Chennai, 6 May 2020: The FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship will go digital this weekend (May 8-10) with the online running of the International Rally of Whangarei that can be contested by any gamer of the DiRT Rally 2.0 platform. Supporting the initiative, the world motorsport governing body the FIA are working towards greater awareness starting with the #RaceAtHome social media tag.
The virtual event is being held on the same dates as the New Zealand round that was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Pending resumption of the on-road championship, the Digital APRC will make use of dates made available by rounds forced to postpone due to the pandemic.
Gamers contest each round as a virtual event, accruing automatically calculated points based on their finishing position. An overall winner will be declared once the final round is completed. Each online event will run to a timetable resembling the originally scheduled event.
For this weekend’s New Zealand round, action starts on the Friday night with a night-time stage repeated three times. Gamers get a window of time to complete each stage, similar to each leg of the rally from Friday, May 8 through to Sunday, May 10.
Along with other motorsport codes under the Digital brand, the APRC focus is on relevance as a feeder to the top-level World Rally Championship (WRC) category, including use of the type of car available to gaming competitors.
APRC president Vicky Chandhok says the concept is a stimulating extension to the formal championship.
“Knowing how many gaming drivers are already in this space, giving them an international category to contest is very exciting. This gives a truly global opportunity for new drivers to contest our sport, virtually, and very important at the moment, from the safety of their home. Many of our top drivers are active in this market, so to bring the two together and compete on very level terms is fabulous.”
The Digital APRC calendar is expected to be at least five rounds, with dates to be confirmed in the near future. Updates and details will be posted to the FIA APRC Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/FIA.APRC.
The event starts at 18:00 (11.30 am IST) on May 8 and finishes 15:30 (9 am IST) on May 10
