Times are changing as motorcycle companies, riders and race organisers adjust to the current global pandemic. And that includes embracing other ways to keep people interested in two wheels, as Ducati Corse sign a pro eSports racer.
That’s right – all those times you were told not to waste time playing video games (or you’ve told your kids the same), might have stopped you becoming a factory Ducati rider, without even leaving your sitting room.
To be fair, Andrea Saveri has plenty of credentials to justify the Italian manufacturer signing him up. For one thing, he’s the reigning 2019 MotoGP eSports champion, having finished third in his debut season in 2018. And he took the title riding a virtual Ducati Desmosedici GP bike.
He’s also a local Ducati fan. The 19-year-old was born in Bologna and lives a few kilometres away from the Ducati HQ in Borgo Panigale. And coming from a Ducatista family, he also rides a Ducati Monster when he’s not competing.
So Saveri joins the official Ducati Corse team, as the eSport rider, alongside Andrea Dovizioso, Danilo Petrucci and Michele Pirro. Riding as ‘AndrewZh’, he’s one of 11 riders competing for the title in 2020, having finished eight in the qualifying ‘ProDraft’.
Paolo Ciabatti, (Ducati Corse Sporting Director):
“eSport is an entertainment platform that has grown quickly during the last years: innovation, progress and technology are part of Ducati DNA, and that is why we have decided to commit in this new adventure. We were already discussing to officialize this relationship with Andrea before he became World Champion in order to be able to dress him with the official colours of Ducati Corse, riding a virtual Desmosedici GP bike, for the 2020 World Championship. Andrea isn’t just an extraordinary eSport rider, but also a true Ducatista. He comes from Bologna; he lives a few kilometres away from Borgo Panigale, he rides a Ducati Monster, and that is for us an added value. We wish him good luck, and we can’t wait for the new championship to begin”.
Andrea Saveri aka AndrewZh:
“When the eSport World Championship began I wouldn’t have imagined reaching a similar goal. Becoming an official Ducati rider and wearing the colours of the squad from Borgo Panigale is a dream that comes true. Especially for a youngster from Bologna like me, who is a big motorcycle enthusiast since I was a kid and that knows what it means being a Ducatista. Although it is a tough moment for the world, we were able to compete to decide the ProDraft of the classification, and it was not easy to gain access to the final challenge, as this year the level is very high. It will be a special season, during which I hope to be able to repay all the trust that Ducati put on me by getting good results”.
Even before the postponement of real world racing due to Covid-19, the final three rounds of the 2019 MotoGP eSport World Championship were shown by 15 TV broadcasters in 5 continents, and reached 64 million viewers according to Dorna Sports.
So if you can’t go racing right now, it might be time to pick up a controller and get on your gaming PC, Xbox or PlayStation.
The new MotoGP 20 game is out on April 23rd, 2020, and you can find it digitally on Steam for the PC, the Microsoft store for Xbox One, or as a physical copy on Amazon for pre-ordering.
In the meantime, the eSports championship is still using MotoGP 19, which you can find on Steam, the Microsoft store, the Playstation store and the Nintendo Store. Or order a physical copy from Game or Amazon.
And if you take your virtual racing seriously, or know someone who does, then why not check out our sister site, OnlineRaceDriver.com, the home of virtual motorsport.
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