Real-world rallycross experience headlines driver lineup for 2020 season

September 25, 2020 – Jim Beaver eSports and Ed Carpenter Racing have announced an alliance for the 2020 iRacing Rallycross World Championship, which commences this Saturday with a season-opening event at Hell Lankebanen. Featuring a promising mix of esports veterans, series rookies, and drivers with international real-world rallycross experience, JBeS will support ECR’s first formal venture as an esports team for the 2020 campaign.

Ed Carpenter Racing has competed exclusively in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES since its inception and iRX is the perfect championship for the team to officially enter the esports world. “I am very excited to have the opportunity to join this series. ECR is quite new to this space, but are committed to getting up to speed quickly,” stated ECR team owner Ed Carpenter. He continued, “It is also great to align with Jim Beaver eSports, I had the pleasure of working with his group recently in another iRacing series. His team of drivers meshes very well with my personality and the way that I want to approach this championship. We can’t wait to get going!”

“Being able to work with Ed Carpenter Racing to take the fight to iRacing Rallycross is going to be a game changer,” said Jim Beaver eSports team owner and professional off-road racer and radio host Jim Beaver. “I’ve been a huge fan of both Ed’s and ECR’s over the years, and have a ton of respect for the way they operate. It’s awesome to see them stepping into the world of off-road racing virtually through iRX, and I’m looking forward to an epic season!”

As part of the alliance, JBeS driver Connor Parise will take the wheel of ECR’s signature #20 U.S Air Force car. One of just a select few drivers to have qualified for the series in all three years of its existence, Parise served in the U.S. Air Force for seven years. In exchange, FIA World and European Rallycross driver Jonathan Pailler will slot into JBeS’ signature #15 DirtFish car for the season. Promising iRX rookie Jake Robertson will helm ECR’s #21 Autogeek car, while former US rallycross Lites champion Cabot Bigham will build on a relationship with JBeS established in this spring’s iRX All-Star Invitational, and will take the wheel of JBeS’ #02 DirtFish car as a World Championship driver.

The iRacing Rallycross World Championship consists of nine rounds, kicking off on September 26 at Hell Lankebanen, one of the world’s premier rallycross venues and the newest circuit on iRacing. The championship runs through December 5, wrapping up at Sonoma Raceway. It follows a six-race All-Star Invitational series that ran during the spring, in which Bigham and NTT IndyCar Series driver Conor Daly represented JBeS and ECR, respectively, as part of a battle of real-world drivers from across motorsport.

The iRacing Rallycross World Championship season opener will stream on Saturday at 2PM ET on the iRacing Facebook, Twitch, and YouTube pages, with crossposts to both the Jim Beaver and Ed Carpenter Racing Facebook pages.