British driver James Baldwin was named the Autosport Esports Driver of the Year at the annual Autosport Awards at Grosvenor Hotel, London last night (4 December).

Baldwin, who recently represented Motorsport UK at the FIA Motorsport Games in France and won Team UK’s first-ever Gold medal in the Esports category, has enjoyed a silverware-laden 2022 campaign, including the Alpine, Intercontinental GT Challenge and GT World Challenge Europe titles. He also made the finals of the eRace of Champions, and was a race winner in the Le Mans Virtual Series.

“It’s an absolute honour to win this award, with so much talent out there in sim racing, to be amongst the best in the world is crazy,” said an elated Baldwin. “When I first got into sim racing five years ago, competing at the top level seemed impossible, but over time I started to figure it out. I can’t believe I’ve won this award. Thank you to everyone who voted for me.

“Thank you to my team, Veloce and my team-mates. Without them, a lot of the success this year wouldn’t have been possible.”

Baldwin was voted the third ever recipient of the prize by Autosport and Traxion.GG’s readers. Also crowned last night was Luke Browning, the former Motorsport UK Academy member winning the prestigious Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Award, and with it a prize Formula 1 test and £200,000.