2017 Vegas eRace

The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino, where the eRace was held

Luis Pachon, the founder of the Madrid-based start-up company Cloud Sport, proposed the idea for an eRace in Las Vegas to Formula E CEO Alejandro Agag who quickly understood Pachon's intention and began work soon after.[1] iRacing was reportedly an early contender for an association with Formula E, but the costs of laser scanning the track, and the lack of a wider benefit of putting in the effort of constructing the circuit, meant it was not cost effective.[2]

In June 2016, Agag revealed the eRace plans to Reuters, and announced that it would be held as part of the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show (CES).[3] Prior to the announcement, Formula E had held (and currently hold) eRaces at all championship rounds where spectators compete against professional racing drivers in the eVillage of the hosting race track.[4] The eRace was officially confirmed at the 2016 London ePrix the following month.[4] It was held as part of CES' Sport Business Innovation Summit, and took place at The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino, on January 7, 2017,[5] but the race did not count towards the 2016–17 championship,[6] and no points were awarded.[7] Formula E entered into a partnership with ELEAGUE for this event.[8]

A total of 30 drove in the eRace: 20 Formula E competitors who composed the regular season grid, and ten sim racing drivers who qualified for the event by participating in a four-race elimination contest called the Road to Vegas Challenge from October 16 and December 4, 2016.[n 1][10][11] The top two racers who qualified for the eRace were former Formula Ford 1600 driver Graham Carroll and iRacing world champion Greger Huttu. Each of the ten sim drivers was randomly drawn into the ten legitimate Formula E teams.[12] For real-world realism, every participant wore a flame-proof race suit,[13] and utilized identical virtual cars with the sole change being the team liveries and personal numbers for identification purposes.[4] The race was regulated by the Formula E sporting director, and the world governing body of motorsport, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile.[14] The total prize fund was $1 million (the largest in eSports racing history),[n 2] and was broadcast on the live streaming platform Twitch.[16]

The layout of the 3.14-mile (5.05 km) long anti-clockwise track was designed by Cloud Sport and it was publicly unveiled on the morning of January 6.[4][7][17] Drivers started the race on the South Las Vegas Boulevard and progressed past hotel and casino resorts such as the Luxor and the MGM Grand.[18] Cloud Sport supplied and regulated the Playseat simulation equipment which operated on the racing video game rFactor 2. Thrustmaster TS-PC steering wheels and T3PA pedals were fitted to the equipment.[4][19][20] All computers were sealed and approved by the stewards to ensure parity. External ports were blocked to prevent anybody from plugging in personal components.[4] Since no G-forces could be felt by drivers during the race, Cloud Sport remedied this by programming the vehicles to respond to the inertia created by sudden acceleration. This made for a realistic driving experience: vehicles tilted onto three wheels during sharp cornering, and the performance of the cars deteriorated when they sustained damage.[17]

The Vegas eRace was heavily promoted beforehand.[8][21][22] The series' inaugural champion Nelson Piquet Jr. of NextEV NIO spoke of his excitement for the eRace and stated his belief that Formula E combining the worlds of simulation and real-life racing was a positive step: "I think this is going to be really fun with all the drivers together."[22] Andretti driver Robin Frijns revealed his interest in how he would compare against sim drivers: "I don't really know what to expect, maybe the sim drivers or the fans are really good, maybe not, we don't know. If all you do is race on simulators at home, then maybe they are pretty good!."[8] Mahindra's Felix Rosenqvist said he felt the sim racers would have an advantage because of their experience but he felt it would not be as great after learning the circuit.[7] Hans-Jürgen Abt, the team principal of Audi Sport ABT, felt the Vegas eRace was "a good example" of how the series was moving farther than other racing championships: "For more than six decades, we have been racing in motorsport on all of the world's race tracks—but this event is a total first for us."[23]

Four practice sessions were held before the qualification race on January 7. The first session, held on January 6, lasted for half an hour, with sim drivers taking part, and the second identically timed session for the professional racing drivers was held fifteen minutes later. The final two sessions for sim and professional drivers took place on the morning of January 7; both ran for fifteen minutes.[4] Bono Huis set the fastest time for Dragon in the combined opening practice session with a time of one minute and 28.456 seconds, half a second faster than anyone else. His closest challenger was the highest placed professional driver Rosenqvist in second in front of third-placed Graham Carroll and Virgin's José María López in fourth. Piquet was fifth-fastest, ahead of António Félix da Costa in sixth. Sam Bird, Enzo Bonito, Olli Pahkala and Frijns rounded out the session's top ten fastest drivers.[24] In the combined second practice session, Huis again topped the combined time sheets with a lap of 1 minute, 28.142 seconds, more than half a second quicker than the second-placed Frijns; Rosenqvist was third and Félix da Costa was fourth-quickest; Petar Brljak was fifth and Graham Carroll sixth. Pahkala placed seventh, Bonito eighth, David Greco ninth and López completed the top ten ahead of qualifying.[25]

