With the first leg of the four event series that is the VCO Grand Slam taking place this weekend, there’s no better time than now to get into the details of what it’s all about.
Together with iRacing, the Virtual Competition Organisation (VCO) based in Munich, Germany is the presenting sponsor and broadcast partner for four of the biggest Special Events of the year on the iRacing simulation platform.
Starting with this weekend’s iRacing Daytona 24, the VCO Grand Slam for 2023 will also include another Floridian event with the Sebring 12, the 6 Hours of The Glen, and the Petit Le Mans events. Both the Glen and Petit Le Mans were part of the Grand Slam in 2022. Both Florida events are new for this year.
In past years, the timeslots picked for the VCO Grand Slam shows were usually the most popular ones as far as participation. This is expected to be the case again this year.
Last year, the Grand Slam included the Nürburgring 24 and the 10 Hours of Suzuka. While the Green Hell Endurance event will return as just a standard iRacing Special Event this year, the Suzuka event has been replaced by an eight hour race at the newer Fuji International and also won’t be a part of the Grand Slam.
Top sim racers and esports teams will be gunning to be included in the broadcasted events. These splits for these races will be determined by driver’s iRating, so only the top iRacers will be taking part. Thankfully, the first and second split for this weekend’s Daytona 24 will be covered. Top split reaps the rewards, however.
Since 2020, VCO has had its hands on presenting some of the biggest Special Events of the year. 2023 marks its fourth year partnering with iRacing with this Grand Slam initiative.
The 24-hour broadcast for the first Grand Slam event kicks off on Saturday, 21st January at 13:30 CET / 12:30 GMT / 7:30 ET as the third timeslot races begin to qualify to set the grid. Viewers can watch along over on the VCO Esports Twitch channel.