Forza Racing Championship Season One Announced: Winner Gets a 2017 Focus RS

After weeks of teasing, Turn 10 has unveiled its bid for the burgeoning eSports segment. Dubbed the Forza Racing Championship, the ESL-hosted event will be open to all Forza Motorsport 6 players, with numerous prizes up for grabs. At the top of the pile is a brand new 2017 Focus RS, provided by the first season’s title sponsor.

There are two Series that make up the first season: the Elite, and the Open. Both will require players to sign up to the ForzaRC ESL page (click here) if they’re hoping to grab any of the more exclusive prizes, like the afore-mentioned Focus, or Xbox consoles, Elite controllers, Logitech wheels, and FM6 DLC codes. However, there will be prizes for all players that take part: in-game cars the fans have been curious about for some time…

Elite Series

The Elite series will utilize the game’s Rivals mode, with a new Qualifier posted each Monday starting August 8. Players will then have three days to set their top times, with the top 128 seeding the ESL-hosted qualifier held on the following Saturday. From that event, the top 16 players will race against each other on Sunday in a Showdown for four spots to the season finale, to be broadcast on Forza’s Twitch channel.

Each week, the four Showdown finalists will also be eligible to win the newly-released Xbox One S console, Xbox Elite Controllers, and wheels from Logitech.

At the conclusion of Week 3, the 12 finalists will race against one another for the chance to add the Focus RS to their real-life garage. This final race is also scheduled to be broadcast on the official Twitch channel, on September 4.

Elite Series Schedule

Elite Series Week 1: August 8–14
(2015 Ford Mustang GT on Autodromo Internationale Monza)
Elite Series Week 1 Rivals Qualifying: August 8–11 (Top 128 advance to Week 1 Cup)
Elite Series Week 1 Series Cup (via ESL): August 13 (Top 16 advance to Week 1 Showdown)
Elite Series Week 1 Showdown: August 14 (Top 4 advance to ForzaRC Elite Series Grand Finals)

Elite Series Week 2: August 15 –21
(2013 Ford Formula Ford EcoBoost 200 at Catalunya)
Elite Series Week 2 Rivals Qualifying: August 15–18 (Top 128 advance to Week 2 Cup)
Elite Series Week 2 Series Cup (via ESL): August 20 (Top 12 advance to Week 2 Showdown)
Elite Series Week 2 Showdown: August 21 (Top 4 advance to ForzaRC Elite Series Grand Finals)

Elite Series Week 3 – August 22 – 28
(2016 Ford #66 Ford Racing GT Le Mans at Watkins Glen Full)
Elite Series Week 3 Rivals Qualifying: August 22–25 (Top 128 advance to Week 3 Cup)
Elite Series Week 3 Series Cup (via ESL): August 27 (Top 12 advance to Week 3 Showdown)
Elite Series Week 3 Showdown: August 28 (Top 4 advance to ForzaRC Elite Series Grand Finals)

Elite Series Season 1 Grand Finals – September 4

Open Series

The Leagues mode of FM6 will host the Open Series, grouping players with similarly-skilled competitors as the vie for the prizes. It too will kick off this coming Monday. Each week will run the same cars as the Elite Series (Mustang GT, Formula Ford, and GT Le Mans), on a rotation of tracks. Prizes will arrive in the form of DLC for the game, covering anything from the Porsche or NASCAR expansions to the FM6 Car Pass.

Unlike the Elite Series, Turn 10 have not put a number on how many players will be eligible for these prizes each week, but they too will require players to register at ESL to be eligible.

Open Series Schedule

Open Series Week 1 League: August 8–14
Starring the 2015 Ford Mustang GT and a variety of tracks

Open Series Week 2 League: August 15–21
Starring the 2013 Ford Formula Ford EcoBoost 200 and a variety of tracks

Open Series Week 3 League: August 22–28
Starring the 2016 Ford #66 Ford Racing GT Le Mans and a variety of tracks

Free Prizes For Everyone

In addition to the prizes listed above, all players that participate in any of the events, regardless of placement, will receive special prizes. For the League events, setting a time on any of the three weeks will result in a 1971 Ford Falcon XY GTHO Phase III in-game, with a special livery relating to the event itself. Now we know why Turn 10 snuck it in last month.

For Rivals players, every participant will win a similarly-rare 1973 Ford Escort 1600. It too will be painted in a unique livery each week. As another car that was hidden in an update some months ago, fans should be happy to finally get an answer on how to (easily) access it.

ForzaRC Events Practice Events Open Today

To celebrate the season before the August 8 kick-off, Turn 10 has opened special Hoppers and Rivals events in Forza Motorsport 6 for players to get to grips with the upcoming combos. It has also announced special livery and photo contests will be taking part on the official forums.

See more articles on Ford Focus RS and Forza Racing Championship.