From each of the two Semifinals on the second day of the 2017 MotoGP™ eSport Championship, eight gamers would be cut down by half, with the world’s fastest player of MotoGP™17 preparing for the main event. Competition was fair but fierce over 10 laps on Spain’s Circuit Ricardo Tormo.
As Semifinal 1 got underway live in Valencia, there was little doubt that fastest on track from Thursday’s Qualifying Session would also take a spot in the final, as ‘MMANDZUKIC17’ made the perfect start off the line ahead of the seven other players, and streamed ahead. The fight for second place between Italian ‘LUIGI48GP’ and Spaniard ‘AADRIAN_26’ took a turn, however, after ‘LUIGI48GP’ made an unfortunate error earlier on. Crashing two laps in at Nico Terol corner, the Italian gamer left ‘KYRANL49’ and ‘TIMOTHYMCGARDEN’ battling with the player from Las Palmas for second.
‘VINDEX813’ leaped into the fray to second place from fifth halfway through the Semifinal - but the Italian ran wide after a close encounter in the pack, and crashed at turn 2. That left brothers ‘MMANDZUKIC17’, and ‘AADRIAN_26’ racing in positions one-two respectively, before ‘TIMOTHYMCGARDEN’ regained his place near the front and finished the 10 laps in third place behind ‘LUIGI48GP’. Fourth and final place in the Grand Final went to South African gamer ‘KYRANDL49’ who qualified in 15th during Thursday’s session but made an amazing recovery in speed to squeeze out ‘AADRIAN_26’ in the last laps.
Semifinal 2 was just as intense, with second fastest in Qualifying ‘TRASTEVERE73’ had a great start, but fought ‘PAUL_IG’ for the lead early on. The pack bunched up considerably over the final five laps, with Spain’s ‘MOTERO_1’ and Italy’s ‘IVANGAMER2346’ battling for fourth spot, while ‘IOTIFOROSSI’ held third.
‘TRASTEVERE73’ reclaimed his position out in front and held the advantage over ‘PAUL_IG’ for the remaining laps. As ‘IVANGAMER2346’ made a frantic dive up the inside though, ‘IOTIFOROSSI’ dropped down to fifth spot after a bump from ‘MOTERO_1’ on lap nine, leaving the Italian without a spot in the final.
Reduced to eight the talented gamers through to the MotoGP™ eSport Grand Final were three Spanish, three Italian, one German and the sole South African - all ready to play for the Championship crown.
