News Fanatec announce exclusive multi-year agreement with eSports WRC

Earlier this year I was invited to Monaco for the start of the 2020 WRC season and to take part in a rather special invitational WRC Esport event. I confess I hadn’t played WRC 8 for some time and up against Gamermuscle, Super GT and Yannis Greekman, I knew I had my work cut out to keep up.

Also, noticing the new Fanatec branding and wheel set-ups which looked very nice indeed. Luckily, it all felt very intuitive to operate and despite being up for 15 hours having flown over that day, I managed to keep my head together and put in a solid result with a strong second place to WRC Esports Pro Greekman. The feeling from the game came back to me with every round and the new hardware was perfectly intuitive, aiding a decent result. Flash forward a couple of months and the official announcement has finally arrived as Fanatec unveils the new partnership with WRC Esport and the new WRC licensed Steering Wheel, which is to be expected in Q4 2020.

Fanatec is the official hardware supplier of the 2020 Esports WRC Championship, announcing a multi-year agreement, the exact length of this agreement has not been disclosed. Development of new rally products is underway and will be revealed later in 2020

Thomas Jackermeier, CEO of German-based Endor AG, which owns Fanatec, said: “the company was honoured to join the WRC family and would play its part in allowing sim rally drivers to get as close as possible to the real thing.” He continued, “Rally driving is one of the most intense forms of motorsport and one which is extremely difficult to practise. “Fanatec is developing a range of rally products in close co-operation with WRC, which will be perfectly suited to simulate this exciting sport and to compete in official WRC sim racing competitions”.

WRC Promoter managing director Oliver Ciesla said: “Fanatec’s enthusiastic support of WRC’s virtual rallying would further boost soaring interest in eSports motorsport. We welcome Fanatec to the championship’s growing portfolio of premium partners and it’s great to see the company’s passion and commitment in creating bespoke products for WRC sim racers.”

The challenge is open now to anyone playing WRC 8. “Like all global sports, WRC is currently paused due to Covid-19, but the WRC Weekly Challenge allows sim racers to compete against their rivals on classic roads from famous rallies. It provides our existing fans, and young gamers who are building their interest in the sport, with a means to preserve their WRC ‘fix’ and we’re delighted Fanatec has chosen to support this challenge,” concluded Ciesla.

So, if you enjoy a bit of rally action, get stuck in and we hope to take a closer look at the new Fanatec WRC products later this year.

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