World Rally Championship enters multi-year deal with Fanatec

The World Rally Championship (WRC) has entered a multi-year partnership with simulation racing hardware manufacturer Fanatec.

The agreement will see the manufacturer become the official partner of all esports activities from the World Rally Championship.

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They have already collaborated with each other in 2020, with Fanatec providing its hardware for the WRC eSports Invitational event that took place in Monaco in January.

Fanatec is furthering its involvement in WRC esports, also becoming the sponsor of the #RaceAtHome WRC Weekly Challenge. Now known as the WRC Weekly Challenge presented by Fanatec, the event offers sim racers an opportunity to compete on a number of stages across the World Rally Championship.

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Fanatec is now the sixth partner of the eSports WRC Championship, joining Playseat, BenQ, BigBen Interactive, Nacon Gaming, and WRC 8 developer KT Kylotonn.

Oliver Ciesla, Managing Director of WRC Promoter, commented on the partnership in a release: “We welcome Fanatec to the championship’s growing portfolio of premium partners and it’s great to see the company’s passion and commitment in creating bespoke products for WRC sim racers.”

“Like all global sports, WRC is currently paused due to Covid-19, but the WRC Weekly Challenge allows sim racers to compete against their rivals on classic roads from famous rallies. It provides our existing fans, and young gamers who are building their interest in the sport, with a means to preserve their WRC ‘fix’ and we’re delighted Fanatec has chosen to support this challenge.”

Esports Insider says: With its involvement in the WRC esports championship, Fanatec now has a presence in two FIA-sanctioned esports series. Widely considered to be one of the top hardware manufacturers in sim racing, the partnership makes a lot of sense for WRC.

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