> Huge 47-car entry set to battle it out in the legendary Bathurst 12 Hours
> In excess of 180 drivers assembled across both the Pro and Silver categories
> Over €50,000 up for grabs across five-round IGTC Esports Powered by Mobileye schedule
> IGTC Esports Powered by Mobileye Entry List: Bathurst 12 Hours
The Intercontinental GT Challenge Esports Powered by Mobileye season is set for an explosive start as a huge field stacked with the world’s finest GT3 sim racing talent heads to the legendary Bathurst circuit in Australia this weekend.
A total of 47 cars will fight it out across the virtual Bathurst 12 Hours – held on the Assetto Corsa Competizione platform – to determine both who will be crowned the Kings of the Mountain, but also who will scoop the first share of an incredible €58,000 prize fund.
The field will be split between Pro and Silver entries, with the Pro category reserved for drivers and teams with links to real-world manufacturers and OEMs, while the Silver class caters for the finest teams and drivers from the Assetto Corsa Competizione community. In total, 185 drivers will compete across the 47 cars.
Pro class studded with stars
From the 18-strong Pro class entry, there are already a few drivers and teams that have stood out in other SRO Esports competitions this season, namely Mercedes-AMG Team Unicorns of Love and Williams Esports.
Tobias Pfeffer emerged as the first-ever winner of the new SRO Esports SIM Pro Series (held live from the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS paddock) at Monza last month, beating Tobias Gronewald to the win for Unicorns of Love. For Bathurst, the two will team up and be joined by Bastian Richter and Michael Tauscher in what promises to be a formidable squad.
Tinko Van Der Velde was the star of the recent Mobileye GT World Challenge Esports Europe Sprint Series, taking a commanding victory in round one at Monza for Williams Esports. For this event the team will switch from Mercedes-AMG to running an Audi R8 LMS Evo II, and Van Der Velde will share with Igor De Oliveira Rodrigues, Vojtech Fiala and Charlie Crossland. Williams’ Mercedes-AMG Team car will be crewed by Dennis Schöniger, Dáire McCormack and Dominik Blajer.
There will also be a host of factory entries from brands such as Lamborghini, Ferrari, BMW, McLaren and Honda HPD.
David Tonizza headlines the Automobili Lamborghini Esports Team entry, sharing the Huracan GT3 Evo2 with Danilo Santoro, Luca Losio and Mattia Crupi. Scuderia Ferrari Esports Team will field a 296 GT3 for Jordan Sherratt, Chris Harteveld, Andrea Capoccia and Jonathan Riley.
BMW M Team BS+Competition has Nils Naujoks/Gregor Schill/Arthur Kammerer/Philippa Boquida in its M4 GT3 while HPD JAS Pro has twin Honda NSX entries for Sean Maddison/Karl Wittmer/Nicolas Hillebrand/Josh Staffin (JAS RED) and Ar Muhammad Aleef/Cardin Lu/Josh McKean/Nicolas Alvorado (JAS BLUE).
McLaren Veloce calls on Luke Whitehead/George Boothby/Grantas Kareckas/Marciej Malinowski for its 720 GT3 and teams such as Legion of Racers cannot be discounted, with Andika Rama Maulana/Dillan Tan/Moreno Pratama/Fadhli Rachmat at the wheel of its Mercedes-AMG GT3.
It’ll also be worth keeping an eye on VS Racing by Ballas eSport, which will run Dario Iemmulo, Francesco Fidelibus, Marcello Bonaccorsi and Leonardo Porco, who impressed at Monza by scoring the wildcard entry for the SIM Pro contest from the public qualifying session.
Silver stuns with huge entry
With 29 crews signed up for the silver class, the action is set to be white hot as the cream of the Assetto Corsa Competizione community comes together for a 12-hour showdown to start the season.
One name that stands out is Valentin Barrier, who secured a superb Silver class win in the Mobileye GT World Challenge Esports Europe Sprint Series race at Monza. He’ll form part of the YAS Heat Esports Ferrari team alongside Jaroslav Honzik, Edgars Marhilevics and Shaun Arnold.
Ferrari is the most popular brand, with 11 of its 296 GT3s entered. Jean Alesi Esports Team will run Hugo Merlhes/Joshua Allen/Jack Alexander/Philip Minaar in its car, while West Competition has its 296 GT3 driven by Harris Mitropoulos/Tadas Juknevicius/Zaahir Essa/Marc Tol. Kessel Glitch names Oscar Tingale/Samuele Villa/Simone Di Nicola/Marco Mancuso in its entry.
Bentley will be back at The Mountain thanks to Wild Things Racing by Kolex.GG and TSE Racing – Fuel Junkie. Wild Things has a team of Patrick Sodeikat/Chris Hack/Harry Phillips/Dom Healy, while TSE will field Mark Leclerc/Alexandre Lagacé/Matthew Largi/Matteo Scaptura in its Continental GT3.
BMW will be present through BMW Romania Team West Competition Racing (Sebastian Apostol/Marco Jonkers/Victor Nicolae/Andrei Miclea), while RACE Esports Team will fly the flag for Audi with Hugo Colot/Mathys Leitao/Mickaël Mazur/Arnaud Lacombe aboard its R8. There will be a total of six Aston Martin Vantage AMRs in action from teams such as GetCloserRacing, FFS Racing, RennWelten eSports. There will also be a handful of Porsche's new 992 GT3 R courtesy of Asetek SimSports Visceral, Full Pace Racing, Team One ∙ FF and KKrämer Racing Esports.
The Bathurst 12 Hours gets underway at 11:00 CEST on Saturday, May 20, and all race coverage will be live and uninterrupted via both the GT World YouTube and SRO Esports Twitch channels.
The IGTC Esports Powered by Mobileye field then heads to Kyalami (9 hours), Spa-Francorchamps (24 hours), Suzuka (10 hours) before rounding out the year with Indianapolis (8 hours) in September.