Following the cancellation of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, sim racing outfit Team Redline have announced that their COVID-19 series ‘Real Racers Never Quit’ will be returning this Sunday, with a stacked driver line-up having been confirmed.
It was announced by Formula 1 on Wednesday that this weekend’s Grand Prix had been cancelled, due to the horrific flooding currently being experienced in the Emilia-Romagna region.
Torrential rainfall over recent weeks has caused chaos and destruction in the region, with widespread floods and landslides having stretched emergency services to their limits.
Parts of the paddock were also knee-deep in water, whilst some of the teams were trapped in their hotels as a result of the flooding.
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It simply wasn’t appropriate nor safe for a Grand Prix to take place, with the paddock now being packed away and transported to the Circuit de Monaco for next weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.
Following the cancellation of the Grand Prix, Ferrari have donated €1 million to support those impacted by the floods, whilst it was announced by F1 that they’d be matching the Maranello-based team’s donation.
With several lives having been lost as a result of the flooding, fans have been calling on social media for a sim event to take place, in an attempt to raise as much money as possible to support the flood relief.
Lando Norris held a charity stream on Twitch Friday evening to raise money for the region, whilst Williams have announced that they’ll be hosting a charity sim racing event on Saturday at 5pm GMT.
Sunday afternoon at 14:30 GMT will see Team Redline’s event take place, with the sim side having confirmed the driver line-up for the race, which based on the online poster will be completed using F3 cars.
To no surprise, reigning World Champion Max Verstappen will be competing in the sim event, as will reigning Formula 2 World Champion and Aston Martin reserve driver Felipe Drugovich.
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F2 driver and Alpine reserve Jack Doohan has also been confirmed, as has fellow F2 drivers Ayumu Iwasa, Isack Hadjar, Enzo Fittipaldi, Richard Verschoor and Jak Crawford.
Former Formula E Champion Antonio Felix da Costa will also be competing in the event, whilst Mahindra FE driver Oliver Rowland has also been announced for the race.
Several other drivers from Supercars, Formula 3 and the sim world have also been confirmed, in what looks set to be a great event on Sunday.