The International Motor Sports Association will have its own, officially sanctioned, racing esports championship later this year thanks to renowned organisers Virtual Competition Organisation.
Announced during its yearly ‘State of the Sport’ presentation, the IMSA Esports Global Championship will consist of four 2 hours 40 minutes races with two drivers per car. Each race will be held using iRacing and broadcast live on RaceSpot TV.
The invitational championship, presumably top-tier professional racing esports teams and drivers, will see multi-class races across GT3 and TCR. The cars eligible in the GT3 class are BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche, while Hyundai and Honda will duke it out in TCR.
“IMSA deserves a world-class Esports racing championship – and it is fantastic that we at VCO can do our bit to make this series happen and bring about success,” said Florian Haasper, CEO of VCO.
Countless real-world motorsport organisations are now represented in esports racing. But IMSA in particular, with its unique diversity of cars and format,s has everything needed to wow fans virtually as well.”
The US-based calendar includes Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, the newly updated Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Daytona International Speedway. The first event is 16th October, while the finale is 20th November 2022. Race timings and entry lists are expected at a later date.
“IMSA was among the first motorsports organizations to recognize the potential of working with iRacing to blend the gap between sim racing and real racing by including our manufacturing partners,” said IMSA President John Doonan.
“We’re excited that eight OEMs competing in IMSA this year will be participating in the IMSA Esports Global Championship, and we expect that number to increase in the coming years.”
The full calendar is below and we expect to provide in-depth coverage on Traxion.GG throughout the season.
IMSA Esports Global Championship 2022 calendar
- 16th October 2022 – Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta
- 23rd October 2022 – WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca
- 6th November 2022 – Indianapolis Motor Speedway
- 20th November 2022 – Daytona International Speedway
