Photo: DTM / RaceRoom

DTM announce five-round Eseries launch

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Organisers of the DTM have announced the launch of a new Eseries to fill the void created by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to the delay of the 2020 season.

Run on the RaceRoom platform, the five-round series will run on each weekend in May and will feature a mix of past and present DTM drivers, as well as racing influencers and five sim racers chosen at random from the quickest 100 qualifiers for each event.

The first event will run at Zolder on 3 May and will feature cars from the 1992 season, with cars from 2013, 2014 and 2016 being used for the three events that follow.

Which cars will be used for the ‘season finale’ on 31 May has yet to be determined.

“With real-world tracks closed internationally due to the coronavirus, we have seen a huge surge in online racing,” Marcel Mohaupt, Managing Director of series organisers ITR, said. “Now, with the world’s top drivers all keen to compete, and with high-end PCs and a wheel-and-pedal set-up narrowing the gap between the real and the virtual, esports have become an increasingly common element of motorsport life.

“The DTM esports Classic Challenge is open to anyone who has the skill and commitment to pit themselves against some of the DTM’s best drivers. Who knows, perhaps we’ll find a new sim racing superstar through this competition? Our priority right now is to fill the gap for fans left wanting to see classic and modern DTM machinery raced by some of the sport’s biggest racing personalities.”

Klaus Wohlfarth, owner and founder of RaceRoom, was delighted to see the plans come to fruition.

“We love DTM and have been fully supportive of the series on our platform for many years, so it’s fantastic to be involved in the DTM’s first-ever esports competition,” he said. “RaceRoom has recreated many of the DTM’s greatest cars and circuits, including a faithful recreation of the mighty 1992 season – when the likes of Klaus Ludwig, Hans-Joachim Stuck and Keke Rosberg contested the series – through to the modern-day version of the sport, most recently from 2016.

“The Classic Challenge offers the perfect opportunity to get our joint-programme off to a strong start, pitting real-life DTM racers against some of the sim racing community’s biggest names. It’s bound to be a lot of fun; and, just as with the real thing, we can expect plenty of thrilling wheel-to-wheel racing.”