The next stage of the World’s Fastest Gamer – McLaren’s virtual racing series that awards the overall winner with a year’s role as an official F1 simulator driver – will be hosted on iRacing.

The WFG iRacing qualification series will run from September 12 to October 9, and will be run using the McLaren Honda MP4-30 car, racing at iconic Formula 1 venues including Monza, Interlagos and the Circuit of The Americas.

The series will have multiple races each day, giving thousands of iRacing members the opportunity to qualify for an invitation to the ultimate final, which will be hosted at the McLaren Technology Centre in November.

Steve Myers, iRacing’s Executive Producer and Executive Vice-President, said:

“We are excited to able to announce this new avenue for gamers to participate in the World’s Fastest Gamer. We’ve been partners with McLaren for many years now, first with McLaren Electronics, then McLaren Automotive and finally McLaren Racing, so it’s only natural to continue to expand our partnership by including an iRacing element to this competition.

“iRacing is known for the calibre of online racers we attract and produce, so we fully expect the iRacing qualifier to represent sim racers all around the world very well.”

Zak Brown, Executive Director, McLaren Technology Group, added:

“I know first-hand just how detailed and realistic iRacing is, having worked with the iRacing team before. We’re anxious to see who will qualify from iRacing, and we know they will produce a top-tier candidate for the World’s Fastest Gamer finals in November.”

In order to ensure ultimate fidelty, iRacing worked directly with the Formula 1 team to build a digital replica of the MP4-30 that would look and handle exactly as its real-world counterpart.

One of iRacing’s most successful competitors, Greger Huttu, has already qualified for the World’s Fastest Gamer finals based on his historical performance on iRacing. Huttu has established himself as one of the greatest sim racers of all time, and the WFG judges fully appreciated his abilities by extending an automatic invitation to the finals.

The qualifying races will be broadcast live via www.iRacing.com/live.

The iRacing qualifiers are open to all: if you haven’t already signed up to the game, iRacing is offering a special deal for new members. Sign up today and get a one year membership plus the car and tracks you need for the competition for 70% off by using promotional code PR-MCLARENWFG at www.iracing.com/membership.