McLaren's search for the world's fastest online gamer has landed a 25-year-old sales manager from the Netherlands a new job as one of the team's official simulator drivers for 2018.
Over 300,000 contestants took part in the McLaren esports competition and it was Rudy van Buren who emerged victorious. The 25-year-old overcame fellow Dutchman Freek Schothorst in a four-hour assessment using McLaren's state-of-the-art simulator to earn himself the job.
It represents a remarkable second shot at motor racing for Van Buren, who won the Dutch Karting Championship in 2003, only to see his career curtailed by a lack of funding before he stepped up to senior categories.