The Drone Racing League (DRL) will hold its drone race in June this year.
The league has signed a multi-year, global partnership with Allianz, the world’s top insurance company.
As the title sponsor of DRL’s elite race circuit, Allianz “will leverage its motor racing heritage to bring the Sport of the Future to a rapidly growing worldwide audience,” DRL said in a statement.
The flying machine race will be called the Allianz World Championship Series, according to a report from Engadget.
Like traditional motorsports, the drone pilots in this championship will also get sponsors, the report said.
In the six races of the 2017 Allianz World Championship, the drones will fly through 3D courses at more than 90mph. The 12 hour long episodes will be aired on ESPN, Sky Sports, and Prosieben MAXX. The races will be broadcasted in more than 75 countries in June.
The world’s top 16 drone pilots “will compete on an international circuit of the most insane race courses ever imagined,” according to the DRL’s website.
“This is an incredibly exciting day for The Drone Racing League and a huge leap forward for professional drone racing,” DRL CEO and Founder Nicholas Horbaczewski stated. “To DRL, Allianz is bringing world-renowned brand credibility and a proud history of innovative sports partnerships, including an extensive tradition in auto racing, and an undeniable proof point that the sport of the future has arrived.”
The Drone Racing League was launched in January 2016 as the only global professional drone racing organization. The first season reached millions of fans around the world, including more than 30 million broadcast viewers and more than 43 million views of its digital content.
