Following a short Christmas break, the inaugural E1 Championship resumes this week with the esports series competing at the legendary Silverstone Circuit in the UK.
GT Radial Eurasia Motorsport has shown a great deal of potential so far, claiming pole position for example last time out at Spa-Francorchamps and leading races on numerous occasions.
The team are fourth in the championship and for the team’s two young Filipino drivers Inigo Anton and Joaquin ‘Wakkeen’ Garrido, that elusive first win cannot be too far away as they prepare for round six of the championship.
The Silverstone round takes place Thursday at 22:00 local time, 14:00 GMT with the now-familiar 15-minute Sprint event, followed by the 30-minute Reverse grid race.
Q&A with Mark Goddard, Team Principal Eurasia Motorsport
Mark, this is the first time that Eurasia Motorsport has been involved in esports events, how have you found the experience as a team owner so far?
“As you say this is the first time we have been involved in esports and it’s been a real eye-opener. I have been pleasantly surprised how close to the real thing it is, not only from the point of driving the cars but also the engineering and strategy involved. Regrettably, it’s also realistic having to deal with protests and Stewards’ inquiries! In fact, this is good as it teaches the drivers discipline and that you will win, even in the virtual world, if you avoid contact with other cars.”
The objective of the E1 campaign at GT Radial Eurasia Motorsport is to help younger drivers climb the ladder in both simulation and real-world events. How do you think the crossover is aiding your two young drivers?
“One of the benefits for our drivers is that we can see if they have what it takes to succeed in the real-world racing. They are both demonstrating they possess the natural skills to drive fast, but they are also showing us they are prepared to put in the effort and time needed to be competitive. They have been pushed hard by our engineer, Han, to practice for hours trying out different setups and tyre and fuel strategies. We can already see they both possess a lot of potential and given the right support they will definitely be able to shine in the real thing. We are grateful to GT Radial for their support of the team and our drivers are also learning how to look after team partners. It’s a vital skill for a professional driver and E1 is adding to our driver’s media and PR skillsets.”
It’s a very tough competition with some highly proficient drivers taking part. We’re in the closing stages of Season Zero now, so are there any outstanding goals that need to be met in the final rounds?
“We would love to have a race win, but we need to be sensible as there are several far more experienced sim racers in the E1 Championship. The definitely attainable goal is to finish the remaining events with no incidents or penalties. This will give us a good haul of championship points for the GT Radial Eurasia Motorsport team.
“I hope we can have a good result at the next event which is Silverstone. It’s my ‘home’ circuit and the last time I raced there I won, so it would be great to make it a double!”
