The Digital Cup competitors turned their first laps in anger this afternoon during a practice session held at the Congress Centre towering above Vallelunga Circuit.
30 racers, divided into groups of 10, were each given an hour of track time to test the Red Bull X2019 prototype at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Competitors also familiarised themselves with the digital motor sport set-ups that include Thrustmaster T-GT steering wheels and Recaro seats.
Mikail Hizal of Germany set the fastest time of all - 1m29.312s. Australia’s Cody Nikola Latkovski was second best (1m20.569) ahead of newly-crowned World’s Fastest Gamer James Baldwin (United Kingdom).
Tomorrow begins with qualifying for the semi-finals, repechage race and Grand Final, which will determine the first-ever Digital Cup gold, silver and bronze medallists.
Just like today’s practice, drivers will contest the 10-minute qualifying session at Barcelona with Red Bull’s X2019 before moving on to Interlagos for the semi-finals with Fittipaldi’s EF7. The Pagani Zonda R will then take centre stage when a wet Red Bull Ring hosts the repechage.
That’s followed by the Grand Final where this year’s 12 fastest digital racers will return to Barcelona for one deciding battle aboard Red Bull’s X2019 prototype.
Scheduled to start at 20:00 local time tomorrow, the 19-lap Grand Final will be livestreamed on FIA Motorsport Games’ website and Facebook page, as well as atfia.com.