Eracing a stepping stone to become motorsports star

KUALA LUMPUR, May 2 (Bernama) -- Motorsports enthusiasts in the country would have a better chance of becoming a motor racing star following the introduction of eRacing Grand Prix SEA tournament in June.

The founder of Axle Motorsport, Alex Yoong said the electronic game tournament would be the stepping stone for young motorsport enthusiasts to move into the real life motorsport.

Yoong who is the first-ever Malaysian F1 driver in 2001 and 2002, revealed the top 40 participants from the tournament will be trained to become real race car drivers by the professional driver coaches.

“This tournament is not a new idea as it has been done before and we have done it with Nissan. Some achieved success and some of them failed, but it is the first time we are doing it regionally.

“We carry out talent development and professional driving coaches which is closer to my heart,and I feel many people wanted to be in motorsport, but they can’t due to several reasons,” he told reporters after the launch of the tournament by Deputy Youth and Sports Minister, Steven Sim Chee Keong, here, today.

Meanwhile, Sim lauded the initiatives by Axle Motorsport and is confident the tournament will churn out more local talents who was eager to take part in real life motorsports through a legal platform.

“I feel that eRacing have a huge potential in this country as eSports (electronic sports) nowadays is focusing more on the electronic games such as Dota, FIFA and etc.

“eRacing is similar to real life motorsports and therefore, the useful knowledge the participants gained from this tournament can be transferred into the real track,” Sim added.

In this regard, Sim added that the government is in the midst of finalising the blueprint on the development of eSports in the country which will be announced soon by the Youth and Sports Minister, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.

After Malaysia, the eRacing tournament will move to several ASEAN countries, namely, Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand.

The winner of each country stop will be trained and offered a spot in Formula 4 South East Asia Championship (F4SEA), as the first step before making their way to become a professional racing driver.

-- BERNAMA