Trackmania at EWC 26 Champions: Gwen secures the Club Championship

Gwen delivered a masterclass performance in the Grand Final to claim the inaugural Trackmania title at EWC 26. The French star dominated the four-player final to take home the $130,000 grand prize while also earning 1,000 vital Club Championship points for AG.AL, securing them first place in this year’s final Club Championship standings.

High stakes on the track

The Grand Final arrived with immense pressure, as the individual results carried massive overall Club Championship implications. Gwen singlehandedly held AG.AL’s championship hopes in his hands, needing a strong finish to overtake Team Falcons. At the start of the day, the gap had been just 300 points. By the afternoon, Gwen had closed that to just 200, before locking in the final victory.

Meanwhile, Team Vitality’s Thomas “Pac” Cole and Hubert "mime" Dziedzic fought for third place overall, while Team Liquid’s Robert "Epos" McKay aimed to boost his Dutch-American organization's final standing with a victory, something that only would be possible, however, if Mime finishes last.

The action kicked off on Gwen’s map pick, Japan, where the Frenchman shot out of the gate to win three of the four rounds and score 36 out of a maximum 40 points. On Epos’ following pick, Poland, three of the four drivers broke the existing tournament record in the opening round. Gwen continued his blistering pace, taking another three wins to reach 72 points, holding a massive 33-point lead over his nearest challenger after only two maps.

Dominance into a deciding close-out

Maintaining his lead on the following two maps, albeit less dominant, Gwen reasserted total control in round 5 on the decider pick, Hungary. He claimed victory in the first two rounds to put himself within a second-place finish of finalist mode. After snatching yet another round win, Gwen officially activated match point before any opponent had reached 100 points.

After a failed initial finalist-attempt on Hungary, the map rotation swapped back to Gwen’s favored pick, Japan. There the Frenchman only needed one round to seal victory, refusing to give his opponents any hope of a comeback, closing out the Grand Final having won 11 out of 21 rounds.

Gwen’s road to the trophy required exceptional resilience, as he had to navigate a couple early multiple player finalist rounds in the group stage.Once in the playoffs the AG.AL-player rose to peak form, ending both his quarter- and semifinal in first place, before delivering his crowning performance in the Grand Final.

Club Championship

With his victory, Gwen decided this year’s Club Championship. Securing 1,000 points for his victory, while AG.AL only needed 400 points to overtake Falcons, after Carl-Antoni "Carl Jr." Cloutier’s unexpected quarterfinal exit.

Behind him Epos’ second place finish capped off Team Liquids late surge, securing them fifth place in the final standings. Pac’s third place finish propelled Team Vitality past Na’Vi, as the Brit won the direct duel over Mime, who ended in fourth.