By AURÉLIEN BAMBAGIONI WWW.JV-LOUNGE.COM
Like many pilots, and like a third of the planet, Jacques Villeneuve and Patrick Lemarié are can quarantaine at home to fight against the expansion of the Coronavirus. The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series championship in which they were engaged as teammates in the new FEED Vict Racing team with the NWES structure of Dario Caso and Onofrio Veneziani has postponed the launch of its 2020 season, like most motor sports competitions.
To deal with the lack of competitions and to give fans a show, the majority of franchises have set up their own simracing championships with professional drivers and gamers. The esport discipline is becoming a real phenomenon in recent weeks and we find ourselves being able to follow several online races on the same day like any good spring weekend. Formula 1, Indycar, Nascar, Euro Nascar, Moto GP have launched their official ultra-realistic races. But esport specialists have also launched online challenges for professional pilots. The Race for example offers competitions on iracing or rfactor 2 (racing sports simulators on PC) and yesterday Jacques Villeneuve participated for the first time in the All-Star Series from his home in Milan. So if it was Jenson Button who won the race, Jacques Villeneuve put the Internet on fire. Where all the participants – and not the least – were all equipped with powerful PCs with large screens, steering wheels, pedals and bucket chairs, the former world champion 1997 could only find a laptop and an Xbox controller sitting on a corner of the table to participate at the race. And he finished in an incredible sixth place. The #legend was associated with his name, something quite rare on social networks. We all remember that JV learned F1 circuits on PC when he arrived on Circus. He therefore did not lose his hand.
Jacques and Patrick, who runs him like Esteban Ocon on Gran Turismo on Playstation, will surely have to acquire more specialized equipment if they want to participate in the EuroNASCAR Esport Series: the discipline has just announced that the competitions on line that will begin on April 21 at the Daytona road circuit, would earn drivers points in the actual championship. A new dimension of video games.