Pressiteade
Over the 2019 season, Renault Sport Team Vitality has made amarked step up in performance from 2018, when it finished at the end of thestandings. A huge part of the improvement is due to the increasingly tightcollaboration and expertise shared between Renault Sport Racing and TeamVitality. Renault Sport Team Vitality has been able to utilise dedicatedEsports facilities across Enstone in the UK, and in France at the V.Hive andStade de France in Paris to track performance and identify areas forimprovement, which have then been addressed through substantial, eight-hourdaily practice sessions.
The Esports athletes have, essentially, been treated in the sameway as any other Renault Sport Racing driving talent. Fitness and nutrition havebeen a major area of investment, with the Esports athletes receivingstate-of-the-art guidance from Renault Sport Racing’s Driver& Race Team Human Performance Manager, David Thompson, who has coachedseveral top-flight F1 drivers over his extensive career. Jarno, Cedric andSimon trained alongside the drivers of the Renault Sport Academy at Enstone toprepare them for the gruelling nature of the game, while Ben Hampshire, RenaultF1 Team IT Race Team, was tasked with analysing real-time data gathered fromthe game and improving performance on track.
N I C O L A S
Later this week, Jarno – a former member of the Renault SportAcademy – will enjoy a day in the real Renault F1 Team simulator to further sharelearnings and cross-over points between Esports and Formula 1.
Jarno ended his first season with the team fourth in the Drivers’Championship, with (123 points), whilst Cedric finished 13th (38points) and Simon 18th (11 points) in the Drivers’ Championship.
Jarno Opmeer, F1 Esports driver for Renault Sport Team Vitality:
“We put everything into these races and finishing fourth shows theprogress we’ve made this season. I would like to do a big shout out to James Dohertyfor coaching, advising and supporting us throughout and would also like tothank Renault, the impressive team at Renault Sport Racing and Renault SportTeam Vitality for their drive, ambition and vision to keep pushing.”
James Doherty, Renault Sport Team Vitality Team Coach:
“I am super proud of our team and how they’ve managed to pulltogether all year. They’ve all put in so much hard work, averaging outeight-hour days and hundreds of kilometres on the game to perfect their skills.The team has been extremely focused on their preparation too, ensuring theirdiets and physical fitness are optimal, as well as spending time looking at thedata analytics. It’s all counted. We had a character-building first season inthe series, but it’s very positive to see how we’ve developed this year and itmakes me really excited for 2020.”
Fabien Devide, Team Vitality President &Co-Founder:
“This season our driversperformed fantastically with their great surge up the leaderboard. As well asthe amazing raw talent of our players, this can be attributed to the partnershipwith Renault Sport Racing and the infrastructure we’ve created together. A keyfocus for our global vision is to provide all of our players with the supportand tools afforded to traditional athletes to allow them to compete at thehighest possible level. It’s fantastic to see the results of our partnershipreflected in the team’s success in the F1 Esports Series, and we can’t wait tosee the team excel next year!”
Xavier Cousein, Renault Marketing Vice President:
“2019 has been a fantastic year for Renault Sport Team Vitality. Thisprogress showcases the brilliant combination of Team Vitality's Esportsexpertise coupled with Renault Sport Racing’s presence in the highly demandingfield of motorsport. Esports is an important avenue to grow the awareness andthe positive opinion of the Renault brand among a younger audience around theworld. We are confident of Team Vitality’s continued success in the futurehaving a positive impact on brand Renault.”
Cyril Abiteboul, Renault Sport Racing ManagingDirector:
“We are proud to see Renault Sport Team Vitality secure fourth place inthe 2019 F1 Esports Series. There has been a lot of hard work put into theprogramme, and the tight collaboration between Renault, Renault Sport Racingand Renault Sport Team Vitality has been pivotal to this success. It’s alsogreat to see such co-operation with the Renault Sport Academy. We are unique inhaving transferred over a driver to compete in Esports and it has paid hugedividends. We are looking forward to sharing more success in the future withTeam Vitality and maximising further crossovers between Esports and Formula 1.”
