IMSA Esports Global Championship Race Preview: Watkins Glen
November 10th, 2023 by Justin Melillo
IMSA, in conjunction with iRacing, the Virtual Competition Organisation (VCO), and Michelin presents, the 2023 IMSA Esports Global Championship. Four high-profile events are scheduled over November and December for the series’ second season. 45 teams, with two drivers sharing the seat of each car, are set to compete across the GTP and GTD classes.
This Sunday, the second race of the season is set to take place at Watkins Glen International. Each race of the IMSA Esports Global Championship will be broadcasted live on IMSA’s and iRacing’s YouTube, Facebook and Twitch social media channels, with the “Countdown to Green” pre-race show beginning at 1:45PM ET.
Last Race:
Last weekend, the opening round at Road Atlanta saw the #90 URANO eSports Datagroup duo of Dominik Hofmann and substitute Jonas Wallmeier step up and win in the GTP class in the BMW M Hybrid V8. Following penalties for both the #71 BMW M Team Redline and #11 Williams Esports BMW entries, the #90 was able to climb from 13th on the grid to finish without incident or penalty as the overall winners. In the GTD class, the #101 Mercedes-AMG Team ART entry of Alejandro Sánchez and Luke McKeown led from the pole position and throughout the race, maintaining over the #170 Team Redline Ferrari in the closing laps.
Entry List:
45 teams are due to compete, 20 in the GTP class and the other 25 in the GTD. Each of the nine cars available (four GTP, five GTD) will be balanced with five teams competing in each. The organizers of the series also reserve the ability to award an addition “wildcard” entry on a per-round basis. Last week at Road Atlanta, the wildcard was Nitro Circus. This week, it’s Texaco Racing by TK. Substitute drivers for the championship contending teams are italicized.
- GTP (20 Entries)
- 3 Fraser Williamson | Marcus Hamilton | CrowdStrike Racing | Acura ARX-06
- 4 Sam Michaels | Sacha Gorlé | CrowdStrike Racing | Acura ARX-06
- 7 Phil Kraus | Adam Blocker | PRIVATE LABEL Team Hype | Cadillac V-Series.R
- 11 Josh Lad | Matt Farrow | Williams Esports MAHLE | BMW M Hybrid V8
- 15 Péter Zuba | Balázs Remenyik | Race Clutch | Acura ARX-06
- 16 Robin Glerum | Daniel Craft | Puresims Esports | Acura ARX-06
- 18 Pablo Espes | Nathan Olson | WAVE Italy Racing Team | Porsche 963
- 43 Oscar Mangan | Edoardo Leo | Altus Esports | Cadillac V-Series.R
- 46 João Vaz | Ilkka Haapala | Orion Race Team | Porsche 963
- 62 Austin Young | Graham Sanders | HydroRace Geodesic Racing | Cadillac V-Series.R
- 64 Alex Gal | Alex Ellis | Satellite Racing | Cadillac V-Series.R
- 69 Arturo Melgar | Jakub Maciejewski | Drago Racing | Acura ARX-06
- 71 Diogo Pinto | Chris Lulham | BMW M Team Redline | BMW M Hybrid V8
- 89 Niklas Beu | Nathan Lewis | BMW M Team BS+COMPETITION | BMW M Hybrid V8
- 90 Dominik Hofmann | Daniel Alves Lourenco | URANO eSports Datagroup | BMW M Hybrid V8
- 91 Julien Soenen | Charlie Collins | VRS Coanda | Porsche 963
- 92 Ayhancan Guven | Zac Campbell | VRS Coanda | Porsche 963
- 95 Casey Kirwan | Owen Caryl | XSET | Cadillac V-Series.R
- 96 Samuel Graña | Pablo Lazar | Obsidian Racing | Porsche 963
- 99 Peter Berryman | Maxime Brient | Apex Racing Team | BMW M Hybrid V8
- GTD (25 Entries)
- 101 Alejandro Sanchez | Luke McKeown | Mercedes-AMG E-Sports Team ART | Mercedes-AMG GT3 2020
- 102 Sven Haase | Nicolás Rubilar | Virtualcoach.gg by GnG | Ferrari 296 GT3
- 103 Rico Wenzel | Gabriel Streitmatter | Grid and Go eSports | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO
- 110 Felix Quirmbach | Oskari Rinne | MAHLE RACING TEAM | BMW M4 GT3
- 111 Taylor Barnard| James T Armstrong | Arnage Competition | BMW M4 GT3
- 114 Tristán Iglesias | Gabi Montoro | Simufy eSports | Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)
