Italian luxury sports car manufacturer Ferrari is launching its own esports series, in partnership with Hublot. 

Not to be outdone by arch-rival Lamborghini, which launched its own one-make sim racing series The Real Race in May, Ferrari has unveiled its own esports series in partnership with Swiss watch manufacturer Hublot. 

Gaming peripherals maker Thrustmaster is also supporting the new sim racing series as a technical partner. 

The Ferrari Hublot Esports Series will consist of both amatuer and pro series championships. The amateur series will give racers a chance to qualify for the pro series – which will be featuring racers selected by Ferrari. The top twelve drivers from each championship will compete in the finals, which have been penciled in for November.

The amateur championship is open to European citizens aged 18 or over, with entries open from 7 August, and the first rounds set for the start of September. According to Ferrari, it plans to roll the new series out to other regions before, and more racing games and platforms, before the end of the year. 

Until this point Ferrari was rather slow to embrace esports, having been the final Formula One team to enter the F1 Esports Series in 2019, but the COVID-19 induced boom in sim racing seems to have persuaded the company to take it more seriously. 

AYO.NEWS says:

The COVID-19 crisis, which decimated the traditional motorsports calendar, has changed everything for the sim racing scene. The ease with drivers, fans, organisers and broadcasters have managed to substitute sim racing for real world racing, from Formula One and NASCAR to WRC and single-make series racing, has been impressive to say the least. 

And, with sim racing being orders of magnitude cheaper, easier to organise and schedule, more accessible for fans, and much more environmentally friendly, we expect its newfound popularity to far outlast the coronavirus pandemic.  

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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