The WRC eSports 2019 World Champion Has Been Crowned

It took ten months of competition to determine, but we now know who the WRC eSports 2019 World Champion is….who do we refer to?

It’s French driver Lohan “LDLC_NEXL” Blanc, 20 years old and a two-time winner. His first was in 2017, and he did it with a controller. Blanc switched to a steering wheel after failing to reach the final four in 2018. “I had to switch to the steering wheel because I couldn’t compete with the others using a controller,” he says. “I had to get used to driving that way. I trained quite a lot and I’m driving better and better with it. It’s the perfect revenge after last year!”

This year’s Grand Finale was held during last weekend’s Wales Rally GB, the first eSports event to be run at the same time as the actual real-world competition it’s modeled after (the FIA World Rally Championship). Early results suggested Finn Mika “RC Mihalo” Laitinen would be dominating the whole thing when he won six rounds early, but his skills ended up dulling in the end and he took fifth place. The eight special qualification round stages were won by Nexl with a time of `37’37.775.

Blank took home the grand prize: a Hyundai i20 worth €20,000 provided by Hyundai Motor Company. He was personally handed the vehicle’s keys by Scott Noh, the president of Hyundai Motorsport.

Below are two videos: the first is a three-minute highlights reel for those with little time to spare, and the video below it is the entire 58-minute competition.