One of the first major motorsport events to implement sim racing was the Race of Champions, and virtual drivers will seemingly have another chance of competing alongside the very best across all disciplines of racing.
From the 7th-8th of March, the Race of Champions will be back for the first time since their Snow & Ice event in Sweden back in 2023. Truly an event like no other, the top drivers from the worlds of F1, dirt racing, sportscars and even sim racing compete on as level a playing field as possible.
This time around, the Race of Champions will take place in Sydney within the same stadium that hosted the 2000 Summer Olympics. Subsequently, returning the event to the arena setting that it has been more commonly associated with throughout the past few years.
In the first edition on the snow and ice in Sweden, he just missed out on the eROC championship to Jarno Opmeer but still competed in the main event and went up against a little-known driver called Sebastian Vettel. In spite of his immense inexperience behind the wheel of a real car at the time, Blakeley ended up defeating the 4-time F1 champion by 0.08 seconds.
For this year, the organisers had been planning to run Marcel Offermans' The Last Garage simulation that debuted in competition with last month's Sim Formula Europe Super Final. All previous iterations of the eRace of Champions - and also the 2020 Virtual Race of Champions - had been run on Assetto Corsa.
According to the February 2025 update on The Last Garage's website, the hardware requirements had not been met by the organisers which meant they could not have guaranteed a smooth experience. For now, that is all we know about eROC - aside from it taking place once again on Assetto Corsa - but undoubtedly, closer to the event, we will learn about how anyone can enter, as they have previously run open qualifiers.
Any sim racing hopeful could end up planting their name in the same elite club as Enzo Bonito, James Baldwin, Jarno Opmeer and Lucas Blakeley as eRace of Champions champion and end up lining up alongside racing royalty in Sydney next month.
Will you be attempting to qualify for the eRace of Champions? Let us know in the comments down below, and join the discussion in our forums!
From the 7th-8th of March, the Race of Champions will be back for the first time since their Snow & Ice event in Sweden back in 2023. Truly an event like no other, the top drivers from the worlds of F1, dirt racing, sportscars and even sim racing compete on as level a playing field as possible.
This time around, the Race of Champions will take place in Sydney within the same stadium that hosted the 2000 Summer Olympics. Subsequently, returning the event to the arena setting that it has been more commonly associated with throughout the past few years.
eROC: Sim Racers Against Motorsport Legends
Since 2018, the event has hosted an onsite sim racing competition in which a select few of the competitors then got the chance to compete in the main event. Some even defeated the real-life drivers, the most prominent example being 2022 F1 Esports champion and reigning eROC winner Lucas Blakeley.In the first edition on the snow and ice in Sweden, he just missed out on the eROC championship to Jarno Opmeer but still competed in the main event and went up against a little-known driver called Sebastian Vettel. In spite of his immense inexperience behind the wheel of a real car at the time, Blakeley ended up defeating the 4-time F1 champion by 0.08 seconds.
For this year, the organisers had been planning to run Marcel Offermans' The Last Garage simulation that debuted in competition with last month's Sim Formula Europe Super Final. All previous iterations of the eRace of Champions - and also the 2020 Virtual Race of Champions - had been run on Assetto Corsa.
According to the February 2025 update on The Last Garage's website, the hardware requirements had not been met by the organisers which meant they could not have guaranteed a smooth experience. For now, that is all we know about eROC - aside from it taking place once again on Assetto Corsa - but undoubtedly, closer to the event, we will learn about how anyone can enter, as they have previously run open qualifiers.
Any sim racing hopeful could end up planting their name in the same elite club as Enzo Bonito, James Baldwin, Jarno Opmeer and Lucas Blakeley as eRace of Champions champion and end up lining up alongside racing royalty in Sydney next month.
Will you be attempting to qualify for the eRace of Champions? Let us know in the comments down below, and join the discussion in our forums!
