The double Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso, in the heat of the fight for the World Endurance Championship and the Indianapolis 500, has expanded his commitment to electronic sports in recent weeks, with the second season of his team and his entry into a company organizing competitions.
Since this week, the Spanish driver is an investor and partner in the company Motorsport Games, the electronic sports division of the British motorsport information conglomerate Motorsport, chaired by the director of the McLaren team Zak Brown and which also organizes electronic competitions.
Among the tests organized by this company are the official eSports series of the NASCAR American championship, called eNASCAR Heat Pro League, as well as other agreements with illustrious races such as LeMans and with companies in the video game sector such as the developer Codemasters, creator of the official video game of Formula One.
“ESports are not a fantasy, they are a reality and something that I have been passionate about for a long time,” said Alonso in statements offered by this team.
For the Asturian driver, electronic competitions “are neither better nor worse” but “something different” that offers “the opportunity to bring motorsport closer to the fans.”
The two-time Spanish world champion is no stranger to eSports, as he was the first Formula One driver to start his own team, currently called FA Racing Logitech G.
Fernando Alonso’s e-sports squad will feature seven gamers this season, including British driver Jaime Chadwick, who combines e-sports driving with motorsports, and was the first woman to win a British Formula 3 event .
The American Matt Malone, the Chinese Xian Gao, the German Alexander Dorniesen, the Bahraini Ebrahim Almubarak and the Spanish Diego Ruiloba and Kristian Kwietniewski complete the line-up of pilots of Fernando Alonso’s digital squad, whose project aims to use simulators to help pilots talented who cannot afford to compete in karting.
Alonso also plans to launch his own competition in the future, called the FA Racing Tournament, as revealed by the head of the squad, Andrés Tortarolo, at the ‘Global eSports Summit’ meeting that took place in Madrid on March 11.
On the other hand, the Asturian pilot will continue to organize face-to-face electronic sports competitions to recruit talent, such as the ‘Liberbank Challenge’ that he did in August 2018 in Gijón. EFE