It’s officially Special Event season on iRacing! We’re only a few days removed from the first one last week with the Daytona ROAR, but this weekend is one of the biggest – and longest – of the entire year.
Sim racers are gearing up for 24 hours of racing on the road course at Daytona International Speedway this weekend. There will be three car classes – GTP with the new BMW M Hybrid V8, LMP2 with the Dallara P217, and IMSA GT3 with Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Mercedes-AMG, Lamborghini and Porsche entries.
The multi-class racing event pays homage to the real-world Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, which takes place later on this month. This event is a staple on the IMSA racing calendar and will kick off the 2023 endurance calendar once again next weekend. iRacing’s rendition of the event happens this weekend.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
These races do have the tendency to overload the iRacing servers, so patience and keeping up with the social accounts will be key. One important change for this year is that all registration for the event will be done through the iRacing UI – something that will be implemented in 2023 S2 for all series going forward.
The first split is scheduled to start at 5:00 pm ET / 22:00 GMT on Friday night (20th January). There will be three other scheduled timeslots that will start on Saturday (21st January) at 2:00 am ET / 07:00 GMT, at 7:00 am ET / 12:00 GMT, and finally at 11:00 am ET / 16:00 GMT.
In order to participate, individual drivers must have at least a D-level Road license (Orange) with a 4.0 Safety Rating – otherwise a C-level Road license (Yellow) or above at any Safety Rating.
- Timeslot #1 – Friday 22:00 GMT
- Timeslot #2 – Saturday 07:00 GMT
- Timeslot #3 – Saturday 12:00 GMT*
- Timeslot #4 – Saturday 16:00 GMT
RACE DETAILS
- Track: Daytona International Speedway – Road Course
- License – D 4.0 Road MINIMUM
- Sim Date (Time of Day Setting): January 28, 2023
- Sim Start Time (Time of Day Setting): 1:00 PM
- Warmup: 30 Minutes
- Qualifying: Attached to race server, Solo Q – 8 Minutes for 2 Laps
- Race: 24 Hours
- Weather: Dynamic
- Splits determined by: iRating
- Team Event: Yes (minimum 2 drivers and maximum 16)
- Stop and Go Limit: 100 incidents and every 20 incidents following
- DQ Limit: None
- Field Size: 50 teams split among up to three classes
(Note: Some lower splits, based on entries, may only have two or even one single class)
FIRST BIG EVENT OF THE YEAR FOR MANY
For those looking to be a part of the first leg of the 2023 VCO Grand Slam – VCO Esports will be broadcasting the top two splits during the third timeslot – the 7:00 am ET / 12:00 GMT timeslot – for the entire 24 hours. Class winners in the Top Split will be receiving some hardware as well.
Having participated in the race myself for the last two years, I’m personally excited to be kicking it back with my own teammates again in the LMP2 class, more than likely not in any VCO splits though. It will be a new challenge for us having to avoid the faster BMW GTP and work safely around the slower GT3s.
While this is a team event, there will be some brave souls that will be attempting the race solo for charity. Our friend Aero will be attempting solo, along with his Team RICK teammate Chevette, and in the process both will be streaming and raising money for Extra Life before and during the race.
In order to place, however, at least two drivers will need to meet the minimums for driving share, calculated based on how many drivers end up racing per team. For example, two drivers won’t need to split the ride evenly at 12 hours a piece, but one driver will need a couple of hours likely at the minimum.
This is also an official event, so things like iRating and Safety Rating will be affected, collectively as a team for the former and individually based on your own incidents for the latter.
Will you be taking place in one of the biggest sim racing events of the year? If you need more information on the event, visit the iRacing forums for those details. Let us know what you’re driving down in the comments below! Good luck to all participating!
