James Baldwin wins Autosport’s 2022 Esports Driver of the Year Award

Autosport and Traxion.GG readers have voted the 25-year-old British entrant as the best sim racer this season, ahead of Kevin Siggy, Enzo Bonito and last year’s winner Frederik Rasmussen.

Baldwin has taken four separate championships this year, plus several other notable performances, setting him apart from the competition.

The former World’s Fastest Gamer winner racer took home the Alpine Esports, Intercontinental GT Challenge Esports, GT World Challenge Europe Esports and the FIA Motorsport Games Esports Cup titles this season, alongside making the finals of the eRace of Champions and winning a round of the Le Mans Virtual Series.

He also competed in the real-world 24 Hours for Spa for Garage 59 and won a guest appearance in the Fanatec Esports GT Pro Series the same weekend.

“It’s an absolute honour to win this award, with so much talent out there in sim racing, to be amongst the best in the world is crazy,” said Baldwin.

“When I first got into sim racing five years ago, competing at the top level seemed impossible, but over time I started to figure it out. I can’t believe I’ve won this award. Thank you to everyone who voted for me.”

Baldwin follows Sebastian Job and Rasmussen in receiving the award and becomes its third-ever recipient.

“Thank you to my team, Veloce and my teammates. Without them, a lot of the success this year wouldn’t have been possible.

“For those who want to win this award one day, you need to dedicate everything to make it happen. You need talent and a strong work ethic. Work smart as well as hard. The final thing you need is a bit of luck.

This year, I’ve definitely had some of that.”

Esports Team of the Year was won by Team Redline. To find out who our other Award winners are, go to autosport.com/awards