Will Murdoch has booked a spot at the Olympic Esports Series Gran Turismo final in Singapore this June, finishing as the fifth highest qualifier.

Just 10 places were open for global competitors, with a single spot per nation, and an additional place for host nation Singapore.

In amongst the thousands of entrants, Murdoch’s 1’14.831 was enough for him to confirm his place in the finals, which take place at the Suntec Conference and Exhibition Centre on June 22-25.

The Olympics Esports Series (OES) is a global virtual and simulated sports competition created by the IOC in collaboration with International Federations and game publishers, such as Sony Interactive Entertainment with Gran Turismo. Motorsport is one of nine Esports finals at the global event, which will be available to watch online as well as in-person.

Hopeful qualifiers had 10 days to set a time on Gran Turismo 7’s Deep Forest Raceway in the Toyota GR010 Hybrid ’21. The event was open to anyone with access to the game and was run using a fixed car setup, so lap times came down to driving talent over anything else.

Having secured his position in the top five, Will now goes up against the 10 other fastest-lap qualifiers as well as a group of competitors from other countries picked out by some of the FIA’s affiliated national motorsport authorities (ASNs). This will be a Pre-Qualification Time Trial, with the top 11 proceeding to the Final – where the contenders will have just one qualifying session and one race to determine the champion. All of these are held on Sunday 25th June.

“The Olympic Esports Series Qualifying was the toughest event I’ve ever competed in,” commented Murdoch. “It was probably the closest single-lap event for multiple years. It was an event that required a lot of determination and patience to drive the powerful GR010.

“To qualify for this, after the reasonable success I had in Monaco and the years of being an underage qualifier, means the world to me and I can’t wait to represent the UK at the highest level.”

Further details about the Olympic Esports Series can be found here.

Interested in learning more about simulated racing and Esports? Motorsport UK’s dedicated Esports website has everything you need on how to get started.