Sim Racing Successful start in virtual world The COVID pandemic forced the organisers to postpone the start of the 8th season of the circuit racing championship to Grobnik, Croatia to late July. However, the drivers did not have to go without racing completely, even though it took an unusual form. The forced fourmonth break was filled with the first-ever season of the ESET iSERIES, which took the best ESET Cup series drivers to the virtual circuits. And it was later also joined by the TCR Eastern Europe Simracing series. “Looking back now, I’m glad that we’ve managed to do it because it was all so new to us. In the ESET iSERIES with the GT3 cars, we had a great international team of true enthusiasts – programmers in Bern and Marseille, a simulator manufacturer from Zürych, a live streaming team from Hradesin, servers in Frankfurt and English commentary provided by great Pavel Fabry. A huge thanks to everyone, and also to our partners and of course our racing drivers. Even our fans have appreciated all the great and dramatic on-track battles and the championship wasn’t decided until the very last and 5th round of the season. It was a bit different from the TCR, because the WSC company, the series owners, created their own full package that they then offered to all promoters. We used that opportunity and after the TCR Australia and TCR Europe, our TCR Eastern Europe series became the third official TCR Sim Racing Championship. The only thing we had to do was to cover the costs and find our own commentator. After a great experience with Pavel Fabry from the iSERIES, it was easy for us and we’re really glad that he did such
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an amazing job,” said the main organiser of the series Josef Krenek. Both championships varied on the technical side. The ESET iSERIES featured several car manufacturers, but also fixed setups. Drivers could adjust only ABS settings and brake balance. On the other hand, in the TCR series, where the cars are almost identical, drivers could adjust tyre pressures, differential lock and also fuel tank. Both series also had different points scoring systems, with the iSERIES giving points to only the TOP 10, while the TCR series awarded the TOP 15 drivers and also the best drivers in the qualifyings.
