Every motorsports enthusiast would agree that the Coronavirus outbreak has robbed us of many things. It has resulted in many motorsports events getting cancelled including Moto GP, F1 Races, Le Mans and Isle of Man TT. While we are all in our homes amidst the lockdown, we are reminiscing of the good times that we had, watching the best racers set the track on fire. But Moto GP recently came to our rescue and announced that they will be organizing a virtual race on 29th March, 2020 at 15:00 (GMT+2).
Our favourite riders will get back on track, virtually this time, taking on each other in a special event played on the official MotoGP™19 Videogame. This videogame is developed by videogame developer, publisher and longstanding partner Milestone. And guess the location of the race? None other than the legendary Autodromo del Mugello and the race length is SIX laps. There’s more than just six laps of riders battling for the podium as there will also be a a five-minute qualifying session in time-attack mode will decide grid positions. How freaking cool is that!
The line-up for the virtual race will include the following:
Repsol Honda Team: Marc Marquez, Alex Marquez
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP*: Maverick Viñales
Aprilia Racing Team Gresini: Aleix Espargaro
Team Suzuki Ecstar: Alex Rins, Joan Mir
Petronas Yamaha SRT: Fabio Quartararo
Red Bull KTM Tech 3: Iker Lecuona, Miguel Oliveira
Pramac Racing: Francesco Bagnaia
They will be playing via a private “Race Direction” lobby, set up to invite each rider to the event – and send them the bike settings. The event will be broadcasted on Sunday the 29th of March on motogp.com, esport.motogp.com and selected TV broadcasters, as well as across social media platforms including YouTube (via the MotoGP and MotoGP eSport channels), MotoGP eSport Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook (via both the MotoGP and MotoGP™ eSport pages).
While the weekend approaches, prepare for the virtual battle between our favourite riders gunning through the legendary Mugello circuit. While this would do for now, we just hope that motorsports events start soon and this lockdown thing ends so that we can crack the cold ones and watch the races!