Supercars launches Bathurst eSports competition

Having previously expressed interest in a move into the rapidly growing eSports segment, the Aussie Touring Car series has now confirmed details of its first digital competition.

Backed by electronics retailing giant Harvey Norman – also the primary sponsor of Simona de Silvestro’s Nissan – the competition will be based around the Forza franchise and Xbox platform.

Throughout September and October sim racers will log their best laps around the Mount Panorama circuit on Forza Motorsport 6, the eight best qualifiers winning a trip to this year’s Bathurst 1000 for a live finals event.

There the finalists will be paired up with some of the sport’s biggest names like Shane van Gisbergen, Scott McLaughlin, Chaz Mostert, David Reynolds, Lee Holdsworth, de Silvestro, and Alex Rullo for an All-Stars Challenge.

After that the sim racers will do battle in a series of live final races using Forza Motorsport 7, which is set to be released the week of the Bathurst 1000.

The Grand Final will be streamed live by the official Supercars website, as well as Fox Sports in Australia and on the relevant broadcast partners in North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

“This eSports initiative is an exciting opportunity to showcase Supercars and further our fan engagement, representing a significant growth market for our teams and partners,” Warburton said.

“The synergy and popularity of racing games and the sport of Supercars means that a eSports Championship in 2018 will become a natural extension of our product offering.

“We are delighted to be partnering with Harvey Norman and Microsoft as well as the stars of our show, the Supercars drivers and their teams.”

The move follows a similar announcement from Formula 1, which has set up an eSports competition based around its new F1 2017 console game.