Strap in with your closest friends and get ready to go twice around the clock with this year’s iRacing 24 Hours of Daytona! The annual endurance event kicks off on Saturday at 1:00 and 13:00GMT (Friday at 8PM ET and Saturday at 8AM ET), and will feature a selection of Daytona Prototype, GTE, and GT3 cars.
Well over 4,500 iRacers contested last year’s 24 Hours of Daytona, putting together teams of drivers to go out and race. Much like the real world event, there are driver changes throughout the race, but racers don’t have to be sharing a physical seat; they can compete from anywhere in the world and complete driver swaps online. The track transitions from day to night and back to reflect the real challenges of driving a 24-hour endurance race. As with all iRacing special events, the fields are matched based on iRating—this time the average rating of all drivers on a team—to create a fun and evenly matched experience for all.
Each year, the iRacing 24 Hours of Daytona draws professional drivers and sim racers alike to battle. From Formula 1 and NASCAR stars looking to give sports cars a try, to competitors from iRacing’s top eSports championships, there’s no telling who might wind up in your lobby.
“The 24 is a great event that iRacing puts together,” said real-world 24 Hours of Daytona winner, NASCAR Cup Series winner, and NBC Sports analyst AJ Allmendinger. “I’m teamed up with my friend and fellow driver Ben Waddell and Dakota Dickerson. Along with my long time friend Jordan Lee who I did my first sim race against 15 years ago. And rounding out our lineup is sim racer Zak Rounds. The race gets me mentally prepared for the Rolex 24 at the end of the month. Hopefully we can have a great run and be there at the end of the race. Jordan will also be broadcasting it live on his Twitch stream for the entire race.”
“I’m looking forward to running the iRacing Daytona 24 along with my Meyer Shank Racing teammate Jules Gounon,” added Shinya Michimi, professional GTD driver for Meyer Shank Racing and the 2016 Super Trofeo North America champion. “We’ll be running with Thomas Petitjean and Jake Donald who have a lot of iRacing experience. I’ve been a member since 2010 and have used the service to help improve my real life driving technique. iRacing has played a big part in transitioning my driving style from karting to cars. In the past I was able to fight against top guys like Jorn Jens. But for this race I’m looking for good fun with friends and a good mental preparation for the real life Rolex 24.”
This year’s vehicle list for the iRacing 24 Hours of Daytona is as follows:
- Chevrolet Corvette C7 DP
- BMW M8 GTE
- Ferrari 488 GTE
- Ford GT GTE
- Porsche 911 RSR
- Audi R8 GT3 LMS
- Mercedes AMG GT3
The top split of this year’s iRacing 24 Hours of Daytona will be broadcast on the iRacing eSports Network, with coverage produced by RaceSpot TV.
