Draft selection from 22 to 24 february - International Games Festival in Cannes
The Drone Champions League (DCL), the world’s leading drone racing series, holds its first draft selection event to find the best young pilots worldwide : the top of 200 players of the official drone racing simulator DCL-The Game will be invited to take part in the qualifiers in Cannes where professional teams will each pick at least one of the finalists as a new team member for the upcoming season. Qualification via DCL-The Game is still on until 16 February. The draft selection takes place at the International Games Festival in Cannes from 22 to 24 February.
One-off chance for young pilots !
While it is more than unlikely that anyone playing the football simulation game FIFA* would ever be nominated to play alongside Messi, Ronaldo and Neymar in the UEFA Champions League*, the Drone Champions League is different : “Pilots from across the world get the chance to first secure their place to take part in the heats via our drone racing simulator DCL-The Game and then to actually qualify to compete in the top tier of drone racing” says DCL CEO Herbert WEIRATHER. The qualification process via DCL-The Game aims at creating equal conditions for all ambitious young pilots to then find the best among them for professional DCL teams.
“DCL-The Game is so incredibly realistic that we actually use it to prepare for the DCL’s challenging tracks. It makes a lot of sense therefore to give young pilots the chance to qualify for the draft selection via the game. It is astonishing how well the skills that make you successful at your PC can be transferred to real life races” explains DCL drone pilot Angelo FELCHLE (Team Air Carvers Germany).
Draft selection paves the way for exciting season
To not only find the best pilots but also create the best possible competition, the slowest team of the last DCL season gets to select first from the talent invited to Cannes while the fastest team chooses last. This ensures balanced teams and guarantees that the upcoming 2019 season, set to start in March in Laax (Switzerland), will at least be as thrilling as the last one which was only decided on the last racing day.
“It’ll be super interesting, and I very much look forward to personally meet the pilots that have qualified for the draft selection via DCL-The Game, and to see who will support our team in future” says DCL drone pilot Alex CAMPBELL (Team Quad Force One). He is convinced that making the right choice at the draft selection in Cannes will be crucial for the teams and decisive for winning or losing in the course of the season.
About DCL-The Game
On 8 January 2019, a free early demo of DCL-The Game was exclusively released on the internet sales platform Steam. The drone racing simulator offers high-speed action, and different levels of difficulty allow beginners and professionals alike to test their skills on more than 10 original race tracks. This racing revolution is based on Unreal Engine 4 and was developed in close cooperation with 40 professional drone pilots. The full version of the official drone racing simulator for PC will be released on 1 November 2019. In addition, console, Mac and mobile versions are currently being developed.
About the Drone Champions League
Since 2016, the Drone Champions League (DCL) has each season brought together the world’s best drone pilots who compete in eight international teams on race tracks around the world. Among others, events have taken place in Germany, France, Belgium, Romania, Liechtenstein, Spain, China and Switzerland. Each DCL race is broadcast live and worldwide on TV in 100 countries and can also be viewed online. DCL partners include Red Bull*, Breitling*, Tencent Sports* and McDonald’s*. More information on www.dcl.aero and www.game.dcl.