Mazda Motorsports teams up with iRacing

Mazda Motorsport competition in iRacing

Sim Racing is no substitute for the real car, but it has become clear that the so-called race craft  can be trained within the virtual world. Things like track knowledge, racing psychology, traffic behavior and so on, can be beneficial when you want to make it in the real racing world.

The last few years, Sim Racing has proven to be a great pool to fish for racing talent.  Formats as the famous ” Nissan GT Academy ” to name one, have shown us that a talented Sim Racer might have the correct mindset to become a real world racing driver. Next to the GT Academy winners there are more examples of Sim Racers that have the right stuff to do better than average in the real racing scene. Back in 2010 Sim Racing alien Gregger Huttu surprised Mazda Motorsports when he got behind the wheel of a real car for the first time. Never driven a real racing car, Gregger took place in the cockpit of a real Formula Mazda and regardless of the fact he got sick in the car, he did some very respectable lap times in a very short time span. Another example is the Atze Kerkhof story we posted a while ago.  This brings us the latest news in iRacing land.

At Sebring, iRacing announced a new addition to the their driver development program. In the real world, the most popular Mazda based races in north America are undoubtably the MX-5 Miata’s club races.  From the 50,000 iRacing members worldwide, almost all of them have raced the virtual Mazda MX-5 Cup car at some point.  These figures have been the driving force behind a new partnership between iRacing and Mazda Motorsports. This new partnership will create the opportunity to give the best iRacing online racers in North America a chance to race a real Mazda MX-5 Cup car in 2015.

From April 29th all iRacing members that are competing in the 2014 iRacing MX-5 Cup season  will   Get a chance to win an entree in the annual Mazda Club Racing Shootout.  The shootout winner will receive a Mazda Motorsports scholarship for the following year’s Mazda MX-5 Cup.

iRacing Quote:

• The overall winners from 2014 season 2 (April 29, 2014 – July 21, 2014) and 2014 season 3 (July 29, 2014 – October 20, 2014) in the Mazda MX5 Cup (now called the iRacing Mazda Cup) will win an invitation to attend the Mazda Club Racer Shootout in the fall of 2014. At the shootout they will be competing against other qualifiers from real world Motorsports for the grand prize of a fully funded ride in the real world 2015 Mazda Mx5 Cup!

• The Mazda MX5 Cup series will run as a 12 week series, using standard iRacing rules and points scoring.

• Eligibility: The series is open to all iRacers, at all license levels. Only residents of the United States (lower 48 states) and Canada are eligible for the Shootout prize. Winner must provide proof of residency, be at least 16 years old by October 20, 2014, have a valid driver’s license and be physically able to safely enter and exit a race car. The winner of season 2 will not be eligible for prizes in season 3.

• In the event the highest points scoring iRacing member is not from North America, the next highest points winner who meets the qualifications will be awarded the prize.

• Prize details: Airfare and accommodations to the Mazda Club Racer Shootout (date and location to be announced later). Mazda will provide required racing gear if needed (helmet, driving suit, etc).

• iRacing reserves the right to review the official points standings and make any adjustments we feel are in the best interest of the competition.

• Mazda and iRacing reserve the right to modify competition at any time.