- 116 Ross Macfarlane | Lukas Prada | Puresims Esports | BMW M4 GT3
- 120 Damon Woods | Tim Jarschel | Dörr Esports | Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)
- 143 Jordan Caruso | Dino Lombardi | Altus Esports | Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)
- 144 Yannick Lapchin | Simone Maria Marcenò | Altus Esports | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO
- 153 Vasilios Beletsiotis | Daniel Pasztor | Mercedes-AMG E-Sports Team Williams Esports | Mercedes-AMG GT3 2020
- 155 Alessandro Bico | Daniel Lafuente | Mercedes-AMG E-Sports Team Williams Esports | Mercedes-AMG GT3 2020
- 157 Adrian Frühwirth | Matthieu Victorino | Impulse Racing | Ferrari 296 GT3
- 162 Hunter McDaniel | Stephen McDonald | Brabham Esports | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO
- 163 Greg Hovesen | Carl Modof | DeltaSport | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO
- 169 Ricardo Rico | Alexander Wolters | Drago Racing | Ferrari 296 GT3
- 170 Gianni Vecchio | Ole Steinbraten | Team Redline | Ferrari 296 GT3
- 171 Josh Thompson | Florian Lebigre | Team Redline | Ferrari 296 GT3
- 175 Antti Ahola | Marvin Strehl | Team75 Bernhard by SimRC | Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)
- 178 Maxime Mariotte | Tim Matzke | Maniti Racing | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO
- 188 Xander Reed | Oscar Py | VRS Coanda Junior | Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)
- 190 Alexey Nesov | Luca Kita | Mercedes-AMG E-Sports Team URANO | Mercedes-AMG GT3 2020
- 192 Alexander Thiebe | Sam Kuitert | Mercedes-AMG E-Sports Team URANO | Mercedes-AMG GT3 2020
- 196 Rainer Talvar | Phil Denes | BS+TURNER | BMW M4 GT3
- 199 Salva Talens | Jimmy Antunes | Apex Racing Team | BMW M4 GT3
- Wildcard Entry – GTP
- 17 Jackson Rezende | Victor Miranda | Texaco Racing by TK | BMW M Hybrid V8
The Schedule:
Watkins Glen International is the next track up on Sunday. It will be the last race in the month of November, as the series takes off the next two weekends before returning on December 3rd at Sebring.
Remaining Schedule:
- Sunday, Nov. 12: Watkins Glen International
- Sunday, Dec. 3: Sebring International Raceway
- Saturday, Dec. 16: Daytona International Speedway
Each event will start at 19:00 GMT (2PM ET) and will run for two hours and 40 minutes in length.
Last Season:
In its inaugural season in 2022, the IMSA Esports Global Championship ran with GTD and Touring Car classes. The series attracted some of the world’s best sim racers and teams, some with ties to teams inside IMSA, the FIA World Endurance Championship and Formula 1.
After four races, the GTD title went to the #98 Apex Racing Team Porsche driven by Alejandro Sanchez and Kevin Ellis Jr. For the Touring Cars, the championship was won by the #176 SimRC Hyundai driven by Corentin Guinez and Kieran Harrison.
Watkins Glen was not on the schedule last season. It replaces Laguna Seca as the second race of the year.
Track Facts:
Located in upstate New York, Watkins Glen International opened up in 1956. The current iterations of the track, both long and short, have been in play since 1992, with both layouts including the “Inner Loop”, or bus-stop chicane. The short course is the one used on the NASCAR calendar, while the long course features “The Boot” and adds on another mile and four corners to navigate. The long course will be in play for the IMSA Esports Global Championship event on Sunday.
For more information on the IMSA Esports Global Championship, visit iracing.com/imsa-esports. For more information about the Virtual Competition Organisation (VCO), visit vco-esports.com For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit iracing.com.
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