February 11, 2015

 

GPVWC competitions will be broadcast on Downforce Radio, both as podcasts and as video content for the Downforce TV channel on YouTube, in the 2015 season.
Downforce Radio will be covering all three major championships within the GPVWC's Career Ladder as part of the deal, with the Superleague, Supercup and Formula Challenge all being featured throughout the season. There will also be a focus on the World Sport Series, GT Championship and Touring Cup categories, as well as the all new Atlantic Series based on the IndyCar Series in the USA. Race coverage details are soon to be confirmed but both parties are keen for live coverage to be the main focus for 2015.

Downforce UK began as a podcast as recently as July 2012, and is the brainchild of motorsports commentator and television presenter Jake Sanson. A fan of motorsport podcasts, Jake was frustrated that there wasnâ??t a podcast that covered multiple disciplines of motorsport simultaneously, but plenty for the world of Formula One.

Now heading into live broadcasting, Downforce UK is a fully-fledged radio station, with live transmissions every Monday, Thursday and Friday, and live race coverage from the top race circuits in the UK.

"The start of a very promising 2015 season is the perfect time to announce this new partnership with Downforce Radio," said GPVWC administrator Will Ponissi today. "They are an established, yet continuously growing player in the world of online broadcast and we are looking forward to sharing our journey with them.

"Sim racing is an important reality in motorsport and we share with Downforce Radio a vision that sees online competition be an integral part of the sport we all love," continued Ponissi. "This partnership will allow GPVWC to reach an unprecedented audience and we will aim to provide a fresh angle on simracing for Downforce Radio."

Thanks to the success of Downforce Radio's "The Racing Game" podcast and it's affiliation with XBox-based TORA (The Online Racing Association), the channel's creator Jake Sanson believes that linking with the GPVWC is both a natural progression in the support of sim racing on a global basis and an important step into taking the sport more seriously.

"Nissan driver Jann Mardenborough has proved in recent years that you can launch yourself from video games on the sofa to a professional racing driver," said Sanson today. "The GPVWC takes that concept even further, as it is the closest experience to Formula One racing in the virtual world. The high quality broadcast coverage, professionally regulated racing and incredible organisation easily puts this on a par with some of the single seater championships I regularly commentate on for Eurosport such as Formula Renault 3.5, GP3 and AutoGP. This series is also warm and welcoming to new racers and is genuinely pushing to grow within the online racing community. We are proud to be affiliated with the very best virtual Grand Prix league currently in operation."

Downforce is also launching it's first ever racing team in the Formula Challenge series, with drivers, official branding and livery as yet unannounced with experienced sim racer Scott Woodwiss as team manager. The deal also means that GPVWC's open single seater championship will now be rebranded as the Downforce Radio GPVWC Open Series from 2015.