Hold Onto Your Seats! Drone Racing League’s 2018 Allianz World Championship Announced

The Drone Racing League (DRL), a drone racing circuit, and the General Sport Authority (GSA) of Saudi Arabia have announced the 2018 DRL Allianz World Championship to take place in Saudi Arabia next September. This will be the first professional drone race staged in the kingdom and it will mark the 7th and final event of the 2018 DRL Season. The Allianz World Championship will pit eight of most elite FPV (First Person View) pilots on the planet against each other. They will be racing custom-built DRL drones in excess of 90 miles per hour through a complex, three dimensional racecourse, in a fight to be crowned the World’s Greatest Drone Pilot (at least according to the DRL). The final race will be broadcast in 87 countries on the best sports programs on the globe including, ESPN, OSN, Sky Sports, ProSiebenSat.1, FOX Sports Asia, and Disney XD.

“With a rapidly growing fanbase in Saudi Arabia and throughout the Middle East, we felt it was crucial to expand our presence locally and debut our iconic 2018 race there,” said DRL CEO/Founder, Nicholas Horbaczewski. “We’re thrilled to partner with the GSA of Saudi Arabia to deliver the sport of the future directly to new fans internationally.”

Of the announcement, President of the General Sport Authority of Saudi Arabia: H.E. Turki Al-Alsheikh said: “The partnership with the Drone Racing League demonstrates our commitment to promoting and developing sports in the kingdom. Bringing the Allianz World Championship to Saudi Arabia will help grow this uniquely innovative sport in the region.”

DRL is a global professional drone racing organization. Their 2017 Season followed 16 professional pilots competing through six races in the US and Germany, with the final eight going head to head in the DRL Allianz World Championship in London’s Alexandra Palace. DRL has reached more than 50 million global broadcast viewers in their first two seasons, and driven more than 100 million views of their digital content. In February, DRL introduced Allianz as the title sponsor of DRL’s elite race circuit, leveraging the insurance brand’s motor racing sponsorship heritage to bring the “Sport of the Future” to a rapidly growing worldwide audience. The partnership with the GSA will help DRL to continue to expand its global footprint and bring iconic DRL events across the world.

Here is a teaser video courtesy of the Drone Racing League