Veloce Esports unveils its 2023 driver line-up

Crystal Scuor
After a successful 2022, Veloce Esports announces their roster ahead of the next season, including two Team Fordzilla teammates.
Meet the 2023 Veloce Esports driver line-up

Eight drivers—some fresh, some familiar faces—are locked into Veloce’s sim racing squad for the 2023 season.

The team announced via Twitter on 14th February with a cheeky post, initially labelled as a “clean up” but corrected with a strike-through.

Starting with the usual suspects, George Boothby (otherwise known as UKOG), Isaac Gillissen and Maciej Malinowski will continue to ride with Veloce Esports.

Boothby, who boasts 177k Twitch followers, was part of the trio who won the Mobileye Intercontinental GT Challenge esports championship in October 2022, alongside James Baldwin and Eamonn Murphy.

Mobileye Intercontinental GT Challenge Esports, Spa-Francorchamps, McLaren, Veloce

He also finished second in the Alpine Esports Series championship back in June 2022, just 9 points behind Baldwin and 5 points ahead of current teammate, Marko Pejic.

Now, Pejic is double-fisting this season, as not only will he drive for Veloce Esports, he joins Baldwin, Bono Huis and Graham Carroll with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports team competing in the brand-new ESL R1 series.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas announces ESL R1 lineup, including Baldwin and Huis

In July 2022, Boothby and Gillissen took first place at the Indianapolis 8 Hours, Round 2 of the IGTC series for Veloce McLaren. The two will keep that momentum as seat-mates this season, with Malinowski rounding out the three amigos.

After driving for the affiliated YAS HEAT team, the Polish sim racer helped lead them to victory in the 2022 VCO Esports Racing League’s Fall Cup Assetto Corsa Competizione round this past October.

Formerly Team Fordzilla, both Gianmarco Fiduci and Alessandro Ottaviani have made the switch to Veloce Esports. The two competed in the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual in the #966 LMP car.

Though they were fighting for a podium throughout the race, Team Fordzilla retired near the end.

Endurance Race DTM Esports 2022 Imola, Team Fordzilla and R8G Esports

Ottaviani did have success with R8G Esports while participating in the 2022 DTM Esports championship on RaceRoom, finishing fourth overall behind Fiduci, who snagged a third-place podium for Fordzilla.

The Italian is elated to join Veloce Esports this season.

“I am really excited to start this great adventure in the Veloce family,” said Fiduci.

“Over the past few years, I have battled on the track against its drivers on all platforms and have always admired their speed, so joining the team for me is a great honour and privilege.

“Now it’s up to me to repay the trust they have given me with some good performances, starting with WTCR Esports next week!”

Gianmarco Fiduci driving for Team Fordzilla last season

He’s currently testing his talents in the eWTCR championship on RaceRoom and even dipping his feet in the waters of photography, since he’s supplying race pictures to Traxion.GG following the event.

Completing the 2023 squad is Luke Whitehead and Grantas Kareckas.

Kareckas is a 16-year-old sim racer, who joins Veloce after driving for Race Anywhere Simsport. He’s hyped for the “huge” opportunity and already grabbed a third-place medal as part of a podium sweep for Veloce Esports in Apex Online Racing.

As for Whitehead, he finished second in the Europe/Middle East/Africa region, as part of Lamborghini’s The Real Race esports series in October.

The young driver is the reigning champion of the 2022 SRO GTWC America PRO, 2022 AOR Season X and 2022 NextLevel Racing GT3.

We’re thrilled to see what Veloce Esports has up its sleeves this season! Congrats to all the newcomers and wishing the familiar teammates continued success.

VELOCE ESPORTS 2023 LINE-UP

  • Alessandro Ottaviani
  • Gianmarco Fiduci
  • George Boothby
  • Grantas Kareckas
  • Isaac Gillissen
  • Luke Whitehead
  • Maciej Malinowski
  • Marko Pejic
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