Grand Prix Turn Racing iRacing Series Race Preview: Season finale at Monza

After nine weeks of nail-biting, close-quarters open-wheel action, the Grand Prix Turn Racing iRacing Series comes down to its final race on Thursday. The top ranked drivers in the Dallara iR-01 will head to the Autodromo Nazionale Monza for a 28-lap battle in the final Grand Prix of the 2023 season. The championship may be decided, but there’s still an intense battle for the runner-up spot brewing among four of the brightest stars from the roster.

Drago Racing’s Przemyslaw Lemanek clinched the title unofficially last week, sitting with more points than anyone else can overcome with just one race to go. In second place, BS+Competition’s Jarl Teien sits, but he’ll have Arnage Competition’s David Toth only five points behind entering Monza, as well as the VRS duo of Edoardo Leo and Marcos Núñez, both tied in fourth, nine points behind.

Be sure to tune in for the action at the Temple of Speed starting at 19:00 GMT (2PM ET) with the event streaming live across iRacing social media channels.

Last Race: The second and final oval race on the calendar took the road course aces to the Tricky Triangle for a scheduled 60-lap event around the 2.5-mile Pocono Raceway. There were only three cautions through the event, slowing the pace for nine laps while also adding an extra lap at the end for an overtime finish. The middle caution saw Toth’s title hopes disappear as he collided on the frontstretch with Stormforce Gaming’s Daniel Sivi-Szabo. The wreck that set up overtime was a NASCAR-style “Big One” which involved more than a half-dozen cars in the Tunnel Turn. At the line, Leo just barely held on for the win in a photo finish with Super’s Xavi Ros, the margin only 0.005 seconds. Lemanek finished eighth and scored enough points to lock up his first title.

Last Season: Unlike this season, the fight for the title was still undecided entering the finale at the Hungaroring in 2021. Peter Berryman and Maarten Van Loozenoord were only separated by a couple of points, a win being the only guarantee for a championship. Berryman managed to win to take the title, but when the series visited Monza earlier in the season, Van Loozenoord was the winner, his first of a four-race winning streak that year. With neither of 2021’s title fighters back to challenge this season, both the finale and the Temple of Speed will see a new winner to close out the series.

Track Facts: In reality, the Autodromo Nazionale Monza has been a staple racing facility for more than a century, the initial version of the venue opening back in 1922. The current-day Grand Prix layout is a little newer, first running back in 2000. On iRacing, this track is one that’s been around for a while, debuting back in 2015. One track that always seems to find its way onto many of these World Championship level esports series, the 11-corner, 3.6-mile course North of Milan in Italy has been featured on both the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup and the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series schedules this year as well.

For more information on the Grand Prix Turn Racing iRacing Series, visit www.iracing.com/irgp. For more information on Turn Racing, visit www.turnracing.com. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.

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