Arguably the biggest development in iRacing in 2014 was the implementation of driver swaps (finally). While the feature hasn’t really caught on in the week-to-week official series, it has shown its strengths in league racing (look no further than the incredibly competitive Masters of Endurance series). Well, I have a feeling this is going to change very soon because iRacing has now announced the race that nearly everyone has been waiting for, the iRacing 24 Hours of Daytona.
Since 2010, iRacing has hosted a 2.4 hour race recreating the famed Rolex 24 Hour race that is held on the Daytona International Speedway road course that essentially kicks off the motor racing season. Now with the implementation of driver swaps, the digital version will be just as long as the real event.
The 24 Hours of Daytona does not only kick off the first real official driver swap race for iRacing, it also kicks off the “2015 Road Warrior Series.” The series will feature ten events mirroring some of the biggest real world races out there, including the 12 Hours of Sebring, the Indy 500 (I know its an oval race but there’s no “Oval Warrior Series”), Petit Le Mans and the Bathurst 1000. The series is also tentatively scheduled to end its ten race season at the currently in production Nurburgring in November/December….oh hell yes.
As for the 24 Hours of Daytona, here’s what you need to know. The (single) race will be held on January 31st. It will feature two classes, GT and Prototype. The GT class will be made up of the four GT3 cars in the service (BMW Z4, RUF Track, McLaren MP4 and Ford GT) and the Prototype class will feature the HPD ARX-01C. A minimum of two drivers is needed (you want at least three, probably four). Qualifying will be set by qualifying time rather then iRating, which is good news after iRating was used in recent years. No max incident limit, so wreck away!
And one more thing… Since such a large event is going to put a massive strain on the software/servers, iRacing is hosting their own version of the “Roar Before the 24” (test session for the Rolex 24 that begins tomorrow) to stress test the system. The Roar will essentially be a practice 24 hour race that kicks off on January 17th. It will also give users a chance to test out the driver swap feature if they haven’t done so yet. The winners of the Roar races will receive $50 in iRacing credits.
With the Roar only nine days away, its time to find a team and decide whether you are going to go for the class or overall win. Good luck to all!
