Schedule, format and impact of the EuroNASCAR Esports Serie revealed
Because of the coronavirus crisis, EuroNASCAR kicks off its own sim racing championship – It will have an impact on reality
The coronavirus paralyses public life worldwide and even EuroNASCAR had to postpone its first two race weekends in Valencia and Brands Hatch. To provide the fans of the European NASCAR offshoot an alternative, the weekly EuroNASCAR Esports Series will kick off on 21 April.
The EuroNASCAR drivers and guest stars will make their virtual debut on the Daytona road course. The Indy Circuit at Brands Hatch, Watkins Glen, Zandvoort and the Indianapolis road course will also be visited in the regular season. The playoffs will be held on the Grand Prix layout at Brands Hatch, as well as the Roval at Charlotte and in Zolder. As in the real EuroNASCAR, double points will be awarded in the playoffs.
A maximum of 66 drivers can participate in an event of the EuroNASCAR Esports Series, which will be streamed as usual on the social media platforms of the series and its partners. The live broadcast will start on Tuesday at 8 pm, but the servers will be open for practice and qualifying at 6:30 pm.
Afterwards, two races with 33 drivers each will be held, from which the top-15 will move into the main race. Another six starters will be determined by a third qualifying race – the Last Chance Qualifier Race. These three races each last 10 minutes.The main race finally starts at about 8:50 pm and lasts 30 minutes.
The cars from the NASCAR Cup Series will be driven with an identical setup for all drivers. The starting numbers will showcase the status of the driver. The EuroNASCAR PRO driver will use the usual car number. The EuroNASCAR 2 driver has to put an 1 ahead of the starting number, the Club Challenge driver a 2. A team member will have a 3 ahead of the regular starting number.
For example Justin Kunz will get the #99, Marcel Lenerz the #199 and Alain Mosqueron the #299. A DF1 Racing team member would get the #399.
The paint schemes used in the EuroNASCAR Esports Series are based on the real liveries in most cases. The series still has a special feature as the EuroNASCAR Esports Series has a direct impact on the real team classification of the 2020 season.
At the end of the sim racing series, the drivers receive bonus points for the team championship, but only for the best placed driver of a car. These bonus points are awarded according to the points system used in the real EuroNASCAR races. The champion will collect 40 bonus points for the team classification, the second place 35 points, the third place 34 points and so on.
