1997 F1 Challenge Championship season

The 1997 F1 Challenge Championship season was the first season of F1 Challenge Championship. It was won by Daniel Melrose, driving for Jordan, while Williams took the constructors title. The online F1CC series was formed mainly for F1RWRS drivers to have something to do away from the races, with guest drivers and a select few who took up the challenge of discovering the server to have a chance of racing against the big boys.

Three categories
Due to the nature of the series, previous racing experience wasn't necessary. However, the championship was created mainly for F1RWRS drivers, specifically by Jeroen Krautmeir. With a reasonable number of drivers accepting, the names on the entry list were impressive: Daniel Melrose, James Davies, Nathanael Spencer, Damon Cannon, Thomas De Bock, Hagane Shizuka, Giovanni Roda, Phoenix McAllister, Pippa Mann, Douglas Mann, David Koczo, Tristan Jung and Darren Older Jr all accepting the offer and competing in the first race weekend.

More drivers would be invited to the series to make up an even more interesting grid including drivers that were not competing in the F1RWRS at the time, such as John Zimmer, who had just retired from racing, 1997 World Champion Jack Christopherson and GT racer Warren Hughes.

Finally, with places left on the grid, Krautmeir had the idea of offering the remaining seats to the average Joes of the world. This wouldn't be easy though. The spots would be awarded on a first-come-first-served basis to the people who could bypass the virtual obstacles to connect to the protected server used to run the series. The five available spots went to James Chapman, Ed Kevin (not related to Edward Kevin), Mitch Herrtz, Emil Klok and Miguel Zapatero.