Digital APRC launches online International Rally of Whangarei
Rally fans will get to both contest and follow this weekend’s 8-10 May 2020 launch of the Digital Asia Pacific Rally Competition from the safety of their home.
An interim fill for what would have been the second round of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship, the online International Rally of Whangarei can be contested by any gamer of the DiRT Rally 2.0 platform.
Pending resumption of the on-road championship the Digital APRC will make use of dates made available by rounds forced to postpone due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Gamers contest each round as a virtual event, accruing automatically calculated points based on their finishing position. An overall winner will be declared once the final round is completed. Each online event will run to a timetable resembling the originally scheduled event.
For this weekend’s New Zealand round, action starts on the Friday night with a night-time stage repeated three times.
Gamers get a window of time to complete each stage, similar to each leg of the rally from Friday 8 May through to Sunday 10 May.
Supporting the initiative, the world motorsport governing body the FIA are working toward greater awareness starting with the #RaceAtHome social media tag.
Along with other motorsport codes under the Digital brand, the APRC focus is on relevance as a feeder to the top-level World Rally Championship (WRC) category, including use of the type of car available to gaming competitors.
APRC president Mr Vicky Chandhok says the concept is a stimulating extension to the formal championship.
“Knowing how many gaming drivers are already in this space, giving them an international category to contest is very exciting. This gives a truly global opportunity for new drivers to contest our sport, virtually, and very important at the moment, from the safety of their home. Many of our top drivers are active in this market so to bring the two together and compete on very level terms is fabulous.”
The Digital APRC calendar is expected to be at least five rounds, with dates to be confirmed in the near future.
Updates and details will be posted to the FIA APRC Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/FIA.APRC
Join the Digital APRC club at link https://dirtrally2.com/clubs/club/321214
Event overview:
The event starts at 18:00 (06:00GMT) 8 May and finishes 15:30 (03:30GMT) on 10 May.
Friday Night: 1 stage repeated 3 times Km: 14.7km (Friday 6pm- Saturday 12pm)
Saturday: 5 stages repeated twice Km: 72.68km (Saturday 12pm – Sunday 12am)
Sunday: 5 stages repeated twice Km: 62.9km (Sunday 12am – Sunday 3:30pm)
Total km: 150.28km
Entry information:
What’s required?
PC, Xbox, PS4 or Oculus Virtual Reality headset with gaming console or steering wheel/pedals.
DiRT Rally 2.0 (standard edition or higher) from https://dirtrally.com/buy (Steam is the platform for PC users). Join the Digital APRC club at link https://dirtrally2.com/clubs/club/321214
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