The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (better known as the FIA) and iRacing announced on Tuesday (30th May) that the two entities would be partnering up, starting in 2023 iRacing Season 3.
The iRacing Formula iR-04 is now set to be called the FIA F4, as it will relaunch as such in June. The car was previously launched back in 2022 iRacing Season 2, more than a year ago at this point. iRacing made it very clear when it launched that this was not an F4 car, but now it seems that it can be called such with this deal.
FIA Formula 4 has been around for just about a decade now, sitting as one of the first steps chosen by prospective open-wheel single seat drivers to move up the proverbial racing ladder. Now, the program has an official virtual license with the soon-to-be-renamed car.
“In addition to iRacing’s new FIA F4 Challenge, iRacing and the FIA are discussing additional esport plans for the future.” said iRacing’s President Tony Gardner. That means there will be an official series that likely takes over the place of the current iR-04 series, and there’s potential for future iRacing / FIA esports races.
The FIA, mind you, is the governing body for many real-world racing championships, most notably with Formula 1. There are some Formula 1 cars on the service already with the two Mercedes-AMG F1 cars, a McLaren and a Williams. There also exists another fantasy single-seater in the Dallara iR-01.
Could this F4 partnership spurn more FIA-related partnerships in iRacing’s future? Will the FIA get involved with the returning Dallara iR-01 World Championship? Probably not, but this definitely has the potential to grow more from this F4 announcement. 2023 iRacing Season 3 is expected to drop on 6th June, 2023.
SOURCE: iRacing
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