This would be the news we all wanted to hear and would mean that the pandemic crisis affecting the world had long since disappeared or had not even happened… but, if we have to wait until September – with validation of the date proposed to the FIA - for the 55th Azores Rallye, the Portuguese round of the FIA European Rally Championship (FIA ERC), the truth is that we will still have Azores Rallye between 26 and 28 March, only in virtual.
The Azores Virtual Rallye will be the first event of the newly created SIM Racing sports section of Grupo Desportivo Comercial, as proposed by the program of the management team led by Rui Moniz. The virtual event allows all motor sports enthusiasts, in full safety and complying with the recommendations of the health authorities to stay in their homes, to experience the competition, behind the wheel of R5 vehicles (the only ones allowed in this Azores Virtual Rallye), just needing internet connection and the game DIRT RALLY 2.0 for STEAM, Playstation 4 or Xbox One.
The SIM Racing section will be coordinated by Luís Carreiro, who already has extensive experience in organizing virtual auto races, from circuits to rallies, and who is currently a KFC RACING TEAM driver in the world of virtual racing.
For Rui Moniz, Grupo Desportivo Comercial Chairman of the Board, the inauguration of this new section “is foreseen on the action plan that we had proposed to our associates (objective 5) when we advanced for the leadership of Grupo Desportivo Comercial. Given the moment we went through when we were forced to postpone Azores Rallye due to the superior interest of the health condition of everyone involved, thus depriving all Azoreans to follow the emotions of the race closely, we decided that this would be a good time to launch this challenge to our followers and all motorsport enthusiasts, allowing people to talk about other and more pleasant things, instead of the news that invades our homes daily about the current moment of our society”.
The Azores Virtual Rallye takes place in the week from 23 to 29 March. All virtual drivers wishing to obtain more information may contact the SIM Racing section of Grupo Desportivo Comercial e-mailing virtual@azoresrallye.com. More information will be released in due course.
