A new esports series, filled with high-profile real-world drivers and esports champions, will start later this week and it uses a battery electric vehicle.
The RCCO World eX Championship starts on Thursday 11th March and uses rFactor 2’s eX Zero all-electric race car across ten rounds. The eX Zero was a DLC edition to rFactor 2, and recently received an update enabling the harvesting of batter power via the regenerative brakes, aerodynamic changes to reduce the ‘dirty air’ effect and customisable LED lights.
Teams representing eight different nations and drivers from 11 countries have been entered as permanent participants into the inaugural RCCO World eX Championship. Highlights in the permanent line-up include former Formula One and current IndyCar driver Romain Grosjean – who has his R8G eSports esports team – five-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner, BTCC and DTM champion Frank Biela and current Formula E racer Nico Müller.
Each of the nine permanent teams will consist of one real-world driver and one esports racer. A tenth team will join later in the season. There will also be guest teams and drivers to look out for. At the first event, defending Formula E champion António Félix da Costa and defending RCCO E-Sport Series champion Michael Niemas will race as part of guest team NReSports.
“This is really a fantastic grid for our first season,” says World eX co-founder and former DTM champion Mike Rockenfeller. “World eX combines some of the best from real-world motorsport and esports racing. It is also important to us that we can attract a lot of great personalities because that’s what World eX and #RacingForTheClimate are all about.”
2021 RCCO World eX Championship – permanent teams and drivers
- 7 Lasse Sørensen (DK) TK9 E-SPEED (pro)
- 8 Romain Grosjean (F) R8G Esports (pro)
- 9 Andreas Jochimsen (DK) TK9 E-SPEED (esports)
- 10 Risto Kappet (EST) R8G Esports (esports)
- 11 Luca Kita (D) Biela Racing Team EURONICS (esports)
- 16 Tom Dillmann (F) Williams Esports (pro)
- 20 Yifei Ye (CHN) Absolute Racing (pro)
- 27 Alen Terzic (SLO) BS+COMPETITION (esports)
- 28 Thomas Schmid (CH) NIANCO esports (esports)
- 29 Liam de Waal (NL) Patrick Long Esports (pro)
- 31 Fabrice Cornélis (B) Esports Team WRT (esports)
- 32 Dries Vanthoor (B) Esports Team WRT (pro)
- 33 Gabby Chaves (USA) Patrick Long Esports (pro)
- 45 Frank Biela (D) Biela Racing Team EURONICS (pro)
- 51 Nico Müller (CH) NIANCO esports (pro)
- 89 Beitske Visser (NL) BS+COMPETITION (pro)
- 98 Martin Stefanko (CZ)Williams Esports (esports)
- 99 Michi Hoyer (D) Absolute Racing (esports)
2021 RCCO World eX Championship calendar and broadcast schedule
- 01 March 11 eX Prix of Great Britain, Silverstone
- 02 April 1 eX Prix of the United States, Sebring
- 03 April 29 eX Prix of Malaysia, Sepang
- 04 May 27 eX Prix of the Netherlands, Maastricht city street circuit
- 05 June 24 eX Prix of Brazil, Interlagos (São Paulo)
- 06 July 29 eX Prix of Portugal, Estoril (night race)
- 07 August 26 eX Prix of Belgium, Spa-Francorchamps
- 08 September 30 TBC *
- 09 October 28 eX Prix of Monaco, Monte Carlo city street circuit
- 10 November 25 AvD eX Prix of Germany, Nürburgring + The Champion Shootout on the Nordschleife
*Subject to agreement with racetrack and local race event promoter
The eX Prix of Great Britain will premiere on 11th March 2021 at 20:00 CET / 19:00 GMT / EST / PST on motorsport.tv, Twitch and other broadcast partners. This is also where you will find each subsequent round too. Let us know on social media if you’ll be tuning in.
