ESPORTS: From the virtual track to the real track

Daire McCormack and Dennis Schöniger attended Zurich alongside other invited sim racers as part of the Road to Ascari event organised by Racing Unleashed. The top 3 winners at the event obtained an invite to go to Ascari for an exclusive track day.

Among all the invited drivers, Daire and Dennis showed their skills on Assetto Corsa, finishing the day in P1-P2, ahead of Sebastian Job, who has recently won the 2024 iRacing Porsche Esports Supercup championship.

Just a week after being crowned winners at Zurich, both Williams Esports drivers attended the Ascari Racetrack, located in Malaga (Spain), alongside a few other sim racers who qualified through different processes on the Racing Unleashed competition.

As part of the ‘Road To Ascari’ programme, they went through a professional process, joining briefing sessions with track experts & instructors before driving some racing cars on track.

They all drove the Toyota GT86, Radical SR3 and joined as co-driver in the Ferrari 488 Challenge EVO. They were all time tested by the racing instructors and found to be close on pace without direct real track experience, displaying an impressive show on how sim racers are able to push to the same limits, demonstrating the similarities and cross-over between professional sim racing drivers and real racing drivers.

Daire: “The experience at Ascari was a once in a lifetime chance to see what I could do on the real track with my skills in the sim.

"They let us really push the cars to our own limits which was absolutely awesome and I loved that we were under complete control!

"I cannot thank Racing Unleashed enough for giving us this opportunity, because it’s been something that I’ve dreamt about doing over my career, so to finally get behind the wheel in real life and feel the speed, the forces, the sound and wear the suit and helmet was incredible.

"I can’t put into words how appreciative I am for this experience with Racing Unleashed and Williams Esports.”

Dennis: "It was quite an unbelievable day. When we first arrived and saw all the cars lined up in the pitlane, it was just insane.

"The history and stories of these cars already meant a lot but to have the opportunity to drive them was something else, I never would have thought to be in that position.

"Driving the Radical SR3 in particular was amazing and in perfect conditions too, it was everything you could wish for..a simply perfect and unforgettable moment."