Junior WRC’s Armstrong launches Esports championship
Northern Ireland’s Jon Armstrong has joined forces with sim-racing hardware powerhouse, Trustmaster, to create his own online rally championship. The Jon Armstrong Thrustmaster eRally Series features four rounds on Dirt Rally 2.0 starting with Rally Germany between 15-22 May.
The 2018 WRC Esports champion was hoping to showcase his speed in the Junior World Rally Championship this year but with the WRC calendar hit with cancellations and postponements, Armstrong has focused on virtual rallying instead.
Drivers in Armstrong’s online championship will compete in Rally2 (R5) specification cars with the champion set to win a Thrustmaster TS-XW Racer. The weekly rounds will culminate on Rally New Zealand in June.
“I am super pleased to bring my own eRally series to my fans and the community of Dirt Rally 2.0,” said Armstrong.
“With the amazing support of Thrustmaster, we have some fantastic prizes on offer and I am sure we will see some exciting battles take place.
“I have chosen events which I have special memories of competing in, both in real life and virtually.”
Armstrong’s eRally series received 700 entries within its first 24 hours including Pedro Silva who won the European Rally Championship’s Azores Virtual Rally earlier this year.
“I wanted to give something back to the fans and obviously the prizes provided by Thrustmaster give them something to aim for as well.
“I’ve got a really good link with the marketing team in Thrustmaster, and it didn’t take much convincing to get their support.
“As well as the prizes, there will be discount codes over the rally weeks which I’ll share on social media.
“Sim rallying and racing has been a crucial part in keeping me and a lot of other motorsport people sane in this period.
“That’s another reason why I wanted to do the competition, to give people more to do. People really like doing competitions, even if they’re not the fastest, they enjoy sharing their experiences.”
