Hyderabad, Nov 4 (IANS) Krishanu Dutta Bhuyan, Nikhil Subramanian and Surya Balakrishnan have emerged winners in the finals of the Hyderabad edition of X1 Racing eSports Season 1, a digital simulator-based racing competition held at the Manjeera Mall. The three will represent the city in the grand finale to be held later in November and will also receive a one plus phone and a cash prize.

The winner of the grand finale will also get a chance to train under the founders of X1 Racing, Aditya Patel and Armaan Ebrahim to hone their racing talent.

Motorsports enthusiasts from the city sweated it out over the week to set their best lap time in the custom made simulators of X1 Racing eSports. Of the lot, 30 individuals were selected for the finals on Friday. After some hard fought racing between the 30 individuals who were trying hard to better their opponent's time, Krishanu Dutta Bhuyan, Nikhil Subramanian and Surya Balakrishnan came out on top.

Prior to the extravaganza, the contest was also taken to the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University and Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology enabling motorsports fans to participate in the never-before contest simulating the on-track experience and bringing it closer to fans and potential talent.

"We want to congratulate all three winners and we look forward to having them at the grand finale. We are thrilled at the response from Pune. We could sense the excitement among the participants. It is a one of its kind initiative which will help youngsters take up motorsports. We are grateful to OnePlus and JK Tyre Motorsport to have come on board with us, bringing this initiative to life." said Armaan.

"Motorsports is expensive and requires a lot of infrastructure. Many don't take up the sport because of this reason. Initiatives such as these have a wider reach and will help tap talent across cities in India. The week saw some talented individuals from the city and we are happy to provide a platform to support these youngsters hone their talent." added Aditya.

After Hyderabad, the next pit stop for the X1 Racing eSports Season 1 will be at Ahmedabad. The finals for the Ahmedabad leg will be on November 10 at the One Forum Mall and Delhi on November 17 at the DLF Mall. The total prize pool for the season will add up to INR 1.5 crore.

The X1 eSports Season 1 will culminate with the much anticipated X1 Racing League, a franchise based motorsports competition that will take place on November 30-December 1 in New Delhi and December 7-8 in Chennai.

The league will be representing six cities. Owners of the league include India's first F1 driver Narain Karthikeyan who owns the Chennai team; Delhi team by Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Saeed Bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan; Mumbai team by Roadway Solutions India Infra Ltd.; Hyderabad team by industrialist Akhilesh Reddy and Ahmedabad by Pen India Studios promoter Dhaval Gada.

--IANS kk/bg