Amateur racers will have the opportunity to mix it with some of Australia's leading professional drivers and compete for almost $5000 in prizes in the Speedcafe.com GT3 ESeries, presented by Kincrome Tools.
The series will be run over six weeks on a Sunday afternoon at some of the world's most famous venues and will be streamed exclusively on Speedcafe.com.
Amateur drivers each week will have the chance to compete for a piece of Kincrome equipment valued at approximately $300, while the outright series winner will pick up an Evolution Workshop tool kit and bonus to-draw side locker valued at more than $2500.
The series is an extension of a regular competition built by real-world amateur racer Dalton Ellery of Carbon Gaming, in which drivers compete in GT3 cars from Mercedes-AMG, Audi, Ferrari, BMW, and McLaren.
The series is set to regularly include several leading Supercar drivers including, Andre Heimgartner, Will Brown, Macauley Jones, Todd Hazelwood, Broc Feeney, Zane Goddard, and Thomas Randle.
There will also be regular guest drivers including international ace John Martin, talented youngsters Jack Doohan and Lochie Hughes and former touring car veterans Steve Johnson and Steve Ellery.
Once the professional line-up is secured each week, amateur racers will have the chance to pre-qualify for up to 30 spots on the grid.
The series will kick off this Sunday (May 24) with a visit to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course on the same weekend that this year's Indy 500 was originally scheduled.
The series will continue with events at Spa and the Nurburgring before a visit to Le Mans for a two-hour endurance race on June 14, which was the date that this year's Le Mans 24-hour would have taken place before being postponed.
The show will then head to the Daytona road course for the only night race of the series.
There will then be a week's break to celebrate the return of Supercars at Sydney Motorsport Park on June 28, before the championship finale at Bathurst on July 5 with another two-hour endurance event.
There will also be the chance for viewers to win Kincrome products during each week's live telecast, according to Speedcafe.com founder, Brett ‘Crusher' Murray.
“Obviously there has been a pick up in interest in online racing in recent months because of COVID-19 and we thought we would put a toe in the water,” said Murray.
“Dalton (Ellery) and his crew at Carbon Gaming have put an enormous amount of work into their series and we thought it would be great to support a young professional organisation which is having a real crack.
“Kincrome Tools recently joined Speedcafe.com as a Platinum Partner and are a dynamic Australian company with a younger demographic which this series will appeal to.
“The package of prizes that Kincrome Tools has provided will make this series one of the most valuable of its type being offered by an Australian organiser.”
The Safety Car for the series will be sponsored by Networkcafe.com.au which is a free networking hub for small to medium-sized businesses, launched by Speedcafe.com earlier this month.
Ellery, who is the son of Steve, said that the support of Speedcafe.com and Kincrome had already stirred enormous interest from competitors.
“I don't think we can underestimate the power of the Speedcafe.com reach and this can only be a positive thing for all our competitors and their sponsors,” said Ellery.
“Josh Thomson, Chaz Mostert and myself created the series with the aim of a competitive, fair and fun environment with a popular field of cars in endurance style events.
“Our previous series has been well supported by professional and amateur racers and these partnerships with Speedcafe.com and Kincrome will help us take it to the next level.”
Kincrome Tools' CEO Nick Pritchard, said his team was excited about being involved in the new series.
“We are enjoying being involved in some proactive activities though our association with Speedcafe.com and the GT3 ESeries is another example of that,” said Pritchard.
“We love the idea of young amateur drivers having the opportunity to compete against some of the sport's biggest stars and the fact some of them get to walk away with some Kincrome product is a bonus.”
Calendar: Speedcafe.com GT3 ESeries, presented by Kincrome Tools
May 24 – Indianapolis road course – Racing 16:00 – 90 minutes – (Speedcafe.com)
May 31 – Spa GP circuit – Racing 19:00 – 90 minutes – (Speedcafe.com)
June 7 – Nurburgring GP circuit – Racing 19:00 – 90 minutes (Speedcafe.com)
June 14 – Le Mans – Racing – Racing 19:00 – Two hour Endurance (Speedcafe.com)
June 21 – Daytona road course (Night race) – Racing 16:00 – 90 minutes (Speedcafe.com)
July 5 – Bathurst – Racing 15:30 – Two hour Endurance – (Speedcafe.com)
For further information, please visit the Carbon Gaming International Facebook page.