Innovative racing league will make motorsports more accessible using esports as a pathway to real-world racing.
Registration opens today for the first iRacing esports tournament, starting June 19, with additional tournaments planned across Street Kart Racing, rFactor2, and RaceRoom over the summer/fall.
JACKSONVILLE, FL, May 1, 2024 – Racing Prodigy™, a groundbreaking sports, entertainment, and media property making motorsports more accessible, today announced its official plans for Prodigy Week, scheduled to take place at Atlanta Motorsports Park (AMP) May 13-15, 2024. The conclusion of Season 1 Prodigy Racing League™ (PRL™) esports competitions marks the transition for 20 aspiring racers from 10 countries – ages 15 to 45 including two female drivers – who will receive all-expense-paid trips to pursue their dreams of racing real cars professionally. They will compete to be drafted, receiving paid contracts to compete in the PRL real-world racing series beginning this fall.
The racers earned their golden tickets to Prodigy Week either by winning an esports competition on iRacing, RaceRoom or Street Kart Racing, or by being selected by Prodigy Search Committees. During Prodigy Week, drivers will be coached and judged across multiple disciplines, including fitness, on-camera interviews, skid pad, autocross, racecar data review, and competing in Radical SR1 race cars on the main racetrack.
“Racing Prodigy takes another step forward in the world’s first e2Real sports league to make motorsports more accessible,” said Racing Prodigy CEO David Cook. “In our first season, we have witnessed over 100,000 sim racers from more than 100 countries compete across our esports competitions, so we know there is high demand from drivers who want to have a real-world racing career, and so does the undiscovered talent. If the results of our first Prodigy Week part 1 last fall are any preview, we are confident the 20 drivers competing at Prodigy Week part 2 will compete at the highest level to earn their spots with our six racing teams participating in our racing series launching this year.”
Full coverage of Prodigy Week will be available live on Racing Prodigy’s YouTube channel, May 13-15. Fans will be able to vote to save their favorite drivers during the Radical SR1 Chase Competition. For more information and to be reminded once Prodigy Week starts, please visit our Prodigy Week page.
The Prodigy Search Committees included Indy 500 driver Katherine Legge, NASCAR driver Boris Said, and former F1, IndyCar, and NASCAR driver Max Papis, who will be at Prodigy Week to coach and judge along with NASCAR driver Jesse Iwuji, Mazda factory racing driver Andrew Carbonell, and others. Also attending and supporting are PitFit Training CEO Jim Leo, physio and cognitive specialist Dr. Ashley Witson, clinical psychologist Dr. Nick Molinaro, and Women in Motorsports North America executive director Cindy Sisson. Influencer and driver Cameron Das and content creator Random CallSign also served on the Prodigy Search Committees.
Upon completion of this Prodigy Week, the 20 drivers will join the 12 drivers from Prodigy Week last fall to have a chance to be drafted into PRL’s real-world racing series; they include (name, country, age):
PRL Street Kart Racing PRJ Golden Ticket Series Winners (mobile gaming)
Jai Fletcher, United Kingdom, 20
Craig Laws, United Kingdom, 45
PRL RaceRoom Mazda MX-5 Cup Golden Ticket Series Winners
Michael Romanidis, Greece, 20
Leandro Werle, Brazil, 23
Kamil Pawlowski, Poland, 26
Nikodem Wisniewski, Poland, 29
PRL iRacing Mazda Spec MX-5 Golden Ticket Series Winners
Matthew Caruana, United Kingdom, 17
Edoardo Leo, Italy, 17
Brandon Hawkin, Canada, 26
Prodigy Search Committee Selections
Kamden Hibbitt, United States, 15 (iRacing)
Julian Klaffenböck, Austria, 15 (rFactor 2)
Aimee Frame, United Kingdom, 17 (Street Kart Racing)
Roope Kurkipää, Finland, 18 (iRacing)
Thomas Bellemin, United States, 19 (iRacing)
William Redford, United Kingdom, 19 (iRacing)
Alexandro Vielma, United States, 19 (Street Kart Racing)
Mihai Neg, Romania, 24 (RaceRoom)
Brenna Schubert, United States, 24 (Street Kart Racing)
Jordan Johnson, United States, 25 (iRacing)
Nathan Maximin, United Kingdom, 26 (RaceRoom)
Racing Prodigy is a supporter of the Women in Motorsports North America (WIMNA) event “Women with Drive” co-hosted by Parity, taking place on the evening of May 3, 2024, as part of the Miami Grand Prix weekend. More than 100 leaders, influencers, race car drivers and notable industry executives will gather at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida to discuss the current climate of motorsports, celebrate its continued growth, and look towards its future.
Racing Prodigy partners include Advanced SimRacing, Asetek SimSports, Atlanta Motorsports Park, GRID Engineering, iRacing, Max Papis Innovations (MPI), Mazda North American Operations, PitFit Training, Primal Racing School, RaceRoom, Racing Mind Strategies, Sim-Lab, SuckerPunch, Street Kart Racing, The Racers Physio, Toyo Tires, and Women in Motorsports North America (WIMNA).
