The G-Drive Phygital Racing discipline closed the competitive program of the first Games of the Future. The race at the Sirius Autodrom ended just minutes before the Closing Ceremony of the competition, held in Kazan.
G-Drive Phygital Racing is a discipline where you need to prove yourself both in a racing simulator and on a real race track to win. The prize fund of the tournament is $500 thousand. Of this, the best team will get $175 thousand, the second place will receive $90 thousand, and the third place will receive $65 thousand. 28 pilots from 13 countries took part in the race as part of 14 teams.
The sports result in racing is directly affected by the state of technics, therefore, high-tech G-Drive fuel and G-Energy engine oils are selected for tests and competitions. These products are used by rally and ring racing participants to protect engines under extreme load conditions. Feedback from racing engineers is used to improve the fuels and oils used by motorsports teams.
The decisive stage of the G-Drive Phygital Racing consisted of four segments. First, the first pilot of the team drove along the Sirius Autodrom track, then his partner started in the simulator, then the relay returned to the first participant, who also passed the digital stage, and finally, the co-pilot completed the race on a real track. Each segment had a length of 25 laps. The starting positions were determined based on the results of the qualification.
“It’s very cool. I remember we used to play in computer clubs, but it was just a waste of time. And here, on the border of real and virtual sports, new talents can be discovered on the race track,” Vitaly Petrov, a former Formula 1 pilot, assessed the phygital format.
Formula 4 cars were used in the phygital racing. These are light cars with a capacity of 160 hp. The length of the small circle of the Sirius Autodrom route is 2312 meters. There are seven right turns and three left turns.
Alexander Smolyar from SMP Racing took the lead from the first seconds. At the beginning, Irina Sidorkova from BR Engineering tried to put pressure on him, but due to an error in the first turn, she had to slow down and lose several positions. The main pursuer of Smolyar was the young Italian Mattia Colnagi from Formula Team. But he couldn’t get closer than three seconds to the leader.
The worst situation was for the Kazakh KA Team. On the 23rd lap, they dropped out of the race due to a car breakdown.
At the digital stages, SMP Racing, as well as in qualifying, was out of competition. Alexey Nesov was the first to go to the virtual track. He instantly increased the gap from Formula Team to 10 seconds. At some point, a member of the Chinese team China Future Speed, Tony Gano, caught up with Nesov’s car and tried to get around it, but could not get out of the split stream, turned the car around and lost precious three seconds. The battle for the first place continued between SMP Racing and Formula Team.
“The format of the race is very interesting: passing the baton, changing the virtual track to a real one is very unusual. Both guys who are good at sim racing and pilots from classic sports can achieve success. It’s great that the premiere of the new format took place in Russia,” said Roman Rusinov, the pilot of G–Drive Racing.
Alexey Nesov went to the last stage, ahead of the Spaniard Alex Kutiyas from Formula Team by almost 20 seconds. Half a minute later, the SC – Racing car drove out of the pits with Nick Gilks at the wheel, and Kirill Smal from BR Engineering was hanging on his wheel. And as a result, he managed to bring his team to the third place. Nicholas Stati, a 15-year-old Australian, started his segment on the track brightly. On unheated tires, he lost control and made a 360-degree turn, releasing a large cloud of smoke.
In the fourth segment, the main fight unfolded in the middle of the peloton. The pair of leaders retained their positions. The last champions of the first Games of the Future were the SMP Racing team.
“We won, it feels great. We guessed that we had an advantage, because we are strong both in the real segment and in the virtual one. We just prayed that nothing would break, because we have a technical sport, no one is immune from an unexpected problem, despite the perfect condition of the car. And I would like to note that the Sirius track is ideal for these cars,” Alexander Smolyar commented on the race.
Results
1. SMP Racing – 01:51:39.780
Alexander Smolyar (Russia), Alexey Nesov (Russia)
2. Formula Team – +22.261
Alex Kutiyas (Spain), Mattia Colnagi (Italy)
3. BR Engineering – +46.514
Irina Sidorkova (Russia), Kirill Smal (Russia)
4. SC – Racing – +57.622
Daniel Nogales (Spain), Nick Gilks (Canada)
5. G-Drive Racing – +1 lap
Roman Rusinov (Russia), Michael Belov (Russia)
6. Quetzales America – +1 lap
Christian Soberanes (Mexico), Calvin Ming (USA)
7. Team Seven – +1 lap
Nicholas Stati (Australia), Abdul Khamid Kafarov (Russia)
8. Friends Team – +2 laps
Alexey Savin (Belarus), Dmitry Gvazava (Russia)
9. UZ Formula Team – +3 laps
Roberto Meri (Spain), Ismail Akhmedkhodjaev (Uzbekistan)
10. México Quetzales – +3 laps
Luis Diaz (Mexico), Johnny Gindy (Mexico)
11. Electro Karting – +3 laps
Anvar Tutaev (Russia), Boris Garifullin (Russia)
12. Future Racing Team – +3 laps
Ulukbek Baizakov (Kyrgyzstan), Martin Molner (Hungary)
13. China Future Speed – +4 laps
Rueheng Yenzo Ye (China), Tony Gao (China)
14. KA Team – +16 laps
Artyom Chentsov (Kazakhstan), Bakbergen Mirmanov (Kazakhstan)
Information
Games of the Future is an international multisport tournament in the phygital concept, a sports show of a new format combining competitions in physical and digital dimensions. The technology partner is VK Play. 294 teams and more than 2,000 athletes from 107 countries took part in 21 innovative disciplines in the first Games of the Future. The competitions are divided into five categories, or challenges: sports, tactical, battle, technically assisted, speedrun.
Title Sponsor is PAO Gazprom
General Sponsors:
PAO Gazprom Neft G-Drive
PAO Sibur Holding Sibur
OAO Russian Railways
OOO VK Company VK Play
PAO Sberbank SBER
OOO PMBK (Liga Stavok)
OOO INTERROS Holding Company Interros
PAO Megafon Yota
Official sponsors:
OOO PBO System – Vkusno – i Tochka
PAO Sollers / UAZ
PAO Aeroflot
OOO Wildberries
OOO NTS Gradient – Influence
Roscosmos State Corporation
AO Positive Technologies
AO Russian Post
OOO Nanobarrier – HyDrop
AO Kaspersky Laboratory – Kaspersky
More information about the tournament can be found on the official channels of Games of the Future: