The Gfinity Supercars Eseries opener attracted a live audience of more than 100,000 for the first of the six-round, 16-race series won by Shannons Racing’s Madison Down. 
The first round was held with the 12 teams and drivers competing side-by-side in front of a live audience at GfinityAU esports arena in Moore Park, Sydney.
The two-and-a-half-hour program was watched by 105,000 unique viewers across FOX SPORTS and on a number of digital and social channels, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Twitch.
The audience was a 25 per cent increase on the corresponding opener in 2018 and generated more than 230,000 minutes of viewed content.
Sydneysider Down, who has nearly 10 years of experience on the iRacing platform, was the driver to beat from the outset, scoring pole and taking the win in the first race on the Phillip Island circuit.
He then drove from 12th to fifth under the reverse grid format for Race 2 at Monza, before chalking up a commanding victory in the third leg of the round at Suzuka.
“Can’t have finished that in a better way,” said Down, who scored 126 points for his efforts to lead by 12. “Great once again to have the Shannons car up the front. A lights-to-flag win, really, really happy with my pace.”
Down now leads the field heading to the one all the players want to win with the second round of the Gfinity Supercars Eseries featuring a single, 250km race at Mount Panorama on October 8 to kick-off Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 week.
“Everyone wants to win Bathurst,” Down said. “It’s quite a long race… we’ve got a fast car for these short races but we’ll see what we can do on the mountain.”
The Bathurst race on October 8 will be broadcast live from 7.30pm-9.30pm on FOX SPORTS, Kayo and on supercars.com, the Supercars app or Supercars social media channels including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Twitch.
Next Level Racing’s Richard Hamstead sits second in the standings, having recorded fourth, second and third in the respective first-round races.
The best of the Virgin Australia Supercars teams was Red Bull Holden Racing Team’s Dayne Warren who ended the night 3rd with consistent top 10 finishes.
WAU pair Joshua Rogers and Jarrad Filsell are fourth and fifth respectively, with the latter the night’s other winner, taking the reverse-grid affair at Monza.
The Dunlop Racing entry of Jake Burton ended the night sixth in the standings, with team owner Brad Jones one of the notable guests at the Sydney event.
Boost Mobile Racing pair Ethan Grigg-Gault and Ian Ford had difficult opening rounds and are seventh and 11th respectively, the latter’s season having started with an opening-lap incident.
Filling eighth through 10th in the standings are Emily Jones (Workplace Law Racing), Josh Muggleton (Knight Rider Motorsports) and Brenton Hobson (The Roar).
Fox Sports Racing’s Brady Meyers rounds out the field in 12th, having led early from pole in the reverse grid-race at Monza before a pitlane penalty cruelled his chances.
