FIA RALLY STAR – DISCOVERING THE FUTURE STARS OF RALLY IN WRC 9

NACON, KT Racing and the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) are delighted to unveil their brand-new collaboration for the first worldwide programme to discover future rally drivers: FIA Rally Star. It will be available this December through a DLC for WRC 9, the official video game of the FIA World Rally Championship.

The eSports WRC Championship already provides many talented players the chance to compete throughout the year in a virtual competition that mirrors the World Rally Championship, WRC 9 is taking the next step to become the exclusive platform for this innovative new programme that aims to unearth the drivers of tomorrow.

Open to all players between 17 and 26 years old, this multi-phase selection process gives the most promising drivers the opportunity to take part in a training and coaching programme supervised by the FIA. Seven finalists, including one female driver, could ultimately start their international career before aiming to join the FIA Junior WRC.

Attention drivers! The first FIA Rally Star qualification phase starts in 2021 in WRC 9. The programme is available to anyone who owns the game on consoles or PC as part of the FIA Rally Star DLC, available in December.

As the latest version of the WRC’s popular video game, WRC 9 is the best game for young drivers to reveal their skills. Giving access to more than 800km of special stage from all 13 schedules rounds of the 2020 season, WRC 9 is the most realistic rally simulation ever made.

“Being innovative and global, FIA Rally Star’s ambition is to develop new solutions allowing young drivers from all over the world to reveal their potential. As soon as we introduced the project to NACON and KT Racing teams, they showed great enthusiasm and we couldn’t have hoped for better platform than WRC 9 to select the most promising candidates.” declares Yves Matton, Rally Director at FIA. “The FIA World Rally Championship brings together fans from every continent. Many of them dream to get behind the wheel and our wish is to make our sport more accessible. Through FIA Rally Star and its digital version in WRC 9, living this passion is simpler than ever.”

"The idea that the future stars of rally will start their professional driving careers because of WRC 9 is a great pride for the entire team and one of the best rewards for all the work we have put in over the last few years," said Roman Vincent, founder and CEO of KT Racing development studio. "After the success of eSports WRC, which has already unearthed hugely talented players, we can't wait to find out who will be the finalists of FIA Rally Star!"

More details will be shared very soon!

WRC 9 will be available on September 3rd, 2020 on Xbox One, PS4™ and PC from the Epic Games Store, and a later date for Xbox Series X, PS5™ and Nintendo Switch.

The FIA Rally Star DLC will be available in December 2020 for PlayStation®4, Xbox One and EPIC Games Store for PC, PlayStation®5 and Xbox One Series X.

Standard and Deluxe Digital Editions of WRC 9, are currently available for pre-order on Xbox Live, PlayStation Store and EPIC Games Store for PC.

Official WRC 9 website