The Road to Indy’s official Esports championship will run for a third year with a five-event schedule announced for the 2022 edition.
Created during the first global lockdown period of 2020, the Road to Indy eSeries proved so popular with real-world drivers that a second season ran soon after the first during the COVID-19 pandemic. It returned early in 2021 for a third season.
Starting on January 12 on a virtual version of Virginia International Raceway, season four will use the Tatuus PM-18 on the iRacing racing simulator game and start off being open to drivers from across junior single-seater racing.
Round two at Indianapolis Raceway Park (previously known as the Lucas Oil Raceway oval) will take place on January 19 and the entry list will consist of drivers from the Road to Indy series (Indy Lights, Indy Pro 2000 and USF2000) plus the top five drivers from the opening round who don’t meet that criteria and race below the IP2000 level.
That would include racers in the new RTI-promoted Formula 4 series USF Juniors, and graduates of the Lucas Oil Formula Car Race Series that also links to the IndyCar support ladder through an official tie-up with the Lucas Oil School of Racing.
Round three of the eSeries at Barber Motorsports Park on February 2 will be open to all junior single-seater drivers, and a week later the entry criteria of round two is repeated for Road America but with the top five ‘Road to Indy prospects’ being taken from Barber. According to the Road to Indy’s websites, the Virginia and Barber rounds will not award points.
A month after that, an all-star invitational event will be run on iRacing’s digital version of the Gateway oval on March 2.
Each of the points-scoring events will include a qualifying session and two 20-minute races. RP Motorsport’s Phillippe Denes won the first two eSeries titles, and GB3-bound Walter Hayes Trophy winner Max Esterson claimed the 2021 title.
The eight drivers already confirmed for season four include Indy Lights racers Nikita Lastochkin (DFL Racing) and Benjamin Pedersen (Global Racing Group with HMD Motorsports), IP2000’s Josh Green (Turn 3 Motorsport) and USF2000 drivers Jagger Jones (Cape Motorsports) and Dylan Christie (DEForce Racing).