3,2,1…the New Balance F1 Esports Pro Series 2019 is kicking off!

Perhaps the most well-known and popular esports event series in racing, the new New Balance Pro Series 2019 has been much awaited – plenty of talented gamers fought their way through a tough selection process, before ultimately being selected as representatives for the 10 official F1 esports teams that are participating this season.

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The announced esports drivers for the Pro Series 2019

Three players were selected by each team, and from a variety of countries across the world. Pending some final eligibility tests (that have nothing to do with gaming skill), the final roster for this year’s event series looks as follows:

Alfa Romeo Racing F1 Esports Dani Bereznay, Hungary

Kimmy Larsson, Sweden

Salih Saltunç, United Kingdom Ferrari Driver Academy David Tonizza, Italy

Amos Laurito, Italy

Gianfranco Giglioli, Italy Haas F1 Team Esports Floris Wijers, Netherlands

Jan Fehler, Germany

Martin Štefanko, Czech Republic

McLaren Shadow Enzo Bonito, Italy

Bono Huism, Netherlands

Allert van der Wal, Netherlands Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports Brendon Leigh, United Kingdom

Patryk Krutyj, Poland

Daniel Shields, Australia SportPesa Racing Point F1 Esports Team Daniele Haddad, Italy

Marcel Kiefer, Germany

Lucas Blakely, United Kingdom

Red Bull Racing Esports Frederik Rasmussen, Denmark

Joni Törmälä, Finland

Nicolas Longuet, France Renault Sport Team Vitality Jarno Opmeer, Netherlands

Cedric Thomé, Germany

Simon Weigang, Germany Scuderia Toro Rosso Esports Patrik Holzmann, Germany

Cem Bölükbaşı, Turkey

Manuel Biancolilla, Italy

Williams Esports Álvaro Carretón, Spain

Tino Naukkarinen, Finland

Isaac Price, United Kingdom

That’s some lucky and talented players right there! If some of them look familiar, that’s not without reason – among other returning veterans, previous and current F1 Esports Series champ Brendon Leigh is participating again. He won both previous seasons – will he be able to extend his victory to a third season? Racing star Enzo Bonito, who managed to outpace pro racers in a real-life race earlier this year and thus made headlines is part of the competition as well, along with completely new talent.

The F1 Esports Pro Series 2019 events

Each and every one of them well earned their spot on the team, and with Ferrari joining as a brand-new team this season, it’s going to be more exciting than ever. Across four events in the London Gfinity Arena, these guys will be competing for a neat $500.000 USD prize fund. The F1 esports prize money is nearly double what was on offer last year!

The events of the Pro Series 2019 are happening on September 11th, October 2nd, November 6th and the Grand Final on December 4th. It’s only a few more days before the big launch with the very first of the four competitions, and players are already getting in gear, right along with their fans. All live events will be live streamed between 7 and 9pm BST on YouTube, Twitch, and also television partners in select locations. Sky UK, Ziggo in the Netherlands, MTV in Finland and Fox Australia will be transmitting the events.

F1 and Huya: a new partnership

Another piece of exciting news – just in time for the launch, Formula 1 signed a deal with Chinese live streaming platform Huya, opening up an entirely new market for themselves – as of next year, there will be a separate F1 Esports Series China Championship in order to add Chinese talent to the Pro Draft for the 2020 season. For the 2019 season, all players have been selected and the only question that remains is who will win it all this December at the Grand Final. As mentioned, both previous seasons were won by Brendon Leigh, an incredibly talented UK player. More than ever though, he has competition this year – 27 other talented players across 9 teams are coming for his title, and his teammates are of course gunning for the top spot as well – it’s anyone’s race this year!

In other words, it’s going to be faster, better and more exciting from here on out! Good luck to all participants of the Pro Series 2019!