IMSA Esports Global Championship ‘24/’25: All you need to know

When the AMD 240 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta gets underway on Sunday 24th November 2024, it will mark the start of the third officially sanctioned premier IMSA sim racing championship.

But what is the series, how does it work, and where can you watch? Here’s everything you need to know about the IMSA Esports Global Championship 2024/2025.

What is the IMSA Esports Global Championship?

The IMSA Esports Global Championship is the leading, official, sim racing competition tied to the International Motor Sports Association.

It replicates, as closely as possible, the real-world championship for sports car racing, with drivers competing at home over the internet on a simulation game (iRacing).

Each round is run to a high standard and taken as seriously as any other IMSA-sanctioned event. There is a mix of professional and highly skilled privateer drivers and teams using the same cars and tracks as the motorsport competition.

It is traditionally held in the ‘off-season’ of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

“I think the level of competition in this space mirrors the level of competition we’ve seen in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship,” said IMSA President John Doonan.

“When you have championships coming down to the final laps of the final race is pretty incredible. I think what we’ve seen in the last couple of years, for sure, is the level of championship talent in the esports programme has reached an all-time high.”

Partners include Michelin, Thrustmaster, Grid Finder and AMD.

Platform, car category and race formats

The events are held on iRacing, the PC motorsport simulation which holds a licencing partnership with IMSA and has recreated the majority of the real-world cars and tracks.

Each of the four races includes two classes of cars:

• GTP, the pinnacle of sports cars in the current era, with hybrid powertrains
• GTD, (loosely) based on road-going vehicles

Each car has two drivers entered, and it is mandatory that both drive during each race, meaning driver swaps in the pitroad. Finding the right strategy is key to a good result.

The races are a certain length to encourage alternate strategies: Two hours and 40 minutes.

Prior champions and ones to watch

In 2022, the lead car category was GTD (alongside TCR), with the British Apex Racing Team (drivers Alejandro Sanchez and Kevin Ellis Jr.) taking the crown.

Last season, the format was switched to GTP and GTD, following the addition of the to-class vehicles to iRacing.

This time, Coanda Esports took the crown in the Porsche, with Charlie Collins and Julien Soenen behind the wheel. In GTD, Team Redline won the title.

• 2022 GTD Champions: Apex Racing Team with drivers Alejandro Sanchez and Kevin Ellis Jr. 
• 2023 GTP Champions: Coanda Esports with drivers Charlie Collins and Julien Soenen
• 2023 GTD Champions: Team Redline with drivers Gianni Vecchio and Ole Steinbraten

All three of these full-time professional sim racing teams are ones to watch again – each has a roster of iRacing road-course experts.

Other teams to keep an eye on are the likes of Williams, Channel 199 Sim Racing (formerly XSet), French squad Race Clutch, Dörr Esports and first-time entrants (with the help of Coanda) AO Racing.

The Porsche squad is famed for running the dinosaur-themed ‘Rexy’ paint scheme in the real-world IMSA competition, now entering sim racing for the first time.

Keep your eyes peeled too for Agustín Canapino, a real-world IndyCar and TC 2000 star, competing in GTP for SOELPEC Precision Racing.

Each round will see a guest team. For the opening round, this is by Michelin.

Race schedule 2024/25

• Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta – 24th November 2024
• Indianapolis Motor Speedway (road course) – 8th December 2024
• Sebring International Raceway – 5th January 2025
• Daytona International Speedway – 12th January 2025

The broadcast begins at 1:45 pm EST / 10:45 am PST / 6:45 pm GMT/UTC.

How to watch the IMSA Esports Global Championship

Each round of the IMSA Esports Global Championship will be broadcast live, with a pre-show (see below), presenters and commentary.

You can watch it on IMSA’s YouTube and Facebook, or on iRacing’s Twitch, Facebook and YouTube.

The Traxion Countdown to Green pre-show

Ahead of each live broadcast will be a 15-minute pre-show (on iRacing and IMSA channels) by Traxion.

Join Lewis McGlade and John Munro as they run down what to expect in the races ahead, highlights from each round, a track guide and more. In episode one, they also interview IMSA President John Doonan.

