Oscaro driver wins inaugural DiRT eSports world championships
Finnish teenager Joona Pankkonen won the first ever DiRT eSports World Championships at Silverstone after a thrilling title-deciding rallycross race
Six finalists battled it out for the title at the Speedmachine festival at Silverstone, after progressing through multiple qualifying stages, which had over 20,000 entries.
Heading into the final rallycross race at Loheac, just one point separated Oscaro eSports driver Pankkonen and the top qualifier from the PlayStation 4, Anders Robin Johnson.
Pankkonen won both rally stages but a poor first rallycross race and some killer consistency from Johnson set up a final race showdown.
The race was incident-filled with the two championship protagonists colliding on the opening lap, dropping them to fifth and sixth following a chaotic opening lap.
"I went really wide on the long right-hander, and when I came back on, I hit Robin," Pankkonen told Autosport.
"It was a crazy race, everyone was making mistakes, there was so much pressure."
Pankkonen - who was the youngest finalist - recovered to clinch the inaugural championship. Johnson finished in last after the damage he sustained from the clash with Pankkonen.
Pankkonen's Oscaro team-mate Alejandro Aroca Garcia, whose pre-race lunch consisted of a banana supplied by Pankkonen, dominated the final rallycross race to claim third position overall.
Quentin Dall'Olmo, also an Oscaro driver, won the second event which was a rallycross race at the infamous Hell.
However, he failed to match his strong rallycross form across the two rally stages, meaning he finished fourth place ahead of top Xbox qualifiers Robin Sieren and Nicholas Steere.
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| Series | Esports |
| Author | Josh Suttill |
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