Wednesday 23rd September marked the opening of an exciting new chapter in the Irish Motorsport history books as Ireland launched it's first official Irish Digital Motorsport Championship (iDMC).
Digital Motorsport or sim racing has steadily grown in popularity over the last decade but has rocketed to the forefront of people's minds and Television screens in 2020, due in no small part to the Covid 19 pandemic. With no real-world Motorsport available for the first 6 months of the year Digital Motorsports have been the only way for racing drivers to stay sharp and compete in the sport they love.
Technology advancements and improved broadband service globally have meant that drivers from  around the world can compete in high profile eSports events such as the Virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans and official F1 races, many of which are now televised by mainstream broadcasters such as SKY.

Ireland are leading the way in this bold new digital age and are among the first nations globally to launch an official, national digital motorsport championship, supported by Motorsport's governing body, Motorsport Ireland
The new iDMC Series will run a digital championship every season (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter) with the overall winner being crowned Irish national champion. Competitors must hold a Digital Competition License, issued by Motorsport Ireland.
The 9 round championship is sponsored by Mondello Park who have been hugely supportive in helping us reach this milestone. 

Check out the full live broadcast below:

iDMC Autumn Series: BMW M4 & M8 COMPETITION, Sponsored By Mondello Park, in Association with Motorsport Ireland.

Round 1: Le Mans Endurance

Circuit de la sarthe was the venue for round 1 of the championship with a 45 minute endurance race on the cards. The Pro class would be driving the BMW M8 GTE and the Pro-Am class would be in the new BMW M4 GT4.

In both classes it was the young guns who shone with 20 year old formula Vee driver Jordan kelly taking an absolutely dominant lights-to-flag victory in the M8 GTE from 21 year old UK based Ginetta GT5 hotshot Josh malin. Veteran sim racer and ex formula Ford and Formula Renault star Keith Dempsey came home in 3rd, a result he will be hell-bent on improving for rounds 2 & 3.

In Pro-Am, Michael McGuiness took an early lead but was quickly dispatched by 21 year old Fiesta ST driver Alex Denning.  Denning drove a fantastically controlled and confident race, soaking up constant pressure from McGuiness and certainly shaking off some of the hot-headed reputation he had earned in the past. Kevin Shine held off race-long pressure from Harry McGovern to bring his BMW M4 GT4 home in 3rd place.