Munich. BMW Esports is shifting up a gear on the sim racing
scene in the second half of the year. The sim community will do
battle for prize money totalling over 135,000 US dollars in
competitions on the iRacing, rFactor 2 and Assetto Corsa
Competizione platforms in 2021. The grand finale, BMW SIM LIVE, will
this year take place virtually over two days for the first time, on
20th and 21st November. Sunday’s BMW SIM GT
Cup race on iRacing heralded the start of the intense stage of
competition leading up to the highlight of the season. The sim
racers were underway in the new BMW M4 GT3 for the first time, with
victory going to the Finnish KOVA team.
Season two of the BMW SIM GT Cup began with a commanding win for
Tuomas Tähtelä and Pekka Tuomainen (both FIN). Tähtelä secured pole
position in the virtual BMW M4 GT3, and the KOVA pairing never looked
back in the two-hour race. They were followed over the finish line in
second and third place by the Valkyrie Esports and Williams Esports teams.
Tähtela/Tuomainen were not only rewarded with 1,200 US dollars each,
but also qualified for the grand finale at BMW SIM LIVE 2021, where
they will be competing for a prize purse of more than 67,000 US
dollars in the BMW SIM GT Cup alone.
Twelve drivers had already qualified in the first season of the BMW
SIM GT Cup on iRacing, which took place between January and May. They
included the two BMW SIM LIVE champions from 2019 and 2020, Mitchell
deJong (USA) and Joshua Rogers (AUS), both of whom race for Coanda Simsport.
This year’s BMW SIM LIVE event will take place on 20th and
21st November. While the BMW SIM LIVE studio will be in BMW
Welt like last year, the competitors will compete in the final races
on their simulators at home. As well as the deciding races in the BMW
SIM GT Cup, the programme also features the finals in the BMW SIM M2
CS Racing Cup on rFactor 2 (total prize money of 10,500 Euros) and the
BMW SIM Time Attack by Assetto Corsa Competizione (total prize money
of 14,000 Euros).
The BMW SIM GT Cup returns to the virtual track at Austin (USA) on
15th August. Season 2 of the BMW SIM M2 CS Racing on
rFactor 2 gets underway with the race at Monza (ITA) on 9th
August. The next BMW SIM Time Attack by Assetto Corsa Competizione
Challenge starts on 6th September at the Barcelona (ESP) circuit.
About BMW Esports.
BMW has been collaborating with five of the world’s best teams as a
partner in the classic League of Legends game since 2020. Cloud 9,
FNATIC, FunPlus Phoenix, G2 Esports and T1 fly the BMW colours in the
biggest events in the industry. The highlight of the first
collaborative season in 2020 was the Worlds, in which G2 esports and
FNATIC made it to the knock-out stage of the finals in the battle of
the world’s best teams. G2 Esports even made it to the semi-final. The
Dota 2 specialists OG Esport are a new addition to the ‘United in
Rivalry’ squad as of 2021. The involvement in Esports gives BMW
completely new touch points with a dynamic, rapidly growing community;
making Esports an important future field for BMW marketing activities.
BMW has prominent representatives in sim racing as well, and has
integrated BMW SIM Racing into its racing programme as a standalone
pillar. The BMW SIM Cups attract the world’s best sim racers, who do
battle for wins, titles and attractive cash prizes in virtual BMW
racing cars. BMW SIM Racing teams are taking part for the first time
in 2021. BS+COMPETITION, G2 Esports, Team GB and Team Redline
represent BMW on various simulation platforms.