Real and virtual racers set for battle in World RX Esports opener

Reigning World RX Champion Timmy Hansen, two-time series winner Johan Kristoffersson and Dirt Rally 2.0 World Series champion Killian Dall'olmo head the bill for the first event.

The concept has been created to replace real-life rounds of the World RX series that have been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, with the real-life opener at the Catalunya RX circuit hosting the virtual curtain-raiser.

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Hansen won the real-life World RX event at Catalunya last year but has just set his targets at reaching the semi-finals due to his lack of sim racing experience.

"I've done no sim racing before this and I haven't played much at all so this will be a big challenge for me," Hansen admitted.

"I have no idea how competitive I will be. I'll try to get some practice before the race, but I know a lot of guys have a lot more sim racing experience than I do.

"I hope I can qualify for the semi-finals. It will be fun to be racing against fans, but I think the sim racers will most likely be too fast for me."

As in real-life, Timmy's younger brother Kevin will compete alongside him in Peugeot 208s.

"We have been practising a lot, and we are very equal on times, even if he (Timmy) is a tenth faster," Kevin said. "We have some technical issues to sort out, but we will be ready on Sunday."

For 2017-2018 World RX Drivers' champion Kristoffersson, the event will mark his return to the discipline after a year in WTCR with Volkswagen last season.

His main target is to beat his fellow professional rallycross drivers rather than the overall win.

"I was so looking forward to the first free practice, to do the first launch and pre-launch in Barcelona, but now this has to wait for another few months but at least we can have fun in this race," he said.

"The (DiRT) world champion seems to be really fast, but they (the Esports drivers) are also putting in the hours, they've done their homework and this is what it takes to be good in any sport, whatever you do.

"I will do my best and we will see how far it gets. For sure it would be nice to beat the world champion, not the world champion in DiRT, the world champion in rallycross."

With the VW Polo not in Codemasters' DiRT Rally 2.0, Kristoffersson will also compete in a Peugeot 208 for the first time.

Andreas Bakkerud, who Timmy Hansen beat on countback to the 2019 title, is another driver relatively new to sim racing but relishing the challenge.

Among the expected favourites from the professional drivers in former Hyundai World Rally Championship driver Kevin Abbring. 31-year-old Abbring made his World RX debut last year and operates a business coaching professional racing driver using simulators.

Leading the sim racers taking part is DiRT rallycross champion Dall'olmo, who has recently signed for the highly successful SET Esports team.

He will be joined by his brother Quentin Dall'olmo, who set the fastest time in the pre-event qualifying session to make it through to the Catalan race this weekend, and Czech driver Lukas Mateja.

The event will run a conventional World RX format, with four qualifying sessions run over four-lap races.

However only 10 drivers, as opposed to 12, will graduate to the six-lap semi-finals from the 20-strong field. The final will also be run over six laps.

Other World RX drivers competing include two-time DTM Champion Timo Scheider and former Andretti Rallycross driver in Americas Rallycross Cabot Bigham.

In addition, the European Championship Super1600 event-winner Marius Bermingrud and the dominant force from World RX's single-make RX2 series in recent years, Oliver Eriksson.

Junior World Rally Championship contender and Codemasters' DiRT development driver Jon Armstrong, who made his rallycross debut in the RX150 buggy series in the UK last year, will also start, as will fellow rally drivers Cohete Suarez and Mattias Adielsson.

Aston Martin World Endurance driver Nicki Thiim is another to make his rallycross debut, along with YouTube influencers Jimmy Broadbent and FailRace, while Henrik Krogstad, who is being mentored by the Hansen brothers, completes the line-up.

The event starts at 14.00 BST on Sunday (April 19) and will be live on Motorsport.tv.

For more on the exciting world of Esports, check out Motorsport Games.