GOING FAST WHILE STANDING STILL
OTORSPORT HAS A repertoire of toughness, of champions thriving, and not just surviving through unfavourable conditions. Think Michael Schumacher’s outstanding performance in the rainsoaked 1996 Spanish GP, or Toby Price riding to victory in the 2019 Dakar (already regarded as the toughest rally in the world) while nursing a broken wrist! These and many more fabulous stories of determination can be gleaned from multiple formats of motorsport across decades of existence.
So, when people initially heard of a strain of viral influenza on the news, most of them dismissed it as ‘just another case of the flu.’ And they weren’t wrong to think so, as the effects from previous such instances, like the SARS (Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak of 2003 and MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) epidemic of 2012 were largely localised, and usually brought under control within a few months. This time around, however, things took on a completely different turn, as this new antagonist ravaged the globe.
“Confirmed. Cancelled. F***!”
Those were the Ed’s exact words on hearing of the 2020 Australian GP’s cancellation on the Friday of its race weekend. And why not? Even before we could fathom it, the situation had already strayed beyond control. It all started when a positive case of the coronavirus was confirmed within McLaren Racing, causing other teams to scrap the race as well. Next, the Monaco GP was also cancelled; the first time in decades that F1 didn't run this legendary race.
The situation was the same across formats. While events such as the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Pikes Peak Hill Climb and 24 Hours of Le Mans were postponed (the latter being rescheduled to September), other races like the Formula E and even the Isle of Man TT were cancelled, an aberration, as this landmark event, set to start on May 30, has rarely seen proceedings halted. In fact, the only times the TT didn’t happen was during a particularly vicious outbreak of the foot-and-mouth disease in 2001 and, oh yes, the world wars!
In all this, MotoGP threw up a peculiar spectacle, starting with an unusual season opener in Qatar where although the premier-class event was cancelled, the Moto2 and Moto3 classes went on as planned with their season openers.
Now, considering the sudden nature of all the cancellations, we can only imagine the amount of revenue, not to mention efforts during the winter practice or prior year-round testing that has gone, it seems, all for naught. While the cancellation of the Isle of Man TT races will undoubtedly have a massive impact on the economy of the isle, the F1 races’ cancellation brings up a particular predicament, that of the delay of the 2021 rules, which were set to kick off the next era of F1 racing. So was it a case of all dressed up and nowhere to go? Well, not quite...
The silver lining
After the initial dismay and disarray, being quarantined indoors became but a small inconvenience for the motorsports fraternity. Plans were immediately made for the resumption of activities, notwithstanding the absence of the vehicles. But how, you ask. Well, with the wonders of gaming, of course!
Now, before you baulk at the idea of nerds stooped in front of screens, understand that online racing games are big business, and have been so for a long time. In fact, the Formula 1 Esports Series is a professional esports programme that involves the official Formula
1 video game, and has been promoted by Formula 1 since 2017. The following year, the official Formula 1 teams joined the programme, setting up their own esports teams to compete in the Formula 1 Esports Series championship.
Hence, F1 was the first to jump into the esports fray, with the first Virtual Grand Prix held on March 22 at the digital rendering of the Bahrain circuit, won by F2 driver Guanyu Zhou. This was followed by Charles Leclerc winning the second race of the ‘season’ at the Albert Park circuit, Australia. In fact, at the time of this article going to print...er... whatever, the third edition of the F1 Virtual GP, to be held in Shanghai (albeit its digital avatar) is just a few days away.
For its part, MotoGP too wasn’t far behind, with its race series, aptly titled the #stayathomeGP kicking off on March 29 at the digital rendering of the Mugello circuit. Race one was won by Alex Marquez, with Francesco Bagnaia winning the second race, held at the Red Bull Ring, Austria on April 12.
The Indian connect
Remember how the selection rounds for the X1 Racing league, touted as the IPL of Indian motorsport, involved the X1 eSports League? Well, when the foremost racers realise the importance of esports, migrating to the platform would be the next logical step for them, wouldn’t it? This paved the way for the Ultimate E racing series, a great means for Indian racers across disciplines to not only keep their reflexes up and practice sessions going, but also giving us mere mortals a chance to see how a variety of vehicles driven across hallowed locales (courtesy the Asetto Corsa video game), are piloted by the best of the best from the current lineup of drivers, including Amith Kutti, Arjun Maini, Saurav Bandyopadhyay, Advait Deodhar and Karthik Tharani.
The Ultimate E racing series has, so far, had a ‘proper’ three-day race weekend, starting from Zandvoort on Friday, April 10, with Abishek Dwarkanath winning race one and Arjun Maini winning race two. From there on, the proceedings moved to Monza on Saturday, where Arjun Maini won race one and Amith Kutti won race two. Finally Sohil Shah and Arjun Maini won races one and two, respectively at Spa Francorchamps, on Sunday. By the time you read this, there will undoubtedly have been many more races, and you can watch them all (along with the practice sessions) on the Ultimate E Official YouTube channel.
In conclusion, this involuntary lockdown has led to a renewed appreciation for e-racing, of which two chief attributes are apparent: one, the excitement of an actual race weekend can definitely translate to its virtual avatar, and, as demonstrated by the Virtual F1 races, which has had participation from former racers and F1 broadcasters Johnny Herbert and Anthony Davidson, motorcycle racer Luca Salvadori, and even cricketer Ben Stokes, motorsport is always a hoot, and the virtual world of motorsport, even more so! ⌧