iRacing and FIA join forces for FIA F4 Esports Regional Tour
iRacing and the FIA are pleased to announce the latest step in their collaboration centered around Formula 4: the iRacing FIA F4 Esports Regional Tour. Coming to iRacing later this year, the new series adapts the regionally based real-world FIA F4 format to iRacing’s member base of hundreds of thousands of sim racers across the globe, pitting them in weekly challenges in limited time slots against the top other open-wheel racers from their region.
Nikolas Tombazis, FIA Single-Seater Director, added, “It is great to see that the collaboration between the FIA and iRacing is continuing to develop. The iRacing FIA F4 Esports Regional Tour will bring virtual and real-world racing even closer together, and encourage the global development of new talents through close competition, which is exactly what Formula 4 Championships are doing.”
The iRacing FIA F4 Esports Regional Tour follows iRacing and the FIA’s announcement of an official licensing agreement for Formula 4 in May 2023. The series will be broken up into four regions—two European regions, Americas, and Asia/Pacific. Each region features a diverse selection of tracks that are local and relevant to each region’s geography. Races will take place on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7, 9, and 11 PM in time zones appropriate for each region, making it easy for users to run the events in their respective regions. While all iRacers are eligible to run in any region’s event, the servers will always be set to the most appropriate iRacing server for each region—for example, Asia/Pacific region events will run on iRacing’s Sydney-based servers.
“The iRacing FIA F4 Esports Regional Tour is an amazing next step in our collaboration with the FIA around the Formula 4 platform,” said iRacing president Tony Gardner. “We have always shared the FIA’s vision of giving the next great racers an approachable platform to learn the skills they need to excel in real-world motorsport. Bringing the FIA Formula 4 to iRacing has been a successful starting point, and creating iRacing FIA F4 Esports Regional Tour divisions brings the real and virtual worlds even closer together as iRacers look to beat the best in their part of the world.”
The FIA Formula 4 platform was announced in 2013 in advance of a 2014 debut, and has grown in popularity around the world as the ideal first step on the global open-wheel racing ladder. Featuring a diverse range of chassis and engine manufacturers, each F4 car is capped at 160 horsepower to ensure equal performance around the world. Formula 4 Championships, Certified by FIA, now take place across four continents have been established by FIA member organizations.
iRacing’s version of the FIA Formula 4 car benefits from the same level of analysis, detail, data, and testing as members have come to expect, while the genericized model allows for use by FIA member clubs worldwide without manufacturer conflicts. iRacing offers multiple public series featuring the FIA Formula 4 to its more than 200,000 active users, with options for both custom setups and fixed performance. Dozens of real-world FIA Formula 4 host circuits are already available on iRacing, with more to be added in future releases.
For more information on iRacing, visit www.iracing.com.