The moment of reckoning is approaching. The Rising Stars Series, MotoGP™ eSport’s talent spotting initiative, is gearing up for the Regional Finals that will determine who wins the big prize at the end of this year.
First introduced in 2020, this new talent-spotting programme required young hopefuls around the world to tackle four Online Challenges in which Gamers are divided into three categories, depending on their location. These three are the Americas, Europe and Africa, and finally Asia and Oceania.
The stakes in the Regional Finals couldn’t be higher, with the winner in each category (Americas, Europe and Africa) receiving a guaranteed place in the MotoGP eSport Pro Draft Selection in 2022.
While the top eleven from each region have preliminarily qualified for the Regional Final, it’s worth noting there may be some small changes to the final list due to gamers’ availability on the selected dates. The definitive list of finalists and their respective teams will be announced in the coming weeks.
All three finals will be held live in October. Be sure to tune in to motogp.com, esport.motogp.com and all of our social media platforms including YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to see the live events.
Europe and Africa
Italy dominated the European and African standings with as many as six finalists hailing from the bike-mad country. The undisputed king of the Online Challenges was Vindex813, and will surely start this regional final as favourite after he posted some sensational times. The Italian is currently Monster Energy Yamaha’s reserve rider for the Global Series and his class told as he scored 61 points across the four Challenges. The Polish gamer xKamilX 27 is a new name to observe after finishing second overall. Other well-known names were ever present, such as JulitoCampeonl5 and Italian Davidegallina, a finalist in last year’s Global Series. Also simpiova26, Ducati’s reserve rider for this year’s Global Series, finished ninth in the classification.
Americas
The USA dominated the provisional qualifying list, with eight of the finalists hailing from the north American country. There were a notable number of entrants that also hailed from Brazil and Argentina. The American E3C-TH3_F4LL3N headed the standings with 100 points from the four Online Challenges, with two Brazilians – XxBastoner92xX and Flanker-SNS – second and third respectively. The Argentinean EMI-12 was fourth. A host of names from last year’s Rising Stars Series were also present, XxBastoner92xX included. The likes of macargo1, mrhitstick05 and SUPREMASIA will also be looking to build on the promise shown in last year’s inaugural Rising Stars Series.
Asia and Oceania
This heat was dominated by gamers from Malaysia and Indonesia, with the standings very competitive indeed. The Malaysian EIKY13 was the fastest of the lot, with both him and the Indonesian Ari TW joined in first place with 45 points to their name. Taiwan was also present, with 阿仁_14ddd finishing third in the leaderboard after the four Online Challenges. Austrian was another country represented, as new name Th0mm0 was fourth, scoring 38 points over the Challenge stage.
You can check the full general standings here.
