Landschlacht, April 26, 2021 – For its third round, the new RCCO World eX Championship makes its Asian debut as #RacingForTheClimate gears up for action at Sepang. The eX Prix of Malaysia is the latest opportunity for the World eX grid to try and topple Lasse Sørensen, who remains unbeaten so far in the still young fully electric world championship. Adding to the battle at the front are Alex Yoong, Absolute Racing and Inspeed Racing, who will all be giving local fans something to cheer for when the field of eX ZERO prototypes gets underway at Sepang.
The man to beat: Lasse Sørensen. The young Dane from TK9 E-SPEED, founded by “Mr. Le Mans” Tom Kristensen, has proven to be a sensation so far in the new RCCO World eX Championship, which aims to combine the excitement of motorsport with a strong message of sustainability and raising awareness about the climate crisis. At Sebring, Sørensen came from behind after jumping the start in his qualifying race and then recovered through Level 2 and made it all the way to the final, emerging as the victor against Alen Terzić with contact at the last corner. Alongside Sørensen at TK9 E-SPEED will be esports racer Andreas Jochimsen.
Can Sørensen do it again in Malaysia? Find out in the latest episode of #RacingForTheClimate with Nicki Shields and Dave Richardson on Thursday evening (April 29) from 20:00 CEST on motorsport.tv and other broadcast partners. RCCO will also be streaming the pre-recorded show on its new Twitch channel (www.twitch.tv/rccoworldex), which will be followed by a live post-race talk with Mike Rockenfeller.
Local hero Alex Yoong will be taking part in the World eX round at Sepang. As the only Malaysian to have competed in Formula One, he is one of Asia’s most successful racing drivers. His most recent exploits include being a three-time Audi R8 LMS Cup champion. He is also no stranger to esports racing, having founded his real-world motorsport team Axle Sports in 2008, which includes an esports racing team. Michael Niemas, the German who currently leads the RCCO E-Sport Series, will be the esports wild card driver at Sepang.
Inspeed Racing from Shanghai adds yet more Asian flavor to the colorful World eX field in Malaysia. The outfit is a strategic partner of Absolute Racing and will be running two cars at Sepang with Chinese drivers Hongli Ye (pro) and Xiayufei Li (esports). From Absolute Racing, Yifei Ye (pro) and Michi Hoyer (esports) will be lining up for the Chinese team, with Yifei Ye making his debut in the series. Inspeed Racing and Absolute Racing recently formed their strategic partnership to help bridge the gap between motorsport esports and real-world motorsport. Traditionally, motorsport is considered to be insurmountable for a normal family in China in terms of costs. Absolute Racing and Inspeed Racing are targeting to change this in the future.
“We are really looking forward to our first eX Prix in Asia. Sepang is a great and difficult racetrack, and we are really happy with our strong Asian presence on our international grid. Having Alex Yoong on board as a wild card driver boosts our event even more,” says Mike Rockenfeller, the Le Mans winner and former DTM champion who is also a founder of World eX.
From Belgium, WRT has been in the news recently with its two new official programs in 2021: World eX and LMP. The Belgian team made history in the real-world motorsport by winning their very first LMP race in the opening round of the European Le Mans Series at Barcelona just over one week ago. In World eX, the Belgian team has already shown strong pace with its drivers. At Sepang, Esports Team WRT will be represented by Dries Vanthoor (pro) and Fabrice Cornélis (esports).
Adding to Yoong’s Formula One presence on the grid will be Brazilian Bruno Senna from Williams Esports, alongside teammate Martin Štefanko (esports). From Switzerland, NIANCO esports will see the debut of Patric Niederhauser, who like team founder Nico Müller is an Audi Sport factory driver in GT3 racing, making his debut, standing in for Müller. The swiss outfit’s esports racer will once again be Thomas Schmid. Former Formula One star Romain Grosjean will miss the Malaysian eX Prix due to his IndyCar commitment. His replacement will be young Belgian racer Simon Pilate, together with the team’s esports star Risto Kappet.