Saturday afternoon's 50 minute qualifying session was divided into five groups of six cars. The groups were determined by a lottery system and were permitted six minutes of on-track activity. The fastest five overall competitors in all five groups participated in a "Super Pole" session with one driver on the track at any time going out in reverse order from fifth to first. Each of the five drivers was limited to one timed lap and the starting order was determined by their' fastest times. (Super Pole from first to fifth, and group qualifying from sixth to tenth).[4] Huis continued to top every session throughout the eRace meeting and achieved pole position with a lap of 1 minute, 28.631 seconds.[26] He was awarded an automatic award of $25,000 for the achievement.[27] Huis was joined on the grid's front row by Rosenqvist whose fastest lap was two-tenths of a second slower. The rest of the top ten consisted of sim racers: Aleksi Uusi-Jaakkola was third and Graham Carroll took fourth. Greco rounded out the top five super pole competitors. Pahkala, Patrik Holzmann, Huttu, Bonito and Alkesi Elomaa were sixth to tenth.[26] Behind the top ten starters the rest of the field lined up as López, Félix da Costa, Frijns, Piquet and Lucas di Grassi, Ma Qinghua, Bird, Maro Engel, Jean-Éric Vergne, Jérôme d'Ambrosio, Daniel Abt, Sébastien Buemi, Mitch Evans, Stéphane Sarrazin, Loïc Duval, Nico Prost, Oliver Turvey, Adam Carroll, Petar Brjlak (who crashed during his run) and Nick Heidfeld.[26][28]

Qualifying classification

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Grid
1	67	Bono Huis (NED)	Dragon	1:28.661	—	11
2	19	Felix Rosenqvist (SWE)	Mahindra	1:28.832	+0.201	21
3	26	Aleksi Uusi-Jaakkola (FIN)	Andretti	1:29.135	+0.474	31
4	44	Graham Carroll (GBR)	Virgin	1:29.243	+0.582	41
5	42	David Greco (ITA)	e.Dams-Renault	1:29.378	+0.747	51
6	29	Olli Pahkala (FIN)	Mahindra	1:29.050	—	61
7	77	Patrik Holzmann (DEU)	Audi Sport ABT	1:29.072	+0.022	71
8	18	Greger Huttu (FIN)	Jaguar	1:29.117	+0.068	81
9	38	Enzo Bonito (ITA)	Techeetah	1:29.223	+0.151	91
10	55	Aleksi Elomaa (FIN)	Venturi	1:29.448	+0.346	101
11	37	José María López (ARG)	Virgin	1:29.490	+0.418	122
12	28	António Félix da Costa (POR)	Andretti	1:29.516	+0.444	112
13	27	Robin Frijns (NED)	Andretti	1:29.517	+0.445	132
14	3	Nelson Piquet Jr. (BRA)	NextEV NIO	1:29.798	+0.726	142
15	11	Lucas di Grassi (BRA)	Audi Sport ABT	1:30.267	+1.195	182
16	33	Ma Qinghua (CHN)	Techeetah	1:30.548	+1.486	—
17	2	Sam Bird (GBR)	Virgin	1:30.620	+1.570	162
18	5	Maro Engel (DEU)	Venturi	1:30.647	+1.597	—
19	25	Jean-Éric Vergne (FRA)	Techeetah	1:30.659	+1.609	—
20	7	Jérôme d'Ambrosio (BEL)	Dragon	1:30.660	+1.610	—
21	66	Daniel Abt (DEU)	Audi Sport ABT	1:30.781	+1.731	192
22	9	Sébastien Buemi (CHE)	e.Dams-Renault	1:30.905	+1.855	172
23	20	Mitch Evans (NZL)	Jaguar	1:30.913	+1.863	152
24	4	Stéphane Sarrazin (FRA)	Venturi	1:30.954	+1.894	—
25	6	Loïc Duval (FRA)	Dragon	1:30.996	+1.946	202
26	8	Nico Prost (FRA)	e.Dams-Renault	1:31.331	+2.281	—
27	88	Oliver Turvey (GBR)	NextEV NIO	1:31.533	+2.483	—
28	47	Adam Carroll (GBR)	Jaguar	1:31.890	+2.840	—
29	68	Petar Brljak (CRO)	NextEV NIO	1:32.400	+3.330	—
30	23	Nick Heidfeld (DEU)	Mahindra	1:41.331	+12.781	—
Source:[26]

