Chris Hemsworth revs up in the Rush trailer: watch now

The first trailer for Rush , Ron Howard’s biopic of Formula One racers James Hunt and Niki Lauda has arrived online.

Focusing on the rivalry between Hunt (Christ Hemsworth) and Lauda (Daniel Brühl), the trailer offers up a mix of on- and off-track action, as the two men gear up for an epic clash.

An English-accented Hemsworth provides the portentous voiceover, and there’s the promise of some impressive visuals to showcase the movie’s period trappings (it’s set in the ‘70s).

The bulk of the action is set after Lauda’s 1976 crash, as his rivalry with Hunt heats up heading into the World Championship showdown in Fuji.

Watch the Rush trailer below now:

Given the pedigree of Howard ( Apollo 13 , A Beautiful Mind ) and screenwriter Peter Morgan ( The Queen , Frost/Nixon ), this could be looking at awards glory.

Rush opens in the UK on 13 September 2013.

Matt Maytum is the former Editor of Total Film magazine. Over the past decade, Matt has worked in various roles for TF online and in print, including at GamesRadar+. Bucket-list-ticking career highlights have included reporting from the set of Tenet and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as covering Comic-Con, TIFF and the Sundance Film Festival.