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McLAREN Racing launches the McLAREN Shadow Academy and confirms McLAREN Shadow 2020 team

A new route into professional esports racing

McLaren Racing has today announced the launch of the McLaren Shadow Academy, aimed at developing the world’s most promising talent in the esports community, with the ultimate goal a seat in the McLaren Shadow esports team.

As part of McLaren’s partnership with Veloce Esports, the academy will provide an additional route into professional esports racing, another step in attracting esports talent from around the world. McLaren and Veloce will work together to source, develop and nurture fresh talent in a sport which continues to cultivate and engage a global fan base.

Joining the McLaren Shadow Academy as the first set of members are Tomek Poradzisz and Josh Idowu, who will hone their skills and work closely with the McLaren Shadow esports team as part of the programme.  

This month, the McLaren Shadow esports team return to track in the fifth season of the F1 esports Pro Series, with the first race of the season set to kick off on Wednesday 14 October at the Bahrain International Circuit. The McLaren Shadow esports team line-up for the 2020 season includes Dani Moreno, Matthias Cologon, James Baldwin and McLaren Shadow ambassador, Benjamin Daly.

Leeston Bryant, Senior Manager, McLaren esports said:

“We are delighted to launch the McLaren Shadow Academy in McLaren’s fourth year of esports to foster and develop exciting new talent. The growth and trend of esports is set to continue and after the success over the past few months the sport has an ever-growing appeal commercially and with our fans. 

“The academy allows us to develop upcoming gamers such as Tomek Poradzisz and Josh Idowu within a programme that creates a staircase of talent to the ultimate goal - a seat on our McLaren Shadow team. A huge welcome to Tomek and Josh, and we look forward to an exciting year with our McLaren Shadow Academy and McLaren Shadow esports team.”

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