2025 BRSCC CLAPHAM NORTH WINTER ESPORTS SERIES READY TO KICK OFF AT NAVARRA

The third BRSCC Clapham North Winter eSports Series gets ready for take-off as the 2025 season prepares this evening’s first event on the schedule to kick off another fun off-season contest for a variety of BRSCC racers on the popular iRacing sim racing platform.

This year’s edition will see drivers get behind the wheel of the newly added BMW M2 CS Racing, taking the place of the faithful Mk4 generation Mazda MX-5 Cup Car used in seasons one and two. There have already been rave reviews across the board for the new BMW added in the latest iRacing update, sporting a 3.0-litre inline 6 engine producing 365bhp and available to all users for free as part of the base content.

The 2025 series will be contested across five events with three 15-minute races at each one. This evening’s opening rounds will take place on the sole non-UK based circuit, as the MSV-owned Circuito de Navarra in Spain plays host to the first three encounters of the contest. The registration list sports no less than 35 drivers signed up for the season, the vast majority spanning experience and representation of a wide range of the BRSCC’s portfolio of championships and series, meaning it has all the making of being a superb intra-paddock battle on the virtual race track.

Looking down the entry list itself, there’s plenty of recognisable names if you’re a regular follower of BRSCC race events. There’s a handful of talents from the Mazda MX-5 paddock including Luke Pullen and Jack Noller from the GAZ Shocks MX-5 Championship who team up for the eSports series on this occasion. They’re also joined from the Mk1 ranks by Neil Chisnall, Keith Dalton, Pete Smith and Jon Pethick, while Jim Barratt, Will Blackwell-Chambers, Tom Griffiths and Leigh Britten bring MX-5 SuperCup experience to the table too. Ted Bradbury, who moved across to the FunCup Endurance Championship from Mazdas in 2024, is also a returnee to the BRSCC eSports grid.

Another paddock well represented is that of the Fiesta Junior Championship with an excellent selection of young stars also using the Winter eSports Series as something of an off-season warm-up. Pick of the bunch is last year’s champion Jenson O’Neill-Going, and he’ll relish going up against fellow FJC drivers Thomas Merritt, Bobby Holmes, Harry Lindley, plus newcomers Benjy Douglas, Max Horlor and Jake Woods.

There will also be a Turkington lining up on the grid in this year’s series, in a BMW of course – but not the one you might be thinking of. The son of four time BTCC champion Colin, Lewis Turkington has elected to line up on the grid to test himself against the rest of the pack, and he’s not the only driver with a touring car surname on the grid either. Isaac Doble is also back once again in a bid to to challenge for the title from the outset. Both will be ones to watch.

Elsewhere on the grid there’s a decent number of contenders from the Nankang Tyre CityCar Cup ranks, including 2022 champion Richard Bliss, three time Student Motorsport champion team Northbrook Racing with both Richard Jepp and Ari Barker, Joe Moss, Nick Ramsey-Gough and Josh Jackson, as well as an entry from Boston College Racing for Daniel Crisp.

Others who will certainly feature include BMW Compact Cup regular Matt Kendall who drove superbly in the 2024 series to score a victory, Tom Monhemius, Chris Etheridge, Paul Dunningham, James Dennison, Dan Gamble, Fiesta ST150 Challenge regular Mark Blunt, and Jonathan Berry.

There’s also a couple of interesting “wildcard” entries in the mix too to consider. Fun Cup pit lane reporter and keen sim racer Jamie Peters-Ennis will want to showcase his skills from the outset, while motorsport photographers James Roberts and Karl Pilkington will also be joining in the fun too.

Our thanks go to George Grant and all at Clapham North MOT of their support of this year’s series. The live stream broadcast, courtesy of Apex Racing TV, is due to begin from 7:45pm, on the BRSCC and Apex Racing TV YouTube channels, so be sure to tune and in find out who comes on top as the new BRSCC Clapham North Winter eSports season gets underway in (virtual) Spain tonight!

Scott Woodwiss