It will be business as usual for the full-season driver line-ups of Biela Racing Team EURONICS, BS+COMPETITION and Patrick Long Esports.
More World eX news
The eX ZERO will be part of the new Esports Racing World Cup created by World eX partners VCO. For the first time, esports racing organizations from all around the world will have the chance to compete in races taking place on different simulation platforms: iRacing, rFactor 2 and Assetto Corsa Competizione. VCO has chosen the eX ZERO prototype for the races on rFactor 2.
The RCCO E-Sport Series has become the first virtual racing series to be officially acknowledged as a feeder and qualifying series for the RCCO World eX Championship. At the fourth round, Andre Dietzel and Paul Wingens claimed victories at the Berlin Formula E track. The two spectacular city street races provided an exciting foretaste for the upcoming eX Prix on the streets of Maastricht in May.
#RacingForTheClimate jackpot
The official #RacingForTheClimate jackpot races on at Sepang. For every race lap completed, the jackpot automatically increases by 10 Euros. 261 laps have been completed in the first two rounds. At the end of the season, the world champion will decide which climate conservation project the jackpot will be devoted to.
Fans and sponsors can support World eX’s mission and actively contribute to climate conservation by donating to the #RacingForTheClimate jackpot via World eX’s new partner FundRazr.
2021 RCCO World eX Championship – #MalaysianeXPrix
Entry list for Round 3 (Sepang), including driver pairings for Level 1* (Qualifying)
Qualifying 1 (esports)
10 Risto Kappet (EST) R8G Esports (esports)
9 Andreas Jochimsen (DK) TK9 E-SPEED (esports)
Qualifying 2 (pro)
8 Simon Pilate (B) R8G Esports (pro)
33 Gabby Chaves (USA) Patrick Long Esports (pro)
Qualifying 3 (pro)
32 Dries Vanthoor (B) Esports Team WRT (pro)
7 Lasse Sørensen (DK) TK9 E-SPEED (pro)
Qualifying 4 (esports)
31 Fabrice Cornelis (B) Esports Team WRT (esports)
98 Martin Stefanko (CZ) Williams Esports (esports)
Qualifying 5 (pro)
3 Hongli Ye (CN) Inspeed Racing (pro)
16 Bruno Senna (BR) Williams Esports (pro)
Qualifying 6 (esports)
27 Alen Terzić (SLO) BS+COMPETITION (esports)
29 Liam de Waal (NL) Patrick Long Esports (esports)
Qualifying 7 (pro)
51 Patric Niederhauser (CH) NIANCO esports (pro)
89 Philippe Denes (USA) BS+COMPETITION (pro)
Qualifying 8 (esports)
25 Xiayufei Li (CN) Inspeed (esports)
28 Thomas Schmid (CH) NIANCO esports (esports)
Qualifying 9 (pro)
20 Yifei Ye (CN) Absolute Racing (pro)
45 Frank Biela (D) Biela Racing Team EURONICS (pro)
Qualifying 10 (esports)
99 Michi Hoyer (D) Absolute Racing (esports)
11 Luca Kita (D) Biela Racing Team EURONICS (esports)
Wild card entries, part of Level 2 onwards
61 Alex Yoong (MAL) Wild Card (pro)
19 Michael Niemas (D) Wild Card (esports)
*The listed order of each driver pairing indicates the starting order for each of the ten 1-lap qualifying races of Level 1. The pairings for the #MalaysianeXPrix have been decided by Absolute Racing and the pole sitters based on voting done on Twitter ahead of the event.
World eX on Social Media:
Twitter: @rccoworldex
Facebook: @rccoworldex
Instagram: @rccoworldex
YouTube: @rccoworldex
Twitch: @rccoworldex
LinkedIn: @rccoworldex
Hashtags: #RacingForTheClimate #RFTC #ReachTheNextLevel #WorldeX
Quelle: RCCO E-Sport AG
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