JAMAICA and several of its regional neighbours will take to the virtual race circuit on Saturday, February 4, starting at 6:00 pm.

The event will be streamed live on the social media channels of event host, the Jamaica Simulation Racing Association (JSRA), and on the SportsMax app.

"I can't stress how important an event like this is for us. Before last year, Jamaica was an unknown in the international sim racing space. Now we are able to secure competition with the top sim racing club in Colombia, Nitro Sim Racing," Stephen Stewart, president of JSRA, told the Jamaica Observer's weekly Auto magazine.

The two-hour event will see 12 drivers — three each from Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad and Colombia — compete on a virtual version of WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, in Monterey, California. This historic track is known for its downhill corkscrew turn, which has been accurately rendered in Assetto Corsa, the game being used for the event.

"We had our first event for 2023 on January 14, which was a local qualifier for this event. We started with 16 drivers, had a race event with 14, that was brought down to six, and then they raced for the three spots available in this event. It was our biggest in viewership to date, and we expect Caribbean versus Colombia to be even more exciting," said Stewart.

The event will begin with a 20-minute qualifying session to determine the start positions for the first of the 45-minute double-feature races.

"Race two is a reverse grid race. This is also a country-wins-all event, as the country with the highest amount of points, given by where each of their drivers finish at the end of the event, is the victor. This makes it about strategy not just about speed," said Stewart.

— Rory Daley