Bentley Continental GT3 2018 – Simware.pro by VDES
• 563 Marcello Bonaccorsi – Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo – VSR by Ballas eSport