I super excited to reveal I have qualified for the Gran Turismo World Tour event in New York. As one of the top 36 drivers from around the world I will be travelling to New York in August to represent Volkswagen in the FIA Manufacturers Cup. I’m super excited to be competing up on stage once again in one of the biggest sim racing championships available.
The FIA Manufacturers Cup is an online sim racing series open to drivers around the world through the Gran Turismo Sport platform. Drivers can choose one of 25 manufacturers to represent as they compete for a spot at the world tour and finals events. Only the top 12 of those manufacturers will end up qualifying and only the top 3 drivers from each of those will get an invite to the live events for a total of 36 finalist.
After 10 rounds of hard fought racing I’m over the moon to have helped Volkswagen into 7th place in the global rankings while personally placing as the number one Volkswagen driver in the Oceanic region and earning my spot in the New York World Tour event.
It’s so exciting to take this next step in my sim racing career. I’ve previously competed in Esports WRC finals in Germany, and in the Gran Turismo regional finals in Tokyo. After those events I made the comment that it was my dream to complete my sim racing world tour by winning a trip to the US. I never thought it would really happen, and to come so soon is crazy. I can’t even express how excited I am to meet all the top Gran Turismo drivers from around the world. There are so many talented drivers taking part which is going to make for some epic racing action.
After struggling in the pre-season driving for Mitsubishi (who ended up coming last in the global rankings) I was desperate for a change when the opportunity arose. I remembered back to the Tokyo regional final event where I mentioned that the Beetle Gr.3 was my favourite car to drive in Gran Turismo, I also spent time looking at which manufacturer would give me the best chance of qualify. I ended up going with VW and I’m glad I did. I had much more fun driving than I was in the Mitsi’s and managed to get the results I needed to qualify for New York.
I have recently made the decision to continue with Volkswagen for the remainder of the 2019 season (there are two more world tours to try qualify for this year). I’m excited to continue driving a car I enjoy but equally nervous seeing the up coming tracks which won’t be as favourable for the VW’s.
The New York World Tour event is going to be massive. Such an awesome opportunity to travel to the other side of the world and race against the best in the world. I’m next level excited just thinking about this trip but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit nervous looking at the competition. At the end of the day all I can do is my best so you beat that’s what I’ll be doing.
Wish me luck.