F1 esports driver becomes first to switch game for real-life racing in Formula 2 Formula 1Turkish driver Cem B\u00f6l\u00fckba\u015f\u0131 is the first Formula 1 Esports driver to graduate from virtual racing to the FIA Formula 2 Championship, having signed with Charouz Racing System. B\u00f6l\u00fckba\u015f\u0131 placed fifth under Toro Rosso in the 2017 Formula 1 Esports Series and joined G2 Esports in late 2017 as a professional sim racer, competing in several virtual races throughout the 2018 season. He failed to improve upon his performance in the competitive gaming tournament\u2019s 2018 season, placing 12th after only taking part in four out of the 10 races. 2019 was even worse for the racer, claiming 21st place. Fast-forward to 2022 however, and after a solid stint in the F3 Asian Championship the year prior, B\u00f6l\u00fckba\u015f\u0131 is now officially the first F1 Esports driver to graduate to the Formula 2 \u2014 the second-tier championship organized by the FIA. Cem becomes the first driver to graduate from F1 Esports to @Formula2 \ud83d\udc4f#F1Esports #RoadToF1 pic.twitter.com\/o33XYwyi2g \u2014 Formula 1 (@F1) January 12, 2022 The Turkish racer has predominantly spent his time in sports cars in recent years, opting to make it in \u2018real\u2019 racing instead of virtual competitions. Read More: Lando Norris\u2019 org Quadrant enter esports – The 2022 season of Formula 2 features 14 races, some of which in major cities such as Barcelona, Abu Dhabi, and Monte Carlo. B\u00f6l\u00fckba\u015f\u0131 will represent Charouz Racing System, a racing team from the Czech Republic, in the circuit. \u201cI haven\u2019t really had time to let it sink in,\u201d said B\u00f6l\u00fckba\u015f\u0131. \u201cI think the realization is kicking in more and more every hour. It was a big dream that has actually happened, so it\u2019s quite difficult to put into words, but it\u2019s very exciting and I\u2019m very happy. \u201cIf I was never in F1 Esports, I would never have had the chance to get into a real car \u2013 I would not be where I am now. I think it\u2019s also very important to be the first gamer to do this, because it can give people hope. If people see that one person can do it, they will believe they can do it as well\u2026 If I can go from F1 Esports to FIA Formula 2, I think anyone can.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
F1 esports driver becomes first to switch game for real-life racing in Formula 2 Formula 1Turkish driver Cem B\u00f6l\u00fckba\u015f\u0131 is the first Formula 1 Esports driver to graduate from virtual racing to the FIA Formula 2 Championship, having signed with Charouz Racing System. B\u00f6l\u00fckba\u015f\u0131 placed fifth under Toro Rosso in the 2017 Formula 1 Esports […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66539\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}