Australian rally and Esports competitor Luca Giacomin will be among the entrants competing at this month’s FIA Esports Global Rally Tour Asia-Pacific Assetto Corsa Shootout in Macau from 22–24 June.
Sim rally drivers from across the Asia-Pacific region will converge on Macau for the event, where they will showcase their rallying abilities following an extensive qualifying campaign.
Giacomin secured his place in the Shootout after setting the sixth-fastest qualifying time in the region, completing the Rally Wales Hafren North – Cwmbiga stage behind the wheel of a Hyundai i20N Rally2 in 6:13.567 to finish comfortably inside the top eight qualifiers.
The Macau Shootout will determine the two Asia-Pacific representatives who will advance to the FIA Awards in Shanghai this December, where they will compete live against the world’s best Esports rally drivers.
Drivers will contest a knockout format consisting of quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final to decide who progresses to Shanghai.
No stranger to rallying, Giacomin competes both virtually and in the real world. He also operates his own rally team, which contests rounds of the Victorian and Australian Rally Championships.
Excited by the opportunity, Giacomin is looking forward to measuring himself against some of the region’s strongest competitors.
“It will be a super high-level and close competition and I’m aware some of the other drivers from Asia Pacific have had significantly more time than myself to prepare, so I will have to focus less on being the absolute fastest and instead bring a more consistent performance to the event,” Giacomin said.
“I think this championship setup by the FIA is a fantastic initiative to give rally simulation some global exposure. Using motion simulators in a live competition environment is also an exciting new prospect that this championship will showcase.”
In preparation for Macau, Giacomin has been driving a variety of stages in the simulator while refining his understanding of vehicle setup in Assetto Corsa Rally across different surface types.
Balancing his preparation with a young family and a busy motorsport schedule, Giacomin has also maintained his long-standing cycling training regime, both on mountain and road bikes.
Giacomin’s Esports journey began in 2014 following the launch of Nissan PlayStation’s GT Academy. Since then, he has enjoyed success across multiple virtual motorsport competitions.
“I have won some nice sim racing events since then, such as the FIA Asia Pacific Dirt Rally Championship in 2020, the Australian Virtual Rally Championship in 2020 and Ferrari Esports in 2023,” Giacomin added.
“I saw Assetto Corsa’s release of this rally simulator and, after driving it, felt this was a serious attempt at simulating rallying.
“I think it still needs a lot of work, especially on tyre behaviour during slip and braking, but it’s quite fun to drive and does the basics well.
“This makes me want to compete, gain some exposure and potentially attract simulation-based brands to support both my involvement in this championship and my rally team here in Australia.”
