Ford launched their newest esports team, Fordzilla UK, to complement their existing European teams based in Germany, France, Spain and Italy.
Fordzilla UK is captained by ‘Leaviathon‘; Leah has been streaming on Twitch since 2015 and she’s also a presenter for XBOX’s YouTube and Mixer channels. She’s also the only female captain in the combined Team Fordzilla European family. Recruitment for the team is ongoing, though Leah will eventually be leading up to around 10-15 UK players as they compete as part of the overall Team Fordzilla brand.
Of course, sending every player from every regional Fordzilla team to competitions might be seen as gaming the system (pun intended), and so Team Fordzilla’s manager Emmanuel Lubrani explained that competition teams will be made up from players selected from the various countries teams based on their skills and experience and that players will be rotated for different events.
As you might expect from teams owned and operated under the Ford umbrella, the focus of Fordzilla is on racing sim competitions such as the Le Mans Esports Series. When asked if the esports teams will mirror existing Ford Motorsports teams in various categories the answer was no, for example, there’s currently no Ford team in the FIA Formula One World Championship but there would be no such restriction on Fordzilla entering an esports version. Of course, with the team focusing on console gameplay, the team is limited to competitions running in that format and there’s no current plan to expand the team to include PC gamers.
Speaking of Le Mans, it was “right after the launch of the French Fordzilla team” in November that Le Mans Esports got in contact and queried a revival of the classic rivalry between Ford and Ferrari in that motor racing series. Lubrani went on to say that the team didn’t have high expectations of success because of the limited preparation and training time available before the race but it was a great opportunity to learn and for the fledgeling team to bond.
🥳 ANNOUNCEMENT 🥳
I am the brand new UK #TeamFordzilla captain – over the next year I’m going to be finding the best UK racing game talent and building a team. I’m so excited to see how we can find and help the hidden gems get what they need to compete at the top level ✨ https://t.co/W744I1T0nS
— leah! (@leahviathan) December 4, 2019
As Leah explains in her announcement on Twitter, the team is still recruiting, and part of this process is an invitation to all gamers to come along to the Red Bull Gaming Sphere in London and join in as Fordzilla UK host a competition to find the best drivers on both Playstation and XBOX over 2 days. The event runs from 12 pm–10 pm* on Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12 of December featuring Forza Motorsport 7 and Gran Turismo Sport. The fastest drivers of the day on each console will win a console to take away with them, and of course, get attention from the recruitment team.
Lubrani stated that although the fastest drivers will each win a console they don’t get an automatic spot on the team – that, of course, suggests that if you’re not the fastest but show promise you could still be in with a shot. So, if you want to be an esports superstar and you’re the King (or Queen) of Sim in your community, why not pop down to London next week and try your luck? If you are successful, TeamFordzilla will make sure you have everything you need to take your racing to the next level.
