Ireland's Saorise Fitzpatrick wins the first ever Screen to Speed

Laura Hannon

Mar 08, 2023

Ireland's Saoirse Fitzpatrick wins the first ever Screen to Speed powered by Pennzoil.

To celebrate International Women's day, lets highlight a fantastic achievement in women's sim racing last weekend.

What is Screen to Speed?

"For women by women," Screen to Speed's aim is to create a pipeline to bring women into Motorsports from sim racing, with an authentic program to establish critical mass.

Init Esports, a woman-led esports company, and Pennzoil worked together to create Screen to Speed powered by Pennzoil, a sim racing digital tournament designed to give female racers around the world the opportunity to participate in this first-of-its-kind event. The sim racing show took viewers, supporters, and women in the esports industry on a real-life journey to discover hidden talent in Motorsports.

The Founders

Stefy Bau, founder of Init Esports, and Victoria Thomas, co-owner of KellyMoss Road and Race, teamed up to create this initiative with a mission of raising awareness and opportunities for females in the Motorsports industry.

The Format

Between December 15, 2022, and February 12, 2023, women signed up to race in the tournament, with the chance to participate in real life at the grand finale show in Las Vegas on March 4, 2023, during the weekend of the Pennzoil 400.

Phase 1:

Was an digital competition where sim racers could compete in Time Attack via iRacing. Registered participants were able to do as many laps as they could within a given timeframe, racing virtually on the Las Vegas Motor Speedway circuit in the Ford Next Gen NASCAR vehicle.
20 finalists were chosen. Of the 20 finalists, 15 were drivers that had the fastest lap time and highest social reach, with an additional 5 social media influencers.

Phase 2:

The 20 finalists then met in Las Vegas for Phase 2, which was an in-person battle taking place on March 4, 2023. In this round, drivers competed in a race using Next Level Racing cockpit simulators while receiving coaching tips from KellyMoss Road and Race racer, Sabré Cook.
The event was live streamed on Twitch, YouTube, and ESTV. Here is the link to watch it now...

The Winner

The winner was Saoirse Fitzpatrick from Ireland. The grand prize for the winning driver was $15,000 cash, a racing simulator, and a real-life track event with the KellyMoss Porsche race team. Congratulations to Saoirse and everyone involved from all of us here at Digital Motorsports.