Matthew Urbano meets Formula 1 driver Australian Oscar Piastri, whose grandparents live in the Goulburn Valley.
A third attempt at a three-race tournament, three hours of intense gaming and a thrilling three-day prize as his reward; good things certainly do come in threes if you ask Matthew Urbano.
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In February, the 25-year-old Goulburn Valley gamer qualified against around 5000 people in one of four regions across the world — the Asia Pacific region — to race for championship glory in an eSports tournament hosted by Logitech in partnership with Formula 1 race team McLaren.
While he loves racing games, they’re not something he’d usually play for extended periods because of the mental exhaustion they cause, but when a carrot is dangled, exceptions are made and, in this case, paid.
“For someone like me, there would need to be a notable prize on the line ... having to essentially operate mentally at 100 per cent capacity for multiple hours straight,” Mr Urbano said.
“I don’t want to be doing that too frequently ... I’d just burn myself out.”
His third crack at the online championship tournament turned out to be worth the fatigue.
After a spinout resulting in a setback in race one of three against 18 other qualifiers, Mr Urbano steered his way to victory with two smoother campaigns in his second and third races to land on top of the podium in the Asia Pacific region.
Three other international winners, from the North America, Latin America and Europe, Middle East and Africa regions, were also crowned.
Not only did they win full Simrig set-ups, including a gaming rig, seat, steering wheel and pedal system, they also each won an all-expenses paid trip to the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Hungary for two people last month.
Being his first time overseas, Mr Urbano chose to take both an experienced traveller and a fellow Formula 1 fanatic, his uncle Jim Trimboli.
Prize winner Matthew Urbano, F1 driver Oscar Piastri, and Mr Urbano’s sister, Butch Urbano.
They flew, stayed and attended the three-day Grand Prix for free, including a VIP tour on the first day, where they were given paddock passes, allowing them access into the Hungarian Grand Prix circuit’s paddock, along with a tour through the garages with one of the F1 McLaren team’s staff.
“We got to see the engineers working on the cars and then it ended with us picking out things we wanted to have (F1 driver) Oscar Piastri sign,” Mr Urbano said.
“He came over, sat down with us and signed them and we were able to ask him questions and get pictures with him.”
Mr Urbano got his McLaren hat — which was also given to him as part of his prize package with a McLaren jacket when he arrived at the Budapest hotel in Hungary — signed, in what he described as a “pretty cool” experience.
Mr Urbano’s prize included paddock passes, where he witnessed engineers working on the F1 cars inside their garages.
“Oscar was about the same as you would see him in interviews and stuff,” he said.
“He’s very cool, calm, collected; yeah, he was a very cool person.”
Sadly, that composure counted for little towards the young Australian racing prodigy’s run that weekend when a gearbox failure resulted in a DNF (did not finish).
Mr Urbano, who has been to several F1 races on home soil, said he couldn’t pick a favourite part of the weekend, as “just watching race cars in person is always a nice experience” for him.
The prize also included domestic travel and food vouchers for Mr Urbano and his uncle to commute and eat on their trip, as well as a lunchtime boat cruise the day before the event.
Matthew Urbano with his uncle and aunty, Jim and Gina Trimboli, and his sister, Butch, in Budapest.
Mr Urbano’s younger sister, Butch, and his aunty, Mr Trimboli’s wife, Gina, joined the pair for their journey, purchasing their own tickets for the July trip.
Together they explored the markets of Hungary’s capital, took a sightseeing tour on a double decker bus and sampled the “very good food” (apart from the corn-topped pizzas that Mr Urbano says were questionable).
“It was pretty cool to see all the points of interest in Budapest,” Mr Urbano said.
As for future international Grand Prix events, now he’s had a taste, he’d love to consume more.
Winning this year’s major Logitech-McLaren prize doesn’t make him ineligible to win again, so if he keeps his foot on the pedal of race gaming, he might just taste another victory in the next round.
