100 Thieves Esport Team Partnered With Lexus On A Race Car This Past Weekend And It Won The Race

This past weekend was the Long Beach Grand Prix in Long Beach, California.

Once upon a time, in the late 1970 and early ’80s, the race was a popular stop on the Formula One circuit, with aspirations to be the ‘Monte Carlo of the US’ according to race promoter Chris Pook. In 1983, however, it became a Champ Car race and F1 never came back.

But the spring circuit remained legendary to motorsports fans. Mario Andretti won a CART race there in 1984, as well as Indy Car races in 1985 and 1987.

These days the 1.9-mile stretch of Southern Californian tarmac hosts an Indy Car and IMSA race. It’s earned the reputation as “America’s greatest street race,” with a series of hairpin turns and straightaways that weave against the city’s palm street-lined waterfront.

For the Saturday IMSA race, Nadeshot‘s Los Angeles-based esports organization, 100 Thieves, partnered with Japanese car brand Lexus to support the No. 14 Lexus GT, driven by Jack Hawksworth.

This marked the organization’s first collaboration with a race car. The winds of fortune blew their way, with the Lexus No. 14 livery exhibiting a dominant performance.

Ultimately, the 100 Thieves livery ended up in victory lane:

“I think we need to have the 100 Thieves livery more often,” Hawksworth said after the race. “That worked out pretty well. It’s been an epic start to the year and we just keep building and putting races together. Today was just really good execution from the whole Vasser Sullivan team. The pit stop and the teamwork in pit lane and Ben (Barnicoat) drove a stellar stint. The whole thing was just perfect. It was just a mega team performance. We controlled the race. The guys pitted us at exactly the right time so we could have a clean in lap and a clean out lap. It was just a perfect team performance.”

This isn’t the first an esports team has sponsored a race car. OpTic Gaming partnered with a NASCAR Cup team Spire Motorsports for the Texas Grand Prix back in March.

With the win on Saturday, clearly there’s a lane open for more esports collabs in the high-stakes world of auto racing.

For starters, there’s nothing like a race day. The vibes – especially in Long Beach – are immaculate. Plus, it’s a chance to get esports fans to an offline event IRL where they can root for their favorite organization, with a stake in the race’s outcome.

Sounds like it’s the beginning of something special. One fan on Twitter put it best:

“So much for just a hoodie company. @Nadeshot @100Thieves making them moves.”