Supercars partners with Gfinity AU for Eseries championship

Australian touring car racing competition Supercars has partnered with Gfinity Esports Australia to bring sim racing back down under. The partnership will see the 2019 Gfinity Supercars Eseries commence in August, and run through to the end of November.

The competition will use online racing simulation service iRacing – who has made some noise lately through the Porsche Esports Supercup – and will feature 12 teams from a combination of Supercars sponsored teams as well as other high profile brands. One team has already put their name down on the starting grid, with Supercars outfit Boost Mobile Racing confirming their entry and on the lookout for drivers.

While the finer details of the Supercars Eseries are yet to be disclosed, the competition will see the 12 teams race over eight rounds, with the overall winner taking home the 2019 Gfinity Supercards Eseries title. The entire series will be broadcast across Supercars and Gfinity channels entirely live and free. Viewers will be able to tune in via the Supercars Championship website, the socials media channels of both partners as well at Twitch.

Supercars CEO, Sean Seamer was notably excited about the venture, “This is a great opportunity to embrace and engage the growing Supercars fan base and esports community. The partnership with Gfinity will help engage a new generation of fans and offer a pathway for sim drivers to showcase their skills in our cars against our best teams and drivers.”

Dominic Remond, CEO of Gfinity Esports Australia expressed a similar sentiment, “We are very excited to be partnering with Supercars and taking their esports strategy to a new level. Racing titles are exciting and easy to comprehend, with a significant crossover into real world motorsport. It’s a unique opportunity for brands to engage both the massive existing audience in Supercars and rapidly growing esports community.”

Players will be selected through the Gfinity Supercars Eseries open qualifiers where each of the 12 teams will select an ‘elite driver’ through a series of races to find the best sim racers in Australia. Competitors will be able to register for the open qualifiers in July, with more details to come via the Eseries website.

Esports Insider says: For Gfinity this is a partnership that makes a lot of sense considering the growing scale of the Formula 1 Esports Series. Colloquially known by its former name, the ‘V8’ Supercars is arguably the most popular and widely consumed motorsport in Australia. Tapping into this viewer and consumer market makes the most sense for Gfinity to replicate the performance of the F1 Esports Series in Australia. Similarly, for Supercars, the Eseries is a very clever way of trying to tap into the market of younger motorsport fans.