Gfinity and Abu Dhabi Motorsport Management (ADMM) have announced distribution agreements for its new virtual racing competition – the V10 R-League – with three of the world’s leading broadcasters.
This sets the V10 R-League up to be one of the most widely syndicated esports competitions, with broadcast coverage in over 75 countries worldwide, having a potential reach of 150 million households.
Season 1 of the Global Racing Series will be available on BT Sport, ESPN networks and platforms and STARZPLAY Arabia, as well as across team and talent channels in a unique broadcast and digital hybrid distribution plan.
BT Sport and STARZPLAY Arabia have signed a multi-year agreement for exclusive rights in the UK and Ireland, and across the MENA region, respectively, whilst ESPN will carry the V10 R-League for Seasons 1 and 2 in the US, Canada, the Netherlands, Latin America, the Caribbean and Oceania across its networks and platforms.
The Season 1 opener highlights will air as-live in a two-hour show on BT Sport 2 from 7pm GMT on Monday 7 September, with each of the seven rounds broadcast weekly at the same time. All of the racing in full will be made available for anyone to watch for free the following morning, after the highlights show, on btsport.com and the BT Sport App.
BMW Motorsport SIM Racing Team and Porsche24 Redline recently joined Red Bull Racing Esports, Williams Esports, Team Fordzilla, YAS HEAT, BWT Racing Point Esports and JAESA Team Suzuki to complete the line-up of teams going head-to-head in the uniquely formatted V10 R-League.
Each week there will be four ‘matches’ made up of three race challenges, on the world’s most iconic circuits, with two teams going head-to-head in each ‘match’ on the Assetto Corsa game in the V10-powered car designed exclusively for this Global Racing Series. Competing from home on a full racing rig, the professional sim racing teams are battling over the £100,000 prize pool.
Hosts confirmed for V10 R-League
The hosts of the V10 R-League broadcasts have been confirmed as Rachel Stringer, Nicolas Hamilton and Ben Daly, for the inaugural series. Each host brings a wealth of experience in motorsport, acting as a valuable asset to shape the League.
Sports presenter Rachel Stringer has covered a range of motorsport disciplines in her presenting career as well as major sporting competitions from Wimbledon to the Premier League. In recent years she has also hosted some major global esports events and competitions. Rachel is a massive motor racing fan and is currently the pit lane reporter covering British Superbikes for Eurosport.
Second to join the host line-up is Nicolas Hamilton. He has racing knowledge that comes from his first highly competitive outing in the Renault Clio Cup series in 2011, to becoming a points-finisher in the British Touring Car Championship this year. Sim racing is something he is really passionate about, and he comes from a famous racing family with his brother Lewis also being a keen sim racer.
Completing the roster is YouTube star Ben Daly, also known as Tiametmarduk. Ben is one of the most popular voices in sim racing, speaking almost daily to his 500k+ audience on YouTube. In 2011, Ben ‘Tiametmarduk’ Daly embarked on his journey as a YouTuber and now, over 230 million views later, Ben is among the most watched sim racing content creators in the world. He brings with him his vast experience of commentating on racing leagues and events.
Simon Green, Head of BT Sport, said, “Lockdown has demonstrated a huge appetite for virtual motorsport, and we are delighted to expand our innovative work with Gfinity to bring this exciting new sim racing format to UK fans exclusively to BT Sport subscribers on Mondays and free to all online the next morning.”
John Clarke, CEO at Gfinity, said, “Growth is driven through innovation. The Global Racing Series and the V10 R-League did not exist three months ago. With a clear vision, a great partner in ADMM and a lot of hard work today we have a unique made for broadcast racing format, with a new virtual car that roars, which has captured the imagination of three of the world’s most forward-thinking broadcasters.”