The fourth and final round of the Global Series is fast approaching and a thrilling title fight is finely poised after two dramatic qualifying sessions for the final races of 2021.
The eleven finalists were all present at the Valencian Grand Prix for the first MotoGP™ eSport on-site event in two years! And in a thrilling title fight – Adriaan_26, Trast73, AndrewZh, and Piero Ricciuti55 are separated by just 20 points – it was Trast73 who had most reason to smile after the qualifying session that took place on Thursday.
11 gamers, hailing from Australia, the UK, Brazil, Italy and Spain, made it through the Pro Draft and Draft Selection phases and have been chosen by the MotoGP™ teams to represent them in the prestigious four-round series.
On Friday 12th November, the finalists will take on two races. The first sees the finalists take on the difficult and demanding Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas before attacking the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia for race two.
Ahead of the first race, Trast73 pieced together a lap of near perfection to claim his second pole of the year and give himself the perfect chance of breaking clear in race one at the Circuit of the Americas. Williams_Cristian will start race one from the middle of the front row, while reigning champ Adriaan_26 could do no better than third despite his best, late efforts.
And there was a fair share of drama in qualifying for the second event at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia. AndrewZh blazed his way to a stunning fourth pole position of the Global Series, meaning he is the best qualifier of 2021. He therefore wins a Tissot T-Race MotoGP™ Cronograph, and will receive the award ahead of tomorrow’s races from Tissot ambassador Thomas Luthi.
Trast73 will be pleased with his qualifying haul as he set the second fastest time ahead of Williams_Cristian. But there will be some consternation for title contenders Piero Ricciuti55 and Adriaan_26, who will start race two from fifth and sixth respectively.
Be sure to tune into the action-packed show tomorrow (Friday 12 November) at 18:00 (GMT +1), when presenter Immy Barclay will host the show with Jack Appleyard, Jack Gorst and MotoGP Rider Jack Miller on commentary duties during an hour-long show, beginning with highlights of qualifying before the 11 riders take on two races.
Friday’s action will be available to watch live via MotoGP™ broadcasters, on motogp.com and esport.motogp.com, and across social media platforms including YouTube (via the MotoGP™ and MotoGP™ eSport channels), MotoGP™ eSport Twitter, Instagram, Facebook (via MotoGP™ and MotoGP™ eSport pages) and Twitch via MotoGP™ and MotoGP™ eSport.
Qualifying results for race 1:
1st Trast73, 1’58.132
2nd Williams_Cristian, 1’58.198 (+0.066)
3rd Adriaan_26, 1’58.214 (+0.082)
4th AndrewZh, 1’58.233 (+0.101)
5th RiccardoBottaro64, 1’58.550 (+0.418)
6th PieroRicciuti55, 1’58.817 (+0.685)
7th Jack Hammer4658, 1’59.036 (+0.904)
8th Joel_Clay, 1’59.319 (+1.187)
9th DarkBright, 2’00.065 (+1.933)
10th MrTftw, 2’00.347 (+2.215)
11th FooXz, 2’00.610 (+2.478)
Qualifying results for race 2:
1st AndrewZh, 1’25.881
2nd Trast73, 1’26.031 (+0.150)
3rd Williams_Cristian, 1’26.083 (+0.202)
4th RiccardoBottaro64, 1’26.213 (+0.332)
5th Piero Ricciuti55, 1’26.255 (+0.374)
6th Adriaan_26, 1’26.265 (+0.384)
7th Jack Hammer4658, 1’26.568 (+0.687)
8th Joel_Clay, 1’26.732 (+0.851)
9th DarkBright, 1’26.948 (+1.067)
10th FooXz, 1’26.967 (+1.086)
11th MrTftw, 1’27.199 (+1.318)
