Champion Eseries racer sets sights on Super3 campaign

Supercars Eseries driver Josh Anderson is one to watch in real-world racing, taking out the 2022 Aussie Racing Cars Series title.

Anderson is among the growing number of Eseries drivers being successful in real-life competition.

The Professional Sim Racer secured his first Aussie Racing Cars crown during last weekend’s Penrite Oil Sandown SuperSprint.

It comes as the leading gamer is contesting the 2022 Cash Converters Supercars Eseries with the Blanchard Racing Team.

The 22-year-old currently sits sixth in the Supercar Eseries, just nine points behind fifth-place Andrew Gilliam.

Anderson has impressed in his 2022 Aussie Racing Cars campaign, recording dual wins at Mount Panorama in May.

Not taking the traditional path from full-time karting or state-level racing, Anderson had minimal experience when he stepped into Aussie Racing Cars in 2017.

He completed full campaigns in 2018 and 2019, finishing 6th and 3rd outright respectively.

Anderson recorded his breakthrough win at Mount Panorama in 2020, edging out 2014 Bathurst 1000 winner Paul Morris.

Anderson spends a fair amount of time on racing simulators, which he says is an important part of building his racecraft.

“You get a strong understanding of exactly what's going on in the car when you're driving it in the real world,” he told Supercars.com.

“On that side of things, it is definitely a lot different to sim racing, where it's just playing a driving game really.

“Sim racing is probably more similar than what people think.

“You're very aware that you're not driving a real car, but I think sim racing is really good for racecraft, performing under pressure and being able to execute what you want to do when the pressure is on.

“The act of driving is quite a lot different, obviously, there's the factor if you're doing it in real life and you crash it's going to cost a lot of money, and you've spent a lot of time and effort getting to the race meeting.

“That's not there in sim racing, but it's still very similar.

“There's a lot of other sim racers that are doing well in the real world, without much experience because it's so similar.”

Anderson continues to be a consistent performer in the Supercars Eseries, recording five top ten results this season.

Anderson claimed the 2022 Aussie Racing Car title in Sandown

Determined to keep his racing dream alive, chasing his real-world racing aspirations remains Anderson’s goal.

“It comes down to funding, but the goal is definitely to progress to other categories,” he said.

“We are looking at trying to get ourselves into a Super3 car next year.

“It just comes down to trying to find the support to put plans in place, and we're trying hard to find the budget, but that's definitely our goal.

“My dream is to race Supercars, along with a lot of other sim drivers.

“There's obviously a relationship with CoolDrive, and we haven’t spoken too much about what the future looks like in terms of what we're doing next year with them.

“I'd love to be able to strengthen our relationship with them, they've been great to me so far through this year, which is a relationship that coincidentally started through the Eseries last year.

“Wherever future opportunities may lie, of course, I'm going to be looking everywhere for those opportunities.”

The Cash Converters Supercars Eseries returns for Round 6 at Oran Park on Wednesday August 24.

Qualifying begins at 7pm AEST on Supercars’ Facebook page, Supercars  Twitch and YouTube.