Gfinity plc today announces it has entered into a five-year agreement with Abu Dhabi Motorsport Management (ADMM) to design, develop and deliver a new virtual motorsport (esports) racing championship (ERC). The ERC will be jointly owned by Gfinity and ADMM.
The ERC combines Gfinity’s expertise in esports and competitive gaming entertainment with ADMM’s proven ability to create world-class experiences, including the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and supports the ongoing investment in racing products and services that has built one of the region’s premium entertainment and motorsport brands.
The ERC concept, created by Gfinity, is based on a unique format not seen in virtual racing before and will feature some of the fastest professional simulation racing drivers with a roster of teams from digital motorsport.
There will be two seasons in each calendar year, with the first season taking place in 2020. The races will be hosted by Gfinity, with drivers joining remotely from around the world competing behind the wheel of a bespoke, single-seater car.
Gfinity’s proprietary technology, Race Control, will be utilised for in-race adjudication and data feeds delivering new levels of insight to fans about the driver and car performance.
The unique format is designed to capitalise on the growing appetite for digital motorsport from international broadcasters, providing multiple hours of programming per season to a range of partners, accompanied by new dedicated ERC digital channels, maximising the global audience reach and commercial opportunities.
Under the terms of the agreement, Gfinity will provide services to the ERC, including production and tournament operations. ADMM and Gfinity are jointly responsible for commercialising the ERC.
The Gfinity Digital Media group will work with ADMM’s marketing and social media teams to build the new channels and a global community of gamer racing fans under the ERC brand, supported by promotion and support from Gfinity’s existing global gaming community of 11 million users across gfinityesports.com, realsport101.com, stealthoptional.com, realgaming101.es and realgaming101.pt.
This will be supported via the 100% Arabic language site www.RealGaming101.me, which targets the 93 million-plus gaming fans in the MENA region and was created by Gfinity in partnership with YaLLa Esports in April this year.
More details about the ERC format will be announced over the coming weeks.
Al Tareq Al Ameri, ADMM CEO said: “ADMM has a strategic focus to develop and invest in premium racing ventures and virtual racing is an important pillar in this vision. The Esports Racing Championship will welcome the very best teams and drivers from around the world to compete on a global stage at the highest level. Gfinity is the right partner for this championship with a shared passion and vision and has proven experience of executing world-class esports programmes. We look forward to sharing more information about this and other esports initiatives that ADMM and Gfinity will be creating together.”
John Clarke, Gfinity CEO said: “Motorsports is a key pillar of our strategy and we are excited to be entering into a long-term partnership with Abu Dhabi Motorsport Management. We have a shared passion for the Esports Racing Championship and a desire to build a product that will sit alongside the biggest brands in motorsport. There are millions of gamers that love racing. We have created a format that will excite and draw them into the ERC, giving sponsors and advertisers the opportunity to engage with this typically hard to reach audience.”