The reigning Trackmania World Champion Kappa will take part to the Open Qualifier! TMWC 2018 & TMGL Beta Season winner, the Czech player from McLaren Shadow will be one of the strongest men to beat in the Open Qualifier!
After a three-year absence, the Trackmania World Cup is back! Is it an extra challenge for you to enter the qualifiers as the reigning World Champion?
Firstly, it’s great that Ubisoft Nadeo decided to bring the World Cup legacy back amongst TMGL. It’s going to be ‘just’ an online edition, but unlike some other sports, we are lucky enough to be able to keep going even in the current difficult times. Do I feel any extra challenge? Frankly, I don’t. Yes, I’m still the current world champion, but a lot of stuff has changed since then and after a few recent average results it’s time to prove myself again, rather than defending my rank as n.1 in the world, that’s not the reality at the moment.
You always performed well in the TMGL playoffs which were played in cup mode. Is this a game mode that suits you particularly well?
While I believe I’m a very consistent player when a map suits me, the TMGL groupstage statistics probably don’t speak into my favor too much. I do have a lot of experience with cup mode, that’s true, but it’s always more about the mapstyle for me, more specifically about certain parts (like doing a slalom in slowmotion with a different camera between narrowly placed trees). Therefore, the cup mode probably suits me on such maps a bit more. It is unfortunate that the tournament won’t be played offline + with cars on, as I believe I can deal with both pretty well and it had been my little edge over some less experienced players at events, but it is what it is.
You already know the 8 maps which will be played for the Open Qualifier as they were used for the last two TMGL seasons. How will your training be organized?
I’m currently very busy with my studies, working on my diploma thesis while studying for some other exams, so that’s how the majority of my days look like atm. Luckily the maps aren’t completely new to me, so I feel like I stand a good chance of qualifying to the groupstage anyway, that would also secure me some more time for preparation for the actual event
As a reminder, the Trackmania World Cup 2021 will take place in May 29th & 30th. The 8 best players of the qualifying phase will take part to the World Cup from June 26th!