The ŠKODA Motorsport eChallenge was a success right from the start. Around 3,900 gamers, among them the FIA WRC2 Champion 2017, Pontus Tidemand (SWE), reigning European Rally Champion (ERC1) Chris Ingram (GBR), Slovakian Rally Champion Martin Koči (SVK) and rising star Oliver Solberg (SWE) plus ŠKODA’s e-game ambassador Petr Semerád (CZE), were competing against each other. Although the “real” rally aces had (so far) no chance against the e-sports specialists from all over the world, even the professionals had a lot of fun. The majority of the gamers came from France, followed by Czech Republic, Spain and Italy. Even players from the United States of America joined the competition. Created content on social media reached more than 2,5 million ŠKODA Motorsport fans all over the world.
The next event of the ŠKODA Motorsport eChallenge is the virtual “Rally Australia” (20/05/–24/05/2020). Rally youngster Oliver Solberg (SWE) had bad luck during the first round of the ŠKODA Motorsport eChallenge, when an internet failure caused “retirement”. He nevertheless proved his virtual speed and is now highly motivated. Mikołaj Marczyk (POL), who won the real-life Polish Rally Championship with a ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo, was spontaneously competing in the first round where he finished 10th overall and is already preparing for the virtual “Rally Australia”. Sébastien Bedoret, who finished 2019 third in the Belgium Rally Championship, will take the virtual challenge as well.
The online event will be again open for five days to all registered gamers around the world (link: https://dirtrally2.com/clubs/club/295041, club name: SKODA ECHALLENGE). The virtual platform for the competition is DiRT Rally 2.0, a video game developed and published by Codemasters for all major gaming consoles like PlayStation®4 and Xbox One®. DiRT Rally 2.0 also runs with Microsoft Windows® on a personal computer.
Advise for a virtual car setup
Like in the real world, competitors can get advice from the ŠKODA Motorsport engineers in order to prepare their ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo for the virtual competition. Skipping the trouble of virtual testing, competitors can find the recommended setup on this link (https://bit.ly/366RTcI). The DiRT Rally 2.0 is a very realistic simulation, so the recommended settings are not that far from the real ones, although many values and setting ranges differ. But there are no limits to the own ideas of each competitor.
The ŠKODA Motorsport eChallenge will be covered regularly under the communication hashtag #beatSKODAACES by ŠKODA Motorsport’s social network channels. Also, a video covering the course of the virtual rally will be produced and published after the event.
The calendar of the 2020 FIA World Rally Championship
Event/Date
Monte-Carlo 23/01/–26/01/2020
Sweden 13/02/–16/02/2020
Mexico 12/03/–15/03/2020
(Argentina 23/04/–26/04/2020*)
Portugal 21/05/–24/05/2020 cancelled*
(Italy 04/06/–07/06/2020*)
Kenya 16/07/–19/07/2020 cancelled*
Finland 06/08/–09/08/2020
New Zealand 03/09/–06/09/2020
Turkey 24/09/–27/09/2020
Germany 15/10/–18/10/2020
Great Britain 29/10/–01/11/2020
Japan 19/11/–22/11/2020
*Events postponed due to the fight against the spread of the coronavirus
