Last year saw the cancellation of many major sporting events, and subsequently the rise in popularity of E-Sports in their place. One sport that was particularly affected was motor racing, with many high profile drivers from around the world joining online competitions, driving in their simulators at home.
In December, Macau took part in this growing trend with the “GBA Sim Racing Grand Prix (SRGP) 2020 – The Grand Final” presented by Melco Resorts & Entertainment at City of Dreams, in the 270-degree theatre-in-the-round House of Dancing Water Theatre.
In collaboration with CCTV, the SRGP was launched in mid-October 2020 with an Online Tournament and Satellite Tournaments in Jiangmen, Guangzhou and Zhuhai, Hong Kong and Macau. As of the Zhuhai tournament, more than 15,000 online and offline participants had been recorded. Live-streaming during the tournaments was broadcast to national audiences with a viewership of close to 60 million.
The three-day event at City of Dreams late last year culminated in 18 professional SIM racing finalists competing in a head-to-head simulator race on Macau’s Guia Circuit, for a 40-minute race of 18 laps, in front of a live audience inside the House of Dance Water Theatre.
The Grand Final Champion and ultimate winner of the “Melco Cup” was SIM racer Yin Zheng from Beijing.
“The Macau Guia Circuit is really a very time-honoured and exciting circuit, so it was really great that the organisers chose it. It was a fantastic event and a successful race for me in the end,” said Yin Zheng after his victory. “The most difficult part of the race was the qualifying, which determines your starting position and whether you are safe on the first lap. In the final, because I started on pole, the crashes behind me didn’t affect me at all.”
“SIM Racing is an E-Sport that is very close to traditional sports. Not long ago the Hangzhou Asian Games announced that E-Sports will be an Asian Games medal sport for the first time. I am very happy that the sport I am engaged in can have the opportunity to reach a bigger stage,” Zheng adds.
The SRGP event was supported by the Macau Sports Bureau and Guangdong Provincial Sports Bureau, directed by Guangdong Provincial Social Sports Center and organized by Guangdong Automobile and Motor Sports Federation, co-organized by L&L Sailing Up Sports.
“E-Sports has developed to become an attractive contemporary entertainment option, and Melco is delighted to bring this emerging new generation sport and entertainment experience to Macau,” notes Clarence Chung, Board Director of Melco Resorts & Entertainment.
“GBA Sim Racing Grand Prix 2020 had nearly 240 thousand search results on the Chinese search engine Baidu, over 1,600 news coverage and showcased the Macau Guia Circuit on CCTV, iQiyi Sports and other online platforms with over 133 million viewers,” he adds.
The total cash prizes awarded to the 36 national players at the National Final was worth over RMB 1 million.
Melco actually launched Macau’s first ever E-Sports Stadium in Studio City, Macau E-Stadium, in 2018, enabling an array of E-Sporting events including multiplayer gaming tournaments as well as live-streaming of E-Sport event from other parts of the world.
“With the pandemic, many sport events have been cancelled or delayed, so everyone must be more open-minded and adapt to the new normal. Sim Racing is a product generated from this new era, and has a large potential in the future, and Melco is open to support any ideas which can excel the offerings to our customers,” says Clarence Chung.
