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Ferrari launches own esports championship

Competitors will virtually drive the exclusive Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo Ferrari

Ferrari has launched its own esports racing championship, with the prize being a spot in its sim racing academy, the team announced on Tuesday.

The Ferrari Esports Series is aimed at amateur and professional games. Events are slated to take place between September and November, 2020.

Ferrari F1 driver Charles Leclerc will be on hand to offer guidance to chosen competitors.

The series will use the Assetto Corsa platform, with competitors using the exclusive Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo.

Ferrari was late to the esports craze, becoming the 10th of 10 F1 teams to join the F1 Esports Series in 2019. It won the championship on the first attempt thanks to Italian racing driver David Tonizza.

Ferrari has not won a drivers' title in the real world since Kimi Raikkonen did so in 2007.

The winner of Ferrari's new series will have the chance to work with Tonizza as part of the Ferrari Driver Academy Hublot Esports team in 2021.

For the first season entrants will be restricted to European citizens, although the team plan to expand the entrants to the wider world in 2021.

It hopes to be able to hold live events once global restrictions around the coronavirus pandemic have been lifted.