The FA/RB Allinsports esports team will reunite for another 24-hour esports endurance battle this weekend with Formula 1 legends Fernando Alonso and Rubens Barrichello joined by Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan in an expanded driver lineup for the iRacing Spa 24 Hour.
While Alonso was in the news this week for his return to Formula 1 next year with Renault, his esports ambitions remain strong with fellow Allinsports simulator user and ex-Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan joining the Spaniard and his former F1 rival Barrichello.
Esports racers Jarl Teien and Olli Pahkala return after building a strong driver combo for the Torque Esports-backed team at Le Mans, while the expanded eight-man line-up also includes Alonso’s fellow Spaniard Ricardo Morán and esports racers Dutchman Isaac Gilissen and Hungarian Balazs Remenyik.
Team preparations and strategy for this weekend’s event have again been handled by former Le Mans LMP2 winning outfit, Greaves Motorsport.
“We put a lot of work into preparing for the Le Mans race and really enjoyed it,” Alonso said.
“As soon as we finished, we immediately started looking at other races we could do. This weekend will be a little less serious, but our preparations have been just as intense.
“This will be our first time on the iRacing platform, and we’ve brought in some additional help with Tony, my friend Ricardo and some more top esports talent with Isaac and Balazs.
“I’m really looking forward to the weekend. Next year is obviously going to be a lot busier for me now, but I’ve really enjoyed the esports races I’ve done so far in the All-Star series, and it is a lot of fun to team up with these guys again.”
The spectacularly-livered Kimoa-branded Ferrari entry will provide Alonso, Barrichello, and Kanaan with their first opportunity to race in a major GT3 esports endurance race.
“Le Mans was so much fun, and we were really disappointed to have issues with the game early, which put us way behind, but it is great to go racing with this team again,” Barrichello said.
“Who doesn’t love racing at Spa – it is one of the most incredible tracks on the planet and just as rewarding in the virtual world as well. It is great for Fernando, Tony and I to team up with these great esports racers – they are teaching some old dogs some new tricks.”
Former Indy 500 winner and IndyCar champ Tony Kanaan is looking forward to racing at Spa-Francorchamps virtually – an opportunity he has only had the chance to do twice previously in real life.
“I raced a Formula Opel Lotus way back in 1993 at Spa and I think I finished third. Then I drove the Ford GT there in preparation for Le Mans in 2017,” Kanaan said.
“It’s such a brilliant track, and I have been putting in plenty of miles to prepare for this weekend for Fernando and Rubens. I’ve probably got a bit more iRacing experience than those guys, but the competition is very tough.
“We’ve put a lot of work in preparing for this weekend – it is something we all really enjoy and can’t wait to get going this weekend.”
The FA/RB Allinsports team has been assembled by the founder of Torque Esports simulator company, Allinsports’ Anton Stipinovich. Built to Formula 1-spec levels of engineering, the Allinsports eRacer simulator is used by some of the biggest names in motorsport, including Alonso, Barrichello, Kanaan, Charles Leclerc, Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikonnen, Emerson Fittipaldi, Juan Pablo Montoya, Helio Castroneves, David Brabham and more.
The iRacing Spa-Francorchamps 24 Hour battle for FA/RB Allinsports will kick off at 3:00 pm Europe | 2:00 pm UK | 9:00 am US Eastern | 6:00 am US Pacific.