Notes:

• ^1  — Qualified for the main race by virtue of setting a top ten fastest qualification lap time.[4][26]
• ^2  — Earned qualification into the main race by finishing within the top ten positions in the qualification race.[4][30]

A special feature of Formula E is the "Fan Boost" feature, an additional 100 kW (130 hp) of power to use in the driver's second car. The three drivers who are allowed to use the boost is determined by a fan vote.[4] For the Vegas eRace, Pakhala, López and Greco were handed the extra power.[31] The race was due to start at 16:05 PST,[4] but multiple technical problems caused it to be delayed for half an hour, and its distance was reduced from 28 to 20 laps.[32][33] Owing to a control issue that affected his simulator, di Grassi was unable to start the event.[34] The exact number of viewers was not disclosed.[2] When the race began from its standing start, Huis maintained the lead entering the first corner and began to expand a small lead over Rosenqvist in the opening laps.[32] Towards the end of lap one, Holzmann clipped the outside wall out of the final corner, speared across the start/finish straight, and collected Félix da Costa, ending both drivers' chances of standing on the podium.[30][31][35] Holzmann retired but Félix da Costa continued with light damage to his car.[31] Piquet fell to 17th on the first lap, but returned to 14th place by lap seven.[28] Bird on the other hand was running in sixth by the third lap.[36]

Second-placed Felix Rosenqvist (pictured in 2016) was the highest-placed professional driver to finish the eRace.

The mandatory virtual pit stops, during which all drivers needed to change into a second car, started at the end of lap seven when Bird entered the pit lane.[36] Pahkala opted to bow out of a multi-car battle with Uusi-Jaakkola, Greco and Graham Carroll for third place at the end of the next lap to make his mandatory stop. Pahkala left with a clear track ahead of him, and since no other driver was close enough to impede his progress, he recorded a series of quick lap times.[19] On the tenth lap,[35] Graham Carroll got a run on Uusi-Jaakkola leaving the final corner and steered onto the inside line heading towards the first turn chicane. Greco made it three abreast on the outside. He and Uusi-Jaakkola made contact, and the latter touched Graham Carroll's left-rear wheel.[32] Two of the cars barrel rolled through the trackside catch fencing and into some palm trees. The cars glitched quickly and re-rendered themselves back onto the circuit.[19] Uusi-Jaakkola and Greco had each lost one of their wheels and dropped several positions.[31] Virtual racing technology allowed the trio to emerge unhurt from the crash and the safety car was not used.[37]

As the eRace progressed, race leader Huis made an error, allowing Rosenqvist to close to within less than two seconds of him. Huis and Rosenqvist made their pit stops together at the end of lap fifteen and emerged in second and third places.[32] Pakhala lapped in the 1 minute, 24 second range, moving him to the front of the field,[19] and requiring Huis and Rosenqvist to focus on battling for second position.[32] With four laps remaining, Buemi dropped outside the top ten when Piquet overtook him for tenth.[28] Ussi-Jaakkola and Bonito battled for fourth, which ended in the latter's favour in the last three laps.[33] Pahkala was unchallenged for the rest of the eRace, and was first to cross the start/finish line. Huis held off Rosenqvist in the closing laps for second.[32]

After the podium ceremony, Huis and Dragon filed a complaint with the race stewards.[31] An investigation of data shared by viewers on Twitter soon after the race determined that Pahkala had used FanBoost illegally for at about five laps as opposed to the maximum of five seconds because of a software bug.[38][39] Hence, Pahkala had 12 seconds added to his race time and was demoted to third. Huis inherited the victory and Rosenqvist took second.[39] Off the podium, Bonito took fourth ahead of the Finnish duo of Uusi-Jaakkola and Huttu. López, Bird, Abt and Piquet rounded out the top ten. Buemi, Elomaa, Frijns, Duval, Greco, Félix da Costa and Graham Carroll were the final classified finishers.[40] Huis earned $200,000 for winning the race and Greco won $10,000 for recording the race's fastest lap.[40]

