On the back of five highly successful years, the MotoGP eSport Championship continues to innovate in a variety of ways in 2021.
After debuting last season, the Rising Stars Series, an eSport talent promotion initiative, returns for a second year and gets underway in July – played, as ever, on the official MotoGP™21 from videogame developer, publisher and longstanding partner Milestone.
Aimed at finding and fostering fresh eSport talent around the world, the Rising Stars Series mirrors Road to MotoGP initiatives out on track such as the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, the Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup and more, as it seeks to promote young talent towards the pinnacle of the sport.
One season in, and the results already speak for themselves. Of the eleven riders competing in this year’s MotoGP eSport Global Series, one – PieroRicciuti55 – first came to the world’s attention in last year’s Rising Stars Series, and has climbed to MotoGP eSport’s blue riband event in a short period!
As well as that, Vindex813, the winner of the European final of the last year’s Rising Stars Series, is Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP’s reserve rider for this year’s Global Series.
Following on from last year, the programme consists of four Online Challenges separated into three World Regions (the Americas, Europe and Africa, Asia and Oceania), as well as three Online Regional Finals; one per region.