Mirroring the success of other sim racing series around the world, Uruguay’s Gran Turismo Sport Championship is building momentum during its second season in 2021, with the objective of offering the eventual winner a place in the prestigious FIA Motorsport Games this year.

While conventional motor sport was badly impacted by the effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, esports enjoyed a boom period – one that still shows no signs of slowing down, even with real-world racing back on-track.

Enterprising ASNs in countless different countries have taken advantage of this trend to encourage and nurture the fast-growing discipline of sim racing – a means of contesting motor sport competitions without the usual financial outlay, and reaching an entirely new audience in the process. The ACU’s burgeoning initiative is the perfect example.

Following the positive reaction to its inaugural campaign last year, the country’s GT Sport Championship recently embarked upon a 12-date second edition.

“In 2020, the Automóvil Club del Uruguay along with Sim Racing Uruguay, the organiser and promoter of digital motor sport in the country, officialised the GT Sport Championship, which grants digital motor sport the same status as non-digital motor sport,” explained an ACU spokesperson. “This represented tremendous progress for Uruguayan digital motor sport, which would have been unimaginable just a year before the pandemic.  

“The objective is to create an entry-level arena for future talents to begin their careers in the sport. Sim racing makes motor sport more accessible and inclusive for drivers keen to take that first step. We are committed to building a strong championship and organisation, which is both a platform for discovering upcoming stars and an attractive proposition for sponsors.  

“A big part of our overall vision is to instill digital motor sport in people’s hearts and minds. In focussing strongly on digital marketing, we want to make digital motor sport a natural element of the national motor sport ecosystem, by continuing to break down the barriers between the traditional motor sport community and the parallel gaming community.

“For this year, our main goal is to secure the necessary budget to send our GT Sport champion to the FIA Motorsport Games. That would elevate digital motor sport in our country to a whole new level.”

Registrations for Uruguay’s 2021 GT Sport Championship can be made here. The ACU also recently launched the nation’s first official virtual rally championship – recognised by the FIA and CODASUR – which debuted at the end of April.