Three-time British Champion taking part in Jersey's virtual rally

Friday 26 November 2021

More than 220 people from around the world are gearing up their consoles and virtual gearsticks in preparation for the second Jersey eRally - including a three-time British Rally Champion.

Local participants will be going up against high-level gamers, professional motorists and players from as far as Japan, in the charity event which begins today and runs through the weekend.

The rally will be running from today until Sunday, and will see players take to the Codemasters' DiRT Rally 2.0 game which can be played on PC, PlayStation and Xbox.

Pictured: The game will use German stages from DiRT Rally 2.0 to help emulate the feel of Jersey's own roads. (Image credit: Codemasters)

Following on from last year's eRally, put in place to make up for the rally's absence on the island, this year will see players including rising British star James Williams, top Jersey driver Jamie Waters and reigning Jersey eRally winner Nicoló Ardizzone from Italy take part.

One of these star players is Matt Edwards, a professional rally driver who last weekend became the first driver ever to win British Rally Championship for the third time in a row, a dream he said he didn't think had "really sunk in yet."

Speaking to Express about joining in the Jersey eRally this weekend following his historic victory, Matt explained that due to being wrapped up in the driver's seat for the past few weeks, he would be spending this Saturday afternoon before his Sunday rally brushing up on his virtual skills.

"It's just interesting to be part of something, it's another discipline, it is very different to driving a real car in quite a lot of ways," Matt explained.

He spoke about how there were a number of similarities which helped him to "stay sharp" in the interim when rallies were called off due to covid, though added that while he felt he did "okay," he found it also offered new challenges, noting the "mind blowing" times from e-sports specialists.

"I think part of the limitation for me is I go on that and I drive it in a way I would drive a real car - so the risk to me is real, not resetting and start again sort of thing, and I think that attitude does slow you down a little bit!"

Pictured: As well as professional motorists like Matt, eSports maestros such as reigning Jersey eRally winner Nicoló Ardizzone will be taking part this weekend.

However, organiser Ben Buesnel added that Matt might be wise to acknowledge that element of risk, as once players are finish up practice and come into this weekend's event, there is no reset button - "it's just the same as a real rally."

Outlining some of the challenges that lie ahead for the drivers, he detailed how the 12 stages will see drivers compete over 54 miles, going through terrains both dry and rainy, and using the Baumholder, Germany stages, which he described as similar to Jersey's roads.

"They kind of like can be tight and twisty in places, there are some square left and square right corners, some hairpins - it's on tarmac as well," he explained.

The other key element of the event is the charity side - this year, it will be raising money for both the Teenage Cancer Trust and the RNLI.

Though the event is free, they will be giving entries to their charity raffle for any £5 donations until next Thursday (2 December), with prizes ranging from a passenger ride with Matt next year, signed merchandise and event tickets.

With the fundraiser having already smashed its initial target of £600, Ben said he was hoping to see it reach £1,000, before the prizes are drawn on the event's Facebook page next Thursday at 20:00.

Though entries are closed for the rally itself, a number of streams will be happening over the weekend on Twitch so anyone wishing to get involved can tune in at the following times:

• Friday at 20:00 - John Munro

• Saturday at 20:00 - Ben Buesnel

• Sunday at 19:00 - Matt Edwards

CLICK HERE to donate to the fundraiser.