Motorsport royalty Emerson Fittipaldi will be one of several legendary drivers taking part in a special esports online race this weekend.
Included as part of The Race All-Star Esports Battle, the Legends Trophy is open to racing drivers aged 40 and above.
The current roster of drivers set to take part in the Legends Trophy have 455 F1 starts, 24 F1 wins, 2,378 IndyCar starts, 177 IndyCar wins, and eight Le Mans victories between them!
A true motorsport hero
Double Formula 1 World champion and IndyCar champion Emerson Fittipaldi is one of the latest big names to get involved. However, racing in an esports simulator is nothing new to the man who won 14 Grand Prix between 1970 and 1980.
Speaking about the his experience of sim racing, Fittipaldi commented that: “simulators are extremely important because technically, they are so close to driving the real thing”. He also added that “I wish, in my time, we had simulators. My life would have been much easier!”
Fittipaldi officially retired from motorsport at the end of 1996, but the 73-year-old has taken part in various one-off races and events since. He also created his own Fittipaldi Motors supercar company in 2016.
So many winners
Joining Fittipaldi on the virtual will be three-time Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti. The Scottish driver is looking forward to the race as it gives him “a chance to race with my old mates and competitors once again, hopefully with some really lairy cars and on a great track”.
Indy 500 winners will be present in big numbers in the Legends Trophy, with Hélio Castroneves, Juan Pablo Montoya, Gil de Ferran, and Tony Kanaan all taking part.
F1 driver and commentator Johnny Herbert will also be present, plus Le Mans winner David Brabham, Jan Magnussen, Paul Tracy, Bryan Herta, Adrian Fernandez, Oriol Servia and Max Papis.
All-Star Esports Battle continues
Scheduled to take place on Saturday 28th March at 16:00 GMT, the Legends Trophy will take part in addition to the third round of The Race All-Star Esports Battle.
The All-Star Esports Battle already has an almost countless roster of drivers signed up to compete in the online race. Stoffel Vandoorne, António Félix da Costa, Marcus Ericsson and Esteban Gutiérrez are just some of the real-world drivers involved.
They will face off against the best sim racers on the planet, with the virtual drivers having won the previous two rounds of the All-Star Esports Battle.
Created in under 72 hours to fill the gap left by the postponed Australian Grand Prix, The Race All-Star Esports Battle will be free to watch on YouTube.