Main race classification

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid
1	67	Bono Huis (NED)	Dragon	20	30:54.690	1
2	19	Felix Rosenqvist (SWE)	Mahindra	20	+1.330	2
3	29	Olli Pahkala (FIN)	Mahindra	20	+7.0003	6
4	38	Enzo Bonito (ITA)	Techeetah	20	+11.450	9
5	26	Aleksi Uusi-Jaakkola (FIN)	Andretti	20	+16.650	3
6	18	Greger Huttu (FIN)	Jaguar	20	+36.180	8
7	37	José María López (ARG)	Virgin	20	+37.940	12
8	2	Sam Bird (GBR)	Virgin	20	+43.910	15
9	66	Daniel Abt (DEU)	Audi Sport ABT	20	+45.990	19
10	3	Nelson Piquet Jr. (BRA)	NextEV NIO	20	+55.610	14
11	9	Sébastien Buemi (CHE)	e.Dams-Renault	20	+59.080	17
12	55	Aleksi Elomaa (FIN)	Venturi	20	+1:00.240	10
13	27	Robin Frijns (NED)	Andretti	19	+1 Lap	13
14	6	Loïc Duval (FRA)	Dragon	19	+1 Lap	20
15	38	David Greco (ITA)	e.Dams-Renault	19	+1 Lap	5
16	28	António Félix da Costa (POR)	Andretti	19	+1 Lap	11
17	44	Graham Carroll (GBR)	Virgin	19	+1 Lap	4
Ret	20	Mitch Evans (NZL)	Jaguar	10	Retired	15
Ret	77	Patrik Holzmann (DEU)	Audi Sport ABT	1	Accident	7
DNS	11	Lucas di Grassi (BRA)	Audi Sport ABT	—	Simulator	18
Source:[40]

Notes:

• ^3  — Olli Pahkala had twelve seconds added to his race time for overusing FanBoost because of a software bug.[39]

Huis commented on the victory: "It's very exciting to be here, racing in conjunction with pro drivers during one of the most renowned tech forward events. And to be the ultimate grand victor with Faraday Future Dragon Racing is thrilling."[19] Second-place finisher Rosenqvist stated that although the simulation racing environment was new to all the professional racing drivers, he expressed his hope of competing in future eRaces, adding: "In the end it worked out very well for me and I was up the at front in every session. Luckily, in the final I started from the front row and had a very clean race with a long first stint, without any traffic, and I was able to cruise to the podium in P2."[19] Despite his 12-second penalty for overusing FanBoost, Pahkala was sanguine, and said that he felt the simulation and real life racing worlds belong together and praised the development of motor racing eSport events, adding: "In the end, P3 was more than welcome for me. It's been a blast! I made some mistakes in the practice session preparation which cost me pace later on and P3 is more than fair for everyone with what happened."[19]

Media reaction to the Vegas eRace was mostly positive. Kyle Patrick for GTPlanet praised the quality of competitiveness across the field: "Real drivers showed they could hang with the gamers on their own turf, which can only be a good thing for both sides moving forward."[35] The correspondent for CNN wrote Huis was widely agreed to be "a deserving overall winner", and said that the eRace had further emphasized "the narrow margins between the Formula E drivers and sim racers" with five professional drivers finishing in the top ten.[41] Pat McAssey of New England Sports Network noted Formula E's partnership with ELEAGUE brought sim racing to a mainstream audience and argued that eSports can potentially solve accessibility issues as some people lack the capital to purchase a go-kart. He argued Formula E could aid the growth of eRacing and allow others to use it as an alternative career path to traditional motor racing.[42] Writing for Alphr, Curtis Moldrich echoed similar statements, and believed the positive consequence of the Vegas eRace was a testament to Formula E's forward-looking philosophy.[43] Although he stated his belief another eRace was unlikely to be repeated on a large scale, Autosport's Scott Mitchell called the event "an enormous middle finger to the traditionalists", and wrote of his feeling that it was "huge for a hidden part of motorsport that Formula E has taken that chance."[2]

Other media outlets received the race more negatively. Luke Smith of NBC Sports wrote that Pahkala's penalty was "deeply embarrassing for all of those who looked to make the inaugural eRace such a success" and likened it to "Balance of Performance on steroids." He went on to say that the event had not been as smoothly as organizers wished, and there had been some skepticism over Formula E attempting to close the gap between the real-life and simulation worlds since the former is reliant on sensory input.[44] The Checkered Flag's Scott Douglas was more critical, writing that as a competition, the race was "a disappointment" since sim racers were expected to dominate, and its problems hurt the finishing order's credibility: "This undermined the race as a competition, and also did nothing to help the reputation of Formula E itself as its best drivers were so resoundingly beaten. It lacked any sense of real weight or drama, and tied in with the glitches affecting some of the drivers it didn't come anywhere near to producing the excitement of real racing."[45] Writing for Ars Technica, Jonathan M. Gitlin felt short-changed as a result of spectating the eRace and noted the large number of complaints about the quality of the graphics in the Twitch stream.[19]

Following the evemt, some of the competing sim racers were adopted into their respective teams, and aided in the real-life development of their cars through testing and advising, which according to Formula E's eSports manager Matt Huxley, indicated that their opinions were taken seriously.[46]

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