After the final four Challenges in the 2018 MotoGP™ eSport Championship we have the final 12 Semi-Finalists who’ll be playing in Madrid on Tuesday 30th October. That event will be broadcast live from 19.00 (GMT +1), so before the lights go out, let’s meet the final crop of this second wave of hopefuls!
Joining RICK_MOTOGP_35, XXBOMBER_45XX, reigning champion TRASTEVERE73, DAVIDEGALLINA23, RLLORCA26 and IVAN_AVELLA – the gamers who reached Semi Final 2 through Challenges #5 and #6 – are VINDEX813, QPNOVAQP, MOTERO_1, PAUL_IG, JUAN_NH16 and MOE after they mastered Challenges #7 and #8.
Challenge #7 provides our first three gamers: VINDEX813, QPNOVAQP and MOTERO_1. They were the quickest on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine at Sepang in a first ever wet Challenge. VINDEX813 is Italian, his favourite rider is Valentino Rossi, his favourite bike is the Yamaha and his favourite tracks are Austin, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and the same Sepang on which the seventh challenge was raced. QPNOVAQP, meanwhile, comes from Moustoir-Remungol in France. His favourites? Also Rossi, also Sepang – but the Team Suzuki Ecstar GSX-RR wins his heart as his favourite machine. Fellow wet challenge graduate MOTERO_1 is another fan of Sepang and the Yamaha but his favourite rider is compatriot Dani Pedrosa.
The final challenge, held around Chang International Circuit in Thailand on Andrea Dovizioso’s Ducati, decided the last three names moving through – and a couple are familiar. First the newcomer: MOE. Indonesian, MOE is from Banjarmasin and his favourite tracks at the Twin Ring Motegi and Phillip Island. He’s a Honda fan and fittingly notes Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner as his favourite riders.
Then the familiar names: PAUL_IG and JUAN_NH16. Both have already appeared this season and PAUL_IG was fourth overall in 2017. This is another chance for them to qualify for the Grand Final after they missed the cut last time. Bilbao native PAUL_IG is a Rossi and Yamaha fan, and his circuit of choice is the classic TT Circuit Assen. For JUAN_NH16 it’s a more left field choice as the Semi-Finalist from Seville goes for the KTM RC16 as his favourite, and he’s a fan of the Espargaro brothers, Alvaro Bautista, Marc Marquez, Jorge Lorenzo and Alex Rins. Jerez gets his vote for best track.
That’s the second half of the draw for Semi-Final 2 in Madrid. Will the known names make it through this time? Or will there be another dramatic showdown? Find out from 19.00 (GMT +1) on the 30th October September when Semi-Final 2 is broadcast live from the Movistar eSports Center in Madrid.
