IWC SCHAFFHAUSEN PRESENTS THE IRACING ESPORTS SIM CHALLENGE WITH GEORGE RUSSELL AND JARNO OPMEER
London, 22nd September 2022: IWC Schaffhausen joins forces with its partners, the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One™ Team and the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Esports Team, to organise a virtual racing challenge. The “iRacing Esports Sim Challenge” will see two teams racing virtually at the Silverstone racetrack. One team will be led by Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One™ driver George Russell, the other by Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Esports Team driver and two-time F1™ Esports Pro Series Drivers’ Champion Jarno Opmeer. Gaming enthusiasts from all over the UK can register for the event and will have the unique chance to be selected to race for one of the teams.
In 2013, IWC Schaffhausen became the Official Engineering Partner of the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One™ Team. In February 2022, both brands announced a multi-year extension of their partnership. For the first time, the collaboration also extends off-track, as IWC became an official sponsor of the Mercedes- AMG PETRONAS Esports Team. Now, the three partners collaborate to organise their first joint virtual racing event.
The “iRacing Esports Sim Challenge” will be disputed virtually on the Silverstone racetrack. Ahead of the challenge, George Russell and Jarno Opmeer call for potential teammates to join their teams. F1™ and Esports fans from the UK can register and have the unique chance to secure a slot on one of the teams. The final participants will qualify based on their fastest time during a “fastest lap challenge”. The final “iRacing Esports Sim Challenge” will take place on 17th November at the new IWC boutique at the Battersea power station in London and will be broadcasted globally on the live-streaming platform Twitch.
To mark the official launch, George Russell and Jarno Opmeer got behind the wheel of the team’s Esportsrigs at its headquarters in Brackley to test their driving skills on the iconic Silverstone racetrack.
George Russell explained: “Marginal gains in a race are everything. Suppose you can gain 50 milliseconds at every corner, equating to a whole second in a lap. So, if you think you are way back or off pace, break it down corner by corner, and psychologically, it makes things slightly easier. Whilst I won’t be able to make it to the challenge in person as I’ll be in Abu Dhabi ahead of the race weekend, I can’t wait to cheer on my team from the sidelines.”
Jarno Opmeer mentioned the importance of maintaining focus: “Staying focused for the full duration of the race is very hard; think about your strategy and your time over your competitors. I always try to focus on the task at hand and not the pressure. Then, if you make mistakes, it’s a chance to recognise what went wrong and not do it again.”
Detailed information about the registration process can be found here*: https://watches.iwc.com/iRacing-Esports-sim-challenge
*Terms and conditions apply.
MERCEDES-AMG PETRONAS FORMULA ONE™ TEAM
Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One™ Team is the works team of Mercedes-Benz, competing at the pinnacle of motorsport - the FIA Formula One™ World Championship. Formula One™ is like nothing else in the sporting sphere. It’s a demanding technical and human challenge, combining cutting-edge technologies and innovation, high-performance management and elite teamwork. At Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One™ Team, a group of passionate and determined people work to design, develop, manufacture and race the cars driven by seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton and young star George Russell. The team has set a new benchmark for F1™ success during the sport’s current Hybrid era, winning consecutive Drivers’ and Constructors’ World Championships in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, and the Constructors’ Championship in 2021. During those title-winning seasons, the team has scored 111 wins, 232 podium finishes, 118 pole positions, 81 fastest laps and 53 one-two finishes from 160 race starts.
MERCEDES-AMG PETRONAS ESPORTS TEAM
The Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Esports Team is the esports team of the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula 1™ Team. Based on the premises of the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One™ Team, Brackley, a purpose-built esports training centre provides the team’s gamers with world class facilities and state-of-the- art equipment from our Esports partners, to develop their skills, train and compete.
IWC Schaffhausen is the Engineer of Watchmaking. In 1868, the American watchmaker and engineer Florentine Ariosto Jones established the ‘International Watch Company’ in Schaffhausen in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. By combining the best of human craftsmanship and creativity with cutting-edge industrial technology and processes, he laid the foundation for IWC’s unique engineering approach to watchmaking.
IWC’s distinctive and pure design is brought to life through collections ranging from elegant dress watches to sports and luxury sports watches, notably the Portugieser, Portofino, Pilot’s Watches and Ingenieur. Over its more than 150-year history, IWC has earned a reputation for creating professional instrument watches and functional complications, especially chronographs and calendars, which are ingenious, robust and easy to use.
A pioneer in the use of titanium and ceramic, IWC specializes in performance materials such as Ceratanium®. IWC’s advanced engineering division XPL develops technologies that enhance the durability of mechanical watches and extend their applications to environments with extreme conditions such as jet aviation and human spaceflight.
IWC is a leader in luxury watchmaking, crafting timepieces built to last for generations and continuously improving every aspect of how it manufactures, distributes and services its watches responsibly. Empowering the next generation of engineers, the brand also partners with organizations that work globally to support children and young people. IWC. EngineeredTM.