until Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League
Rubens Barrichello leads an entry stacked with real-world pros turned sim racers for the second VCO Cup of Nations esports event.
The first running of the World Cup-style event was contested by simracers and was won by Germany with a four driver team including Maximilian Benecke.
For this edition 14 countries will be represented by real-world drivers on iRacing, with defending champions Germany being represented by Mike Rockenfeller, Marius Zug and Jens Klingmann.
Barrichello and Kanaan race for Brazil alongside the former’s son, Eduardo, and Emerson Fittipaldi’s grandson Enzo.
A host of big name real-world racers turned esports regulars will join the fray, including last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual winners Louis Deletraz and Raffaele Marciello, who team up for Switzerland – though ex-Ferrari F1 junior Marciello usually races under the Italian flag in real life.
DTM regulars Dani Juncadella – of Team Redline – and Red Bull Esports-backed real-world BMW factory driver Philipp Eng will race for Spain and Austria respectively, with Spain also represented by Chip Ganassi Racing’s new IndyCar recruit Alex Palou.
Former Manor Marussia driver Will Stevens will be the other ex-F1 racer in the event, as part of a four-man United Kingdom entry.
Coanda Simsport regular and IndyCar driver Sage Karam leads the United States’ efforts.
Each of the 14 countries have been divided up into three groups, with the highest-scoring teams progressing through to the final three races that will decide the overall champion.
Five different cars and six different circuits will be used for the event, with rallycross, GT and IndyCar races all a part of the tournament.
The event will once again be streamed on the VCO Esports YouTube channel, starting at 1800hrs UK time.
“The VCO Cup of Nations Pro is a format that we really like,” said Florian Haasper, CEO of VCO.
“It provides a different format, plenty of racing action and a host of well-known stars from real motor racing.
“A lot of Pro drivers are also unbelievably good esports racers so I am certain that they will deliver some great racing and top-class entertainment on Sunday.
“The emphasis will be on having fun, but it is certainly something special for the participants to be able to represent their country on the virtual racetrack.”
VCO Cup of Nations Pro entry list
Group A
USA: Sage Karam, Phillippe Denes, Jak Crawford
Austria: Philipp Eng, Mirko Bortolotti, Thomas Preining
Australia: Matt Campbell, Nick Foster, Bart Horsten
Brazil: Rubens Barrichello, Tony Kanaan, Eduardo Barrichello, Enzo Fittipaldi
Portugal: Rafael Lobato, Manuel Alves, Francisco Mora
Group B
Canada: Daniel Morad, Alex Ellis
Switzerland: Raffaele Marciello, Louis Deletraz
Netherlands: Beitske Visser, Danny Kroes, Job van Uitert, Richard Verschoor
Germany: Mike Rockenfeller, Marius Zug, Jens Klingmann
Group C
Spain: Dani Juncadella, Alex Palou, Aleix Alcaraz, Miguel Molina
Finland: Jesse Krohn, Elias Seppanen
United Kingdom: Will Stevens, Tom Ingram, Bradley Philpot, Stefan Wilson
South Africa: Raoul Hyman, Callan O’Keeffe, Gennaro Bonafede
Norway: Christian Krognes, Henrik Krogstad, Ayla Agren
