32 sim racers from 14 countries now qualify for a chance to be drafted and receive paid contracts to race in the Prodigy Racing League (PRL) real-world series this fall Drivers prove again they have the skills across multiple disciplines, including racing in Radical SR1s, to compete at the highest level
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.
DAWSONVILLE, GA, May 16, 2024 – Racing Prodigy™, a sports, entertainment, and media property making motorsports more accessible, celebrated Will Redford from Warrington, England, who won the Radical SR1 chase competition finale during Prodigy Week™ after defeating Brandon Hawkin from Lindsey, Ontario, Canada. Thomas Bellemin from Hillsborough, California, captured third place.
“From what I have experienced in racing before, this is the fairest event that I have ever been at,” said Will Redford. “It doesn’t matter where you come from or how much money you have, this event is what motorsports is missing. If you can drive fast on a sim, you can drive a real car just as fast. You just have to search for the right opportunities, and Racing Prodigy is probably the best one right now. ”
The real-world racing event was the conclusion of Season 1 Prodigy Racing League™ (PRL™) esports competitions, featuring 20 sim racers from 10 countries – ages 15 to 45 including two female drivers – who will now have a chance to be drafted this summer and receive paid contracts to compete in the PRL real-world racing series beginning this fall.
During Prodigy Week on May 13-15 at the Atlanta Motorsports Park (AMP), the sim racers were coaches and evaluated across many disciplines, including fitness, on-camera interviews, the skid pad, autocross, data performance reviews, and ultimately, competing in Radical SR1s on the main racetrack. In total, they completed more than 1,200 laps or nearly 2,500 miles aggregately.
The coaches were former F1, IndyCar, and NASCAR driver Max Papis, pro driver champion Kenton Koch, pro driver Spencer Pumpelly, race car driver and Mazda engineer Andrew Carbonell, and factory driver, announcer, and host Randy Pobst. Prodigy Week was also supported by 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.
“We proved again that sim racing is the future of motorsports as our drivers demonstrated they have the skills and talent to become the next superstars racing real cars,” said Racing Prodigy CEO David Cook. “We have tapped into something special with the world’s first e2Real sports property and now we enter our next phase with drafting these drivers onto racing teams this summer. They will go head-to-head this fall across our racing series that will give our fans new access points to motorsports.”
The racers earned their golden tickets to Prodigy Week either by winning an esports competition on iRacing, RaceRoom, rFactor 2 or Street Kart Racing, or by being selected by Prodigy Search Committees, who included Indy 500 driver Katherine Legge, NASCAR driver Boris Said, Max Papis, influencer and driver Cameron Das and content creator Random CallSign. During the first season, Racing Prodigy witnessed over 100,000 sim racers from more than 100 countries compete across its esports competitions.
“The excitement and buzz for our vision for motorsports was on full display this week as we welcomed more investors and brands to experience our talent and team first-hand,” said Racing Prodigy Co-Founder and Executive Chairman Matt Fassnacht. “We are creating real world racing opportunities for the hundreds of millions of gamers based entirely on talent, and not how much money they have.”
The Radical SR1 competition finale featured the top eight drivers with the top five representing the fastest times during the qualifiers and the remaining three selected by fan voting during the last chance qualifier. The results include:
Quarterfinals (seeding/country)
(1) Thomas Bellemin (US) def. (8) Alexandro Vielma (US)
(2) Will Redford (England) def. (7) Kamden Hibbitt (US)
(3) Edoardo Leo (Italy) def. (6) Roope Kurkipää (Finland)
(4) Brandon Hawkin (Canada) def. (5) Nathan Maximin (England)
Semi-finals
(4) Brandon Hawkin (Canada) def. (1) Thomas Bellemin (US)
(2) Will Redford (England) def. (3) Edoardo Leo (Italy)
The 20 drivers from this week will join the 12 drivers from Prodigy Week last fall for a total of 32 drivers from 14 countries to have a chance to be drafted into PRL’s real-world racing series; they include (name, country, age):
Dino Filippa, Argentia, 25
Julian Klaffenböck, Austria, 15
Lorenz Horzing, Austria, 21
Gustavo Ariel, Brazil, 22
Leandro Werle, Brazil, 23
Laurens Beerten, Belgium, 28
Brandon Hawkin, Canada, 26
Marko Pejic, Germany, 24
Jan von der Heyde, Germany, 27
Edoardo Leo, Italy, 17
Andrea Leonardo, Italy, 30
Roope Kurkipää, Finland, 18
Michael Romanidis, Greece, 20
Dominik Lukomski, Poland, 23
Kamil Pawlowski, Poland, 26
Nikodem Wisniewski, Poland, 29
Mihai Neg, Romania, 24
Siro Zambra, Switzerland, 17
Matthew Caruana, United Kingdom, 17
Aimee Frame, United Kingdom, 17
William Redford, United Kingdom, 19
Jai Fletcher, United Kingdom, 20
Nathan Maximin, United Kingdom, 26
Craig Laws, United Kingdom, 45
Kamden Hibbitt, United States, 15
Thomas Bellemin, United States, 19
Alexandro Vielma, United States, 19
Garrett Lowe, United States, 22
Brenna Schubert, United States, 24
Jordan Johnson, United States, 25
David Dalton, Jr., United States, 25
Nathan Saxon, United States, 26
Racing Prodigy partners include Advanced SimRacing, Atlanta Motorsports Park, GRID Engineering, iRacing, Max Papis Innovations (MPI), Mazda North American Operations, PitFit Training, Primal Racing School, RaceRoom, Sim-Lab, SuckerPunch, Street Kart Racing, The Racers Physio, Toyo Tires, and Women in Motorsports North America (WIMNA).