IMSA Esports Global Championship ‘24/’25 entry list

GTP

#3 CrowdStrike Racing – Acura – Marcus Hamilton, Tanguy Billon

#4 CrowdStrike Racing – Acura – Samuel Michaels, Scott Michaels

#5 Williams Esports Chillblast – BMW – Jaden Munoz, Matt Farrow

#6 Grid-and-Go.com eSports – Porsche – Peter Zuba, Yoann Rouyer

#8 Coanda Esports – Porsche – Zac Campbell, Elvis Rankin

#11 Fiercely Forward – Cadillac – Christian Hilgaard, Marcos Nunez

#14 Simufy eSports – Acura – Manel Cubo Torres, Marc Perez

#15 Race Clutch – Cadillac – Jere Lehtinen, Balaza Remenyik

#18 Coanda Esports – Porsche – Oscar Py, Julien Soenen

#20 BMW M Team Redline – BMW – Chris Lulham, Diogo Pinto

#23 Race Clutch – Cadillac – Sean Campbell, Jake Denehan

#33 Williams Esports Racing Prodigy – BMW – Atte Kauppinen, Alxander Spetz

#60 SOELPEC Precision Racing – Porsche – Agustin Canapino, Maximilian Muir

#89 BMW M Team BS+COMPETITION – BMW – Daniel Alves Lourenco, Phil Denes

#95 Channel 199 Sim Racing – Cadillac – Casey Kirwan, Owen Caryl

#99 Apex Racing Team – Acura – Martial Hubert, Maxime Brient

GTD

#102 Grid and Go eSports – Ferrari – Sven Haase, Jarno Koch

#103 Grid and Go eSports – Ferrari – Dino Lombardi, Kody Deith

#105 Mercedes-AMG Esports Team Williams Esports – Mercedes-AMG – Parker White, Vasilios Beletsiotis

#107 Zero7 Racing – Alessio Bonino, Lorenzo Castellani

#110 MAHLE RACING TEAM – BMW – Felix Quirmbach, Oskari Rinne

#113 Sontek Racing – BMW – Matti Sipila, Sami-Matti Trogen

#114 Team PGZ – Porsche – Samuel L Ward, Lewis Woods

#118 AO Racing by Coanda Esports – Porsche – Michael Janney, Tristan Iglesias

#119 Team PGZ – Porsche – Matthieu Victorino, Loic Rabier

#120 Dörr Esports – Chevrolet – Jonas Rutten, Damon Woods

#121 Dörr Esports – Ford – Niclas Laubisch, Alexander Thiebe

#123 WSR Esports ButtKicker – Lamborghini – Gabriel Erdelyi, Lukas Prada

#131 Sontek Racing OverPower – Ford – Lassi Juurinen, Jesse Hiiliaho

#132 WSR Esports ButtKicker – Lamborghini – Alexander Davidon, Ross Macfarlane

#150 MAG Performance SRT – McLaren – Mark Calver, Mattia Colnaghi

#151 MAG Performance SRT – Chevrolet – Fabrizio Belziti, Federico Godoy

#152 Vesta Sport – Daniel Savini, Chris Cappello

#156 56 Racing Team – Chevrolet – Gael Valero, Antonie Bastard

#157 Impulse Racing – McLaren – Piotr Smialek, Norbert Leitner

#160 SOELPEC Precision Racing – Garrett Berry, Rob Clark

#162 G2 Esports – Ford – Joni Katila, Isacc Price

#168 DRAGO RACING – Lamborghini – Carlos Fenollosa, Nicolas Rubilar

#169 DRAGO RACING – Lamborghini – Nicolas Mateo, Ricardo Rico

#170 Team Redline – Ferrari – Josh Thompson, Luke Bennett

#171 Team Redline – Ferrari – Enzo Bonito, Florian Lebigre

#172 Channel 199 Sim Racing – BMW – Oskar Biksrud, Elias Raikaa

#177 Valkyrie Competition – Ford – Thibaud Prevot, Alexey Nesov

#178 Maniti Racing – McLaren – Davide Lanzani, Chris van de Nesse

#196 BS+TURNER – BMW – Rainer Talvar, Ryan Barneveld

#198 Mercedes-AMG E-Sports Team ART – Mercedes-AMG – Peter Berryman, Yohann Harth

#199 Mercedes-AMG E-Sports Team ART – Mercedes-AMG – Salva Talens, Alejandro Sanchez

#144 Visceral Esports – Mercedes-AMG – Matteo Kuenzer, Kamil Grabowski