Chris Telep is the 23 year old, he comes from Australia and he’s Reale Avintia Racing Team’s player in the MotoGP 2019 E-Sport competition. We got to talk him in Aragon right before his race on Friday 20th in order to know more about him.
When did you start playing videogames?
I started playing videogames when I was in grade 4 or 5 but I have never been heavily on videogames, I just played for fun occasionally. First time I realized about my potential was when I played WRC 8.
How did you make it to the E-Sports series?
When I bought the MotoGP game I had that feeling that I wanted to play it but I had no idea of what was going on with the E-Sports championship or anything and then in the loading screen I saw “E-Sports”, I clicked on it, and I registered. By the time it was in the third challenge that is four days, one ride, one track and the two fastest in each session go to pro draft. In that challenge I got P3. A week later it was challenge 4 in Motegi on wet conditions that was, by the way, the first ever wet track in the game. I was P2 there and I made it into pro draft. At that time I didn’t worry about online challenge 5 or 6, I just focused in Thailand. I called work and said I was sick for 3 days in order to keep playing and improving as I knew I could improve a couple of tenths here and there. On day 4 of the challenge I was on the Top of the classification and it was 2a.m. when I knew I was in the E-Sports series, I was in the pub trying to release some stress.
How long did I get since you bought the game until you knew you where in?
Less than three months.
How many players did you have to fight against?
I don’t really know but I checked once and I was facing over 300 participants over the globe. In a pro draft we where 12 of us in PS4, 12 of us on X-Box and 12 of us on PC and the 2 best from each would go forward in the competition. Those guys were really fast and I had to keep playing, improving and practicing in my bedroom without seeing day light.
How has the first two races been?
I was 12th in first race in Mugello circuit and 11th in the second one. I’m here to get good results but at the same time I’m really looking forward to have fun.
How many days where between you knew you where in and the day you race in Misano.
I believe less than 2 weeks. I had to ask for holidays at work.
How does it feel?
Unreal. I mean thinking that a videogame can make you pack your bags and travel the globe to be in a paddock which is something I always dreamed. I still can believe it, when I qualified I even cried, I feel over the moon.
What does your family think about it?
I think they cannot imagine how the videogame industry has grown in the recent years. They didn’t understand how I was making those overseas, who was taking me over and all about that.
