James Baldwin joins the hall of fame

James Baldwin was crowned Worlds Fastest Gamer in 2019 and for that earned the opportunity to race on circuit for a GT team. Incredible for someone who had raced in karts but was forced to drop out aged 16 due to a lack of funds, until a chance trip to PC World saw him buy a race wheel and pedals and start to game at home. Twelve months on and James entered a competition online and finished in the Top10 which earned him a place in the finals where he finished 2nd and earned his first prize money in esports.

He was hooked and realised he may be able to stay close to his original dream of racing in Motorsport by being a successful esports racer. At no point did he think it would lead him back to the track but thats exactly what happened when he was invited to compete at the Worlds Fastes Gamer in California. He faced two weeks of gruelling tests in track racing, sim racing and fitness and emerged victorious from a highly competitive field.

Having earned his place at Jenson Team Rocket RJN - a partnership between Jenson Button and the RJN race team - James was under pressure to deliver and he didnt dissapoint. On his first professional race, round one of the British GT championship at Oulton Park, he won! It was almost a full house for James in his first race weekend, setting a fantastic lap time in qualifying and finishing the weekend leading the Championship alongside teammate Michael O’Brien. The season continued strongly for James and the team and he and the team finished 4th overall. 

In parallel James joined the McLaren Shadow esports team and spent time during the summer practicing on his SIM rig to prepare for the F1 2020 season which started in October. James has had a number of top 10 finishes in the series and is spending a lot of time in the rig supporting the teams development.

• Four-times British Karting Champion
• Competed in Formula Ford
• 2019 - Won the 24hr of LeMans Esports Series
• 2019 - Won the Playseat SMS-R Championship Series - Mercedes-Benz World Finals
• 2019 – Won the eROC (esports race of champions) in Mexico
• 2019 - Won Worlds Fastest Gamer
• 2020 – 2^nd in iRacing Bathurst 12 Hour - Porsche 911
• 2020 - 4th in the British GT Championship

We had a fantastic opportunity to spend time chilling out with James and learning more about how he got started, all the cool things he has achieved in the last few years and learned more about what it takes to be a successful racing driver and esports driver.

James set a lap time challenge for you to beat, see if you can beat it - click here