Esports World Cup champion aiming for the real world of motorsport

Eight weeks, hundreds of competitors in multiple events and a multi-million prize pot – but this was no sports tournament.

Luke Bennett returns home from the first Esports World Cup in Saudi Arabia as world champion.

Not only that, the 19-year-old from Bromsgrove in Worcestershire is also walking away £100,000 richer after scooping the top prize in sim racing (short for simulation racing).

“It’s pretty surreal,” Luke tells BBC Newsbeat. But now he’s hoping he has a chance to make it a reality in the automotive industry.

Luke is part of Team Redline – an offshoot of Red Bull’s F1 team that boasts Belgian-Dutch racing driver Max Verstappen among its alumni.

“It’s just like racing a car in real life,” Luke said of sim racing. “But on the computer.”

The group was founded more than 20 years ago but Luke says people are still surprised when he talks about what he does.

He says people are shocked when he tells them about the prize money involved.

“It shows that it is growing and it can be a job for some people.”

The Redline team won the Esports World Cup, not finishing outside the top four once in the grand finals of the tournament.

“It’s been a tough few months,” Luke said. “Every day – practice, practice, practice.

“All that weight is off our shoulders now.”

Luke isn’t just fast on the physical track. He says that his work is moving at a high speed.

“I started driving with only a £100 tire on the desk and I was a bit happy,” he says.

Before long, other contestants saw his talent and his parents helped him buy a better acting machine.

He says: “That’s when things started.”

“I joined Team Redline and after that it just went up and up until now.”

Esports tournaments are “still very niche and very new,” he said.

“It wasn’t long ago that all this prize money started and all these big tournaments started so there’s not a lot of news about people going all over the place.”

In that sense, he is a pioneer, admitting that “the future is uncertain” for esports champions.

But while it is uncertain, the industry received another boost last month when it was announced from next year there will be Olympic Esports Games.

Like the Esports World Cup, the games will be held in Saudi Arabia as part of a 12-year partnership between the Kingdom and the International Olympic Committee.

Before the World Cup, players, broadcasters and fans were divided over the decision that it would be hosted in an Arab country – which also sponsored the prize pool – because of its record on human rights.

Homosexuality is illegal in Saudi Arabia and has faced criticism for its stance on LGBT relationships and the lack of women’s rights.

Critics criticized this as “a sports game” but this decision was defended by the organizers who said he told Newsbeat that no one will face discrimination at this event.

Luke says the country was in “really good shape” at the event and is now looking to win more championships and progress to the Olympics – something he says is unbelievable.

“I think I would find it strange to call myself an Olympian because I don’t feel like one,” he said.

“But it would be a great thing.

“The dream is still the same – we can be world champions but there is always more.

“We want to be world champions in everything, so we will continue.”

And if he can be a pioneer in the online esports industry, Luke sees no reason why he can’t be a pioneer offline.

“I hope that one day I will enter the real world of motor sports,” he said.

“I see a lot of people finding their way into sim racing now, and hopefully that will happen.

If not, I have a lot of time to decide what I want to do since I’m only 19 years old.

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