Jack Hammer4658 is the 2023 MotoGP™ eSport Champion thanks to a gutsy performance at the fourth and final Global Series round, held at Ubeat Live Barcelona!
The racing was scintillating in all three encounters, but the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider claimed the 2023 crown thanks to a third place in the Tissot Sprint, then a pair of epic victories in Race 1 and 2!
After three virtual rounds until now, the 2023 MotoGP™ eSport Championship finale came live from the Ubeat Live Festival in Barcelona, where it took place alongside other major finals of Esport acclaim, such as the Iberian Cup League of Legends and the Crossfire Cup for the Valorant game.
Presenters Jack Gorst and Kiko Giles hosted a special 90-minute broadcast, when they were joined by none other than Dani Pedrosa, three-time World Champion and 31-time MotoGP™ race winner, who not only commentated on the Sprint and two races, but presented the prizes too!
22 points covered four of the fastest gamers on the planet heading into the final triple header with former champions Trast73 (1st) and adriaan_26 (2nd) leading hopefuls Jack Hammer4658 (3rd) and Cristianmm_17 (4th), with davideturrisi06 (5th) the dark horse, 40 points off the summit.
The speedy Termas de Rio Hondo Circuit was the venue for the fourth and final Sprint of the year, before the USA’s Circuit of the Americas and Malaysia’s varied Sepang International Circuit hosted race 1 and 2 respectively. And to mix things up, Race 1 at COTA was held in wet conditions!
It all kicked off in style as the Sprint went down to a final lap contested between 3 gamers! Early leaders danielealoè26 (Ducati Lenovo eSport Team) and Cristianmm_17 (LCR Honda CASTROL eSports Team) were both pushed wide in the early battle, leaving davideturrisi06 (Pramac Racing), Jack Hammer4658 (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Trast73 (Monster Energy Yamaha) to contest the victory until the flag, with the Pramac entrant just getting the nod.
Race 1 was an all-time classic as davideturrisi06, Jack Hammer4658 and adriaan_26 scrapped it out for a crucial victory in the rain! But it proved to be a race of attrition, with adriaan_26 crashing out on the penultimate lap, before davideturrisi06 dramatically fell on the final lap after a string of aggressive overtakes between himself and Jack Hammer4658, who claimed a crucial victory. Both davideturrisi06 and adriaan_26 remounted to finish 2nd and 3rd with Trast73 just back in 4th.
That meant Jack Hammer4658 went into the final race with a 17-point advantage over Trast73, with adriaan_26 a further 4 points back in 3rd!
The season finale at Sepang was another thriller! Trast73 was given early hope as he jumped into an early lead while Jack Hammer4658 was stranded back in 5th. But soon the young Brit started picking off places ahead, while davideturrisi06 crashed out of the podium battle, meaning Jack Hammer4658 reeled Trast73 in before executing a clinical pass with just over 2 laps to go to claim the 2023 MotoGP™ eSport crown in some style. The result was made all the sweeter as fellow KTM man Dani Pedrosa was there to hand over the trophy!
The result left Jack Hammer4658 (241 points) clear at the top of the Global Series standings, 27 clear of Trast73 (214) with adriaan_26 (202) 3rd. Check out the full standings HERE!
Congratulations to Jack Hammer46 and KTM, the first team and factory to win the title with two different riders too! Now on to the celebrations before we go again for another epic battle in 2024.