Bermuda will be represented in the inaugural America’s Cup e-Series Regatta Grand Final in Barcelona, Spain later this month.

Local sailor Rockal Evans is among the eight finalists who will bid to become the first-ever America’s Cup e-Series Regatta champion and earn a share of nearly $70,000 in prize money up for grabs in the Grand Final to be held on September 28.

“It feels awesome going into the final knowing that I put in the time and effort to make it,” he told The Royal Gazette.

“I’m going to give it my all in the final, but any outcome will be a good one for me. I’m just really happy to be going and experiencing it all.”

Evans, who resides in Sydney, Australia, advanced to the business end of the online competition after coming from behind to take the win in the fourth round of the Playoff Final.

“To qualify to the finals of the America’s Cup e-Series I did over 800 races and 300 hours of play time in eight weeks,” he added.

“They (organisers) will fly me there with all expenses paid and it’s a prize pool of like £50,000 ($65,650).”

There is added incentive for Evans and his fellow finalists as the top two finishers will also get the chance to race against the winning Youth America’s Cup team on the waters of Barcelona.

“I think any of the eight finalists can finish top two so it’s a strong chance I can get the opportunity to sail a AC40 and race against the Youth America’s Cup teams in the real life AC40,” he said.

Played on AC Sailing, the America's Cup e-Series Regatta is the ultimate sailing simulation video game created by the Louis Vuitton 37th America's Cup which brings the excitement and precision of competitive yacht racing to the virtual world.

“Emirates Team New Zealand (America’s Cup Defender) created the simulation game to test and develop there race yachts for the last America’s Cup, so the game is super detailed for competitive sailors,” Evans explained.

“Reading the wind shifts in the game is similar to real life and also the boat handling and getting the boat up to speed fast out of tacks and out of gybes and also like mark roundings you can gain meters on other boat if you do the manoeuvres well.”

Evans only began playing the game weeks ago and using a steering wheel to control the AC40.

“The game starts you off with fully automatic foil controls and sail controls so it kind of does all the trimming for you. But it’s a lot slower boat speed than a sailor who has his controls to fully manual, so the sailor controls all the trimming for the sails and foils,” he added.

“Obviously I wanted to learn for manual so I could have fast boat speed around the racetrack. When I first started the game and changed my controls to fully manual it was so challenging and frustrating at times because I didn’t understand why I was always falling of the foils around mark rounding. It took a few days of studying the game and teaching myself to get better.

“I was determined to find out how to improve and get good results so I definitely exceeded my expectations.”

The America’s Cup e-Series Regatta Grand Final will feature the six finalists and two wildcard entries.