Following the overwhelming success of MotoGP™’s first ever Virtual Race, a second event was recently announced and it’s now getting closer – with lights out at 15:00 (GMT +2) on Sunday the 12th of April. Another cast of premier class superstars will be lining up, with a few returning from the first race – like reigning MotoGP™ World Champion Marc Marquez – and a few new faces taking on the competition too, including the likes of Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) and Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team). As ever, the riders will be playing on the official MotoGP™19 Videogame from videogame developer, publisher and longstanding partner Milestone, with MotoGP™20 set for launch soon on Friday the 23rd of April.
For Race 2, it’s the Red Bull Ring that plays host as the riders take on the digital rendition of the stunning Styrian track, with the race length set to 10 laps. Just like in the first event, a five-minute qualifying session in time-attack mode will decide the grid positions before the lights go out, although as we saw in Race 1 there’s far more to winning that just being the fastest! And remember, there’s nowhere to hide – with each rider live on the stream throughout the broadcast.
The second event will be shown in full on Sunday the 12th of April at 15:00 (GMT+2), with qualifying broadcast before the race. Fans can watch on motogp.com and esport.motogp.com, on selected TV broadcasters, and across social media platforms including YouTube (via the MotoGP and MotoGP eSport channels), MotoGP eSport Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook (via both the MotoGP and MotoGP eSport pages). An Instagram Live with the winner will debrief fans soon after the race too, at 16:00!
Broadcasters will include SKY Italy, Canal+ in France, DAZN in Spain, Italy and DACHS, BT Sport in the UK, ServusTV in Austria and Germany, OTE in Greece, SwissTV in Switzerland, SportTV in Portugal, Sport5 Israel, Sportklub in Serbia, MTV Finland, NBC in the USA, ESPN in Latin America, Trans TV in Indonesia and Fox Asia, amongst others.
Once again, the riders will each be playing via a private “Race Direction” lobby, set up to invite each rider to the event and send them the bike settings.
The line-up:
Repsol Honda Team: Marc Marquez, Alex Marquez
Ducati Team: Danilo Petrucci, Michele Pirro
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP: Valentino Rossi, Maverick Viñales
Petronas Yamaha SRT: Fabio Quartararo
Pramac Racing: Francesco Bagnaia
LCR Honda Idemitsu: Takaaki Nakagami
Reale Avintia Racing: Tito Rabat
Keep up to date with everything across social media platforms as the riders get ready to suit up – virtually – and see who takes the second ever Virtual Race win on Sunday at 15:00 (GMT+2). And don't forget, the winner will then go LIVE on Instagram with MotoGP™ to debrief at 16:00!
