Trackmania Grand League World Cup 2022

The €20,000 Grand League World Cup 2022, one of the biggest tournaments in Trackmania esports is set to begin on July 1 in Paris. Let’s a look at what to expect.

Trackmania history

Trackmania is a racing game series from the French developer studio Nadeo. The esport is currently being held in the most recently published title Trackmania 2020.

Unfortunately, Trackmania esports is still relatively small, based on the number of events held, as well as prizes. In fact, prize money has always mostly been within the four-digit range. As a result, there are almost no professional players who can call the game their main job. Most players in competitive Trackamania are also content creators or streamers.

However, Trackamina esports has evolved since 2020. Not only through the technically very good sequel that came out that year, but also through community-related activities. Numerous official tournaments, cast by well-known streamers, were since held, including daily small competitions, Twitch Rivals and also more frequent tournaments by Nadeo. 

New sponsor

In order to improve the operating and financing of its esports division, the French game development studio has secured a new sponsor. With TOYOTA GAZOO Racing, the motorsport brand of the Japanese car manufacturer TOYOTA, Nadeo has a strong partner at its side. This sponsor not only helped to increase the prize pool of this year’s top event to a whopping €20,000 but also allows the World Cup to take place in LAN — something every Trackmania driver has, until now, only dreamed of.

World Cup and its format

The Trackmania Grand League World Cup 2022 will take place from July 1 -3 in Paris, France. The location is the French national football stadium the Stade de France. More specifically, the event will take place in the Stade de France Auditorium with a capacity of 310 spectators. That’s still a big deal for Trackmania. A total of 16 drivers from all over the world will take part in the competition. 

The format will see eight different main rounds, with the first four being determined by seeding, and the other four by cutting off in the first. Four players will compete in the 1v1v1v1 format per main round. There are nine points per round to earn on ten different maps. Whoever reaches 120 points first gets finalist status and then has to win another round. Eight players in total will advance to the semifinals, where two rounds of four will determine the final four players that will race in the Grand Final. 

Participants

The Grand League World Cup 2022 lineup is made of eight seeded players who secured their slot through rankings of the past Grand Leagues or World Cups, and eight riders who got in through a qualifier. Here’s the full lineup: 

Qualified via rankings:

• Carl-Antoni “Carl Jr.” Cloutier (Reigning World Champion, Solary)
• Thomas “Pac” Cole (MnM Gaming)
• Sébastien “Affi” Affolter (BDS Esport)
• Patrick “Mudda” Radisich 
• Aurélien “Aurel” Bouard (GamingPrive)
• Brendan “Bren” Seve (Karmine Corp)
• Gwendal “Gwen” Duparc (GameWard)
• Dennis “Massa” Lotze (BIG Clan)

Qualified via qualifiers:

• Valérian “Papou” Ramamonjy (Team GO)
• Alexandre “Binkss” Touche (IziDream)
• Martin “Kappa” Krompolc (SINNERS Esports)
• Hubert “mime” Dziedzic (Into The Breach)
• Youen “Otaaaq” Egler (Lille Esport)
• Marek “tween” Pacher (orKs GP Numelops)
• Mikael “MiQuatro” Jäppilä 
• Nico “GranaDy” Gyarmati (ALTERNATE aTTaX)

Header: Ubisoft