Mercedes sign reigning champion Opmeer in bid to secure esports titles

Mercedes has announced the signing of F1 Esports Pro Series drivers' champion Jarno Opmeer for the coming season.

Opmeer made his Esports debut in 2019 driving for Renault. During the season he scored one pole position, one win and finished fourth in the final standings.

Last year the Dutch former real-world driver moved to Alfa Romeo where he became the third different driver to secure the championship, following in the footsteps of two-time champion Brendon Leigh, and 2019 title winner David Tonizza.

In his championship-winning season, Opmeer scored four wins and two pole positions.

"I can't wait to start working with the Mercedes Team," he said. "Behind the scenes, we have already started working on our preparations for the Virtual Grands Prix and the Formula E race series.

"This is an extremely ambitious and talented team and I'm going to try to get the maximum out of esports this year."

Opmeer replaces the 2017 and '18 champion Leigh in the Mercedes team, with the British driver announcing last week he will race for Ferrari this year.

Joining Opmeer at Mercedes is former McLaren driver Dani Moreno. The Spaniard ended 2020 eighth in the drivers' standings with a best result of second in the British Grand Prix and was named 'Rookie of the Year'.

Bono Huis also remains with Mercedes for a second year after finishing 12th last year.

Mercedes Motorsport strategy director James Vowles said of the line-up: "We have a very strong new driver line-up with Jarno, Dani and Bono and it underlines our ambitions in the world of esports - we are here to compete at the front, in multiple disciplines and categories.

"Jarno won the 2020 F1 Esports Series and performed admirably across the season. He has also shown that he is strong across different platforms. Dani had an impressive rookie season last year with a podium at Silverstone.

"He went on to finish in the top 10 at the backend of the season, improving race on race.

"Bono played an important role in our 2020 F1 esports campaign and has shown great performances on other platforms as well, particularly on rFactor and during the Formula E 'Race at Home Challenge' last year.

"We're very happy with this new driver line-up and it will help us take the next step in the development of our esports programme."

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