The six-part documentary on Engine Media/Torque Esports’ ground-breaking “gamer to racer” esports program, World’s Fastest Gamer, is set to have its debut this Saturday on ESPN’s networks.
World’s Fastest Gamer brought together 10 of the world’s fastest esports racers last year to compete for the chance to earn a real-world race drive worth more than US$1 million thanks to Engine Media (which is scheduled in July to change its name from Torque Esports following the recent acquisition of Frankly Inc. and WinView Inc.)
The 10 racers from US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Chile, Macedonia and Poland began a 10-day test on track and online in Las Vegas and travelled through Los Angeles to San Francisco before returning to Vegas via Yosemite National Park.
The competition featured road course track tests in Las Vegas, Thermal Raceway near Palm Springs, Willow Springs Raceway, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and a chance to sample an 800 horsepower dirt track sprint car in Merced, California.
Major esports competitions were staged at a downtown Los Angeles rooftop location and Treasure Island in the middle of San Francisco bay.
Former gamer to racer standouts Jann Mardenborough (Nissan PlayStation GT Academy winner) and Rudy van Buren (inaugural World’s Fastest Gamer winner) took charge of the World’s Fastest Gamers as coaches for “Team Blue” and “Team Orange” while ex-Monaco Grand Prix, two-time Indy 500 and three-time Rolex 24 at Daytona winner Juan Pablo Montoya was the head judge for the competition.
All six 30-minute episodes will debut this Saturday at 5:00 p.m. on ESPN2 and will also be available via the ESPN app. Series one of World’s Fastest Gamer was also shown on ESPN along with other networks including Sky UK, CNBC and Fox Sports.
“The concept of World’s Fastest Gamer brings together the best of the best, regardless of what game or gaming platform they compete on – PC, console or even mobile games,” Torque Esports President and CEO and World’s Fastest Gamer creator, Darren Cox said.
“The documentary follows the progress of these gamers as we tested them to the limit both on track and in virtual racing competitions. We also put them through intensive mental and physical fitness tests – our goal was to not just find out who was fast, but who was best prepared to become a successful racing driver.
“We’re thrilled to work with ESPN again for World’s Fastest Gamer season two. US fans will get a great opportunity to binge watch the entire six-part series this Saturday.”
The winner of the competition earned a real-world race drive with Jenson’s Button’s team in the GT World Challenge Europe series. British gamer James Baldwin was selected as the competition winner and will drive a McLaren 720S GT3 for Jenson Team Rocket RJN this season starting at Imola in Italy on July 26.
ESPN has also been the US broadcast home for Torque Esports’ The Race All-Star Series powered by ROKiT Phones. The weekly global esports racing competition was created on the eve of the subsequently cancelled Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix and has featured some of the biggest names in international motorsport including Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, Juan Pablo Montoya, Mario Andretti, Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen.
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