Esports Qualifier Series entry list finalised

Thursday 21 July, 2022

Motorsport Australia's iRacing Asia Pacific Single Seater Esports Qualifier Series has officially confirmed its entry list after the completion of the pre-qualifying sessions.

Starting in August, the three-round competition serves as a standalone series to determine Australia’s representatives at the Asia Pacific Formula Digital Series run by Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India.

An impressive 84 individuals registered in the pre-qualifying sessions where each participant had the chance to post their best time at the famous Sandown International Raceway in a Dallara F3.

The stage went for three days with the top 20 making it through to the official Qualifier Series next month.

In what was an extremely close affair, less than one second separated the top 40 as Griffin Gardiner claimed the number one spot with a time of 1:03.262.

There was very little difference between the top four drivers with Josh Muggleton finishing second fastest just four hundredths of a second off Gardiner, while the third placed Mario Vartanian was just six thousandths slower than Muggleton and a further seven thousandths behind was Beau Albert.

There were plenty of other close battles in pre-qualifying as the eighth placed Daniel Yeaman edged out Sebastian Flock by one thousandth and Stephen Bull beat Kurt Stenberg for 15th place by two thousandths.

Rounding out the top 20 and claiming the final spot in the 2022 iRacing Asia Pacific Single Seater eSports Qualifier Series was Andre F. Yousiff, who snuck in over Mitchell McLeod by just over one hundredth.

By the time the pre-qualifying session had ended, Yousiff had actually placed 21st outright on the time sheets, however the withdrawal of the 19th placed James Glasspool elevated him to the final spot in the series.

220720_esports

The three round official qualifier series is up next with the top 20 to race at Phillip Island and Mount Panorama in the opening two rounds before finishing up at the iconic Suzuka Circuit in Japan.

Each round will comprise of a one-hour practice session, a 15-minute open qualifying session and a 40-minute race and will be broadcasted by SimSpeed TV.

The winner of the qualifying series will go on to represent Australia the Asia Pacific Formula Digital Series run by Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India in September.

The Australia's iRacing Asia Pacific Single Seater Esports Qualifier Series begins with Phillip Island on 1 August.