It’s been seven days since season one of McLaren Shadow came to its thrilling conclusion. 500,000 hopefuls vying for the ultimate prize in racing esports whittled down to one.

That ‘one’, was Japanese-born Brazilian Igor Fraga. The 20-year-old was crowned victorious after an intensive week of rigorous testing. From human performance trials, to on-track driving, simulator work and virtual battles. We don’t do things by halves here at McLaren, and you don’t win one of the most sought-after prizes in esports by chance.

“It has just about settled in.” said an elated Igor. “But I’m already focused on taking to the track, in both the real and virtual worlds. There’s no let-up. My first ‘free’ weekend for instance, was spent discussing sponsorship and support for 2019. I’ve been busy working on the track and off it too.”

We didn’t put Igor to work right away, however. He celebrated with his fellow McLaren Shadow finalists the night of his win. “I went to a Korean barbeque with the McLaren Shadow crew straight after the race-off - good food with good people. Then straight home for a shower and off to bed. After an intense four days of testing, which were physically demanding and with the pressure well and truly on, I was pretty tired.”

We’ll hold our hands up to that one, the McLaren Applied Technologies human performance testing probably had something to do with it. We didn’t waste any time with the finalists and pushed them to their limits from the very first day of the finals.

“I’m looking forward to analysing the full results with McLaren, so I can see what my current capabilities are,” explained Igor. “The simulator and the track day were so much fun too. I have a lot of single-seater experience, but GTs are quite different to drive. It was my first opportunity to really push in that type of machinery. I have driven a GT4 spec car once before, but it was a super tight track and I was not pushing as hard as I did during the McLaren Shadow competition.”

Along with Igor, Miguel Ballester and Nuno Pinto overcame everything thrown at them to earn their place in the livestreamed final, where they were pitted against each other in the ultimate race-off. 12 laps around Sebring International Raceway on rFactor2. A circuit not short of significance, with it being the scene of Bruce McLaren’s first grand prix victory in 1959.

Back to the present day and it was all to play for - the Shadow crown within reach .

“I knew that Nuno was very strong on rFactor 2, seeing as he qualified via that game,” said Igor. "He was strong during the first few laps, so I tried to keep my composure to maintain the gap. I think I set the car up very well, and had a very consistent race. But I refused to celebrate before the chequered flag. You’ll see on the stream, I only began to celebrate once I crossed the line. I didn’t want to tempt fate. You never know in motorsport, there are so many things that could go wrong. Whether that’s on the virtual or real track.”

Fraga was joined at the finals by his father, and was cheered on by a host of supporters back in his homeland. “My family and girlfriend watched the livestream and cheered me on. I also had the support of Logitech G. Since I entered the competition via their qualifiers, they’ve been an immense help during this period - from lending me equipment to practice with, to giving me advice throughout.”

So what’s next for the bright young racer?

“When I was a child I played with toy Formula 1 cars. I dreamt of racing at the pinnacle of motorsport. I know that it’s difficult to get there, but I am determined to. And that determination has served me well so far. I will keep following my dream and hopefully this year I’ll be on track again and get closer to realising it.

“It’s been an amazing experience so far with McLaren. I’m excited to start working with the team. I will be pushing as hard as I can, to show them what I’m capable of.

“Sometimes if you really want to achieve something, you must make sacrifices. This is my dream, and I have been working very hard for a very long time, so I’ll continue with this mentality.”