Sim racers from around the region are all set to participate in the third edition of the HyperDrive Cities (HDC) Championships 2023 which will offer SGD$10,000 (RM34,700) as a prize pool to the top 10 finishers.
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The third edition of the HDC Championships will be an online competition with sim racers competing for a place on the podium by racing around the Kuala Lumpur (KL) City Street Circuit and is organised by Legion of Racers (LOR), an esports and entertainment brand co-founded by racing enthusiasts Lim Keong Wee and Melvin Moh.
This will be the first time that the HDC Championships will feature the KL City Street Circuit, which was produced by the LOR team to add to the series of regional sim racing circuits developed for the competition.
More than 150 sim racers from the region are expected to take part in this year’s championships.
Apart from the KL City Street Circuit, LOR has already created the Orchard Road Street Circuit (see photo below) which was used in the inaugural year of the championships, and the Jakarta Semanggi Circuit, which was utilised for the tournament in 2022.
The KL Street Circuit track drew inspiration from the 2015 KL City Grand Prix and offers two layouts, which are 3.5km and 4.7km. For the HDC Championships 2023, the sim racers will be competing on the 3.5km layout.
“Sim racers will have to deal with new challenges as they compete on a brand new circuit for the HyperDrive Cities Championships 2023,” said Moh, Co-Founder of LOR, organisers of the HDC Championships.
“The competition will bring about the best sim racers from the region, and will once again allow them to drive past city icons on tracks which have been built from scratch.”
ANDIKA RAMA MAULANA HOPING FOR HATTRICK OF TITLES
Two-time HDC Champion Andika Rama Maulana (photo below, centre) is hoping to make it a hattrick of titles in 2023, after emerging as champion in both the 2021 and 2022 competitions.
“It will be another exciting year for the HyperDrive Cities Championships, made even more challenging with the launch of a new track,” said the Indonesian.
“Winning the championships for a third year in a row is what I am aiming for, but I am sure that there will be other sim racers from around the region who will also be aiming for the top spot,” he said.
More recently, Andika, from Team LOR was the top sim racer from among 15 qualifiers in the region at the Toyota Gazoo GT Cup Asia 2023 competition held in Kuala Lumpur.
Racing in a BMW 235i Racing, qualifiers for the HDC Championships 2023 will be held from 23 to 29 October and the top 25 sim racers will make the finals which will be held on 4 November.
The HDC Championships 2023 will be livestreamed on Youtube and among the partners confirmed include Next Level Racing, Logitech G, Tarmac Works and Motul.
For more details and information, log in to the official HyperDrive Cities Championships website at @hyperdrivecities.com.
MAIN PHOTO: LEGION OF RACERS
