Sports car manufacturer Porsche has launched the Porsche iRacing World Championship Series in partnership with online racing simulator iRacing.

Competitors will race using the virtual 911 Cup car in a 10-round championship for their chance to win a share of $100,000 (£79,234). Qualification for the tournament will begin in January 2019.

Dr. Kjell Gruner, Vice President of Marketing at Porsche commented in a statement: “Porsche is more and more involved with eSports and racing simulations. Putting together a world championship like this one is important evidence of our increasing commitment to the sport.”

This isn’t the first result of the partnership between Porsche and iRacing. In November, the two parties launched the Porsche SimRacing Summit, which saw 32 competitors do their best to win the lion’s share of the €30,000 (£26,971.05) prize pool.

Steve Myers, Executive Vice President & Executive Producer of iRacing added: “We couldn’t be more thrilled to have Porsche as a partner for the Porsche iRacing World Championship Series. This is a milestone year for our world championships – it is the 10th year we have hosted and sanctioned world championships and to be able to offer a $100,000 prize pool shows how far we have come. We wouldn’t be able to do this without the fantastic partnership we have with Porsche.”

iRacing is involved with numerous esports initiatives within simulation racing, including the likes of six different World Championship Series and McLaren Shadow.

Esports Insider says: Porsche getting more involved in esports by providing an opportunity for sim racers to win a good amount of money is a lovely sight. There are a number of different racing esports and with big players in racing getting more and more involved, the future looks good for this particularly niche.