Motorsport Australia has switched bitumen for gravel in its latest Esports community competition, with competitors contesting a special virtual rally.
 
Using the popular Dirt Rally 2.0 PC platform, aspiring participants from around the country spent the last month trying to post a fast qualifying time that would earn them a spot in the two-round final.
 
The final, which was live broadcast on YouTube, was made up of two stages where the six fastest qualifiers for each one had just one attempt to post their best time, resulting in some entertaining runs from talented drivers.
 
The first round of the event saw six competitors tackling the five Australian stages, which was ultimately won by Nathan Bates after a brilliant battle with Nicholas Doll.
 
Behind the wheel of the Ford Fiesta R5 MK11, Bates put it all on the line as he won all five stages– with the second best driver in Doll finish four of those stages in second. The only driver to replace Shocks was Jaidyn Gluskie who finished ahead of him on the third stage, while finishing third in every other stage.
 
“A big thank you to Motorsport Australia and Simspeed TV for this surprising new DR2.0 series - I'll be sure to get involved in up-coming series,” Bates said after his victory.
 
Watch the Heat 1 replay here.
 
The second round of the final took place in New Zealand and saw all the but one of the six drivers return for the return, Luca Giacomin the replacement. 
 
It would proved a much closer round as Giacomin would eventually go onto claim the outright win having taken out three of the five stages to Bates’ two, with each driver finishing second in their rival’s victory.
 
Also playing a key role in organising the event, Giacomin was proud with the interest it received, as well as the success of the final.
 
“We couldn’t be happier with how this event panned out,” Giacomin said.
 
“From a competition point of view, to have the amount of people we did in qualifying was amazing to see and showed how big the appetite for this sort of program is around the country.
 
“The results of the finals themselves were outstanding as each competitor produced short and sharp action and risked it all to achieve a podium results. 
 
“I was fortunate enough to win a round, but of course the competition was very tough and there was no room for error.
 
“A big thanks to Motorsport Australia for getting behind the virtual rally series and I'm looking forward to more involvement from the organisation in this space in the future.”
 
Watch the Heat 2 replay here.
 
In addition to the finals a $50 award for participation was given out to someone at random during each qualifying rally.