This Week in iRacing: January 9-15, 2024

Welcome back to This Week in iRacing, our weekly post that details all you need to know about what is going on in the world of iRacing!

As always, This Week includes topics ranging from official eSports to some of the top community-driven events, and everything in between.

Here’s what you should know for Week 5 of 2024 Season 1, from January 9th to January 15th, 2024.

For the Members: iRacing Official Series Highlights

Every week, iRacing offers daily, even hourly racing that members can get into, based on where their license level is at. There are also some special series that run at specific times that anyone can jump into, with the right credentials, that offer a more meaningful sim racing experience.

Here are a few of the highlighted series taking place this week.

iRACING ROAR – SPECIAL EVENT!

The first special event for the 2024 calendar is the return of the iRacing ROAR. As usual, it’s set a week before our VCO Simmy Award-winning Best Event, the iRacing Daytona 24, and will feature a shorter-form 2.4 hour endurance race. The iRacing ROAR is inspired by the real-world Roar Before the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway. It features the GT4 and Touring Car classes, as well as the LMP3 in its Special Event debut.

This weekend, from January 12th to the 14th, there will be five opportunities to participate in the multi-class event.

ROAR Schedule: Friday, 22:00 GMT; Saturday, 07:00 GMT, 12:00 GMT, and 16:00 GMT; Sunday, 00:00 GMT

For more information on the iRacing ROAR -> CLICK HERE
For more information on the 2024 iRacing Special Events calendar -> CLICK HERE

WINTER NASCAR iRACING SERIES

There’s no NASCAR iRacing Series until the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season begins, so in its place for the winter is the Winter NASCAR iRacing Series (WNiS), a similarly-structured fixed and open setup series which will utilize the 1987 NASCAR Cup Series cars for a 13-week inter-season series. Week 10 will feature the 1987 cars at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

The races this week are scheduled for:

Fixed Schedule: Wednesday, 21:00 GMT; Friday, 02:00 GMT; Saturday, 10:00 and 17:00 GMT; Monday, 02:00 GMT

Open Schedule: Thursday, 02:00 and 19:00 GMT; Saturday, 02:00 GMT; Sunday, 15:00 GMT

For more information on the Winter NASCAR iRacing Series -> CLICK HERE

FIA F4 ESPORTS REGIONAL TOURS

Every week, FIA F4 Esports Regional Tour races take place on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:00 PM, 9:00 PM, and 11:00 PM in time zones appropriate for each region. While all iRacers are eligible to run in any region’s event, the servers will always be set to the most appropriate iRacing server for each region.

Week 5 Schedule:

Americas: Virginia International Raceway – North Course
Asia-Pacific: Mount Panorama Circuit
Europe-North: Brands Hatch Circuit – Indy
Europe-South: Hungaroring

iRACING WEEKLY CHALLENGE

iRacing’s latest new series concept comes to life for 2024 Season 1 with the introduction of the iRacing Weekly Challenge. If you’re into all forms of road racing, this is the series for you—it’s 12 weeks of different car and track combinations, with no repeats on either, for a season-long championship. Prove you’re the best at everything from sports cars to open-wheel racers on a global tour of some of iRacing’s most popular circuits.

Each week will feature points races every hour, leading up to a main event on Sunday at 20:00 GMT that features splits by weekly points. Races will be 20 minutes long and are open to iRacers with Class D licenses and higher. A separate set of points will also be tracked for the top splits of the Sunday main events on their own landing page. In addition, $5 in iRacing credits will be awarded each week to a random driver who makes the top split of the Sunday main event.

Week 5 Schedule:

Toyota GR86 at Okayama International Circuit – Full Course

RING MEISTER / DRAFT MASTER COMBINATIONS

Two of the more unique daily racing series added in recent seasons are the Ring Meister Ricmotech Series and the Draft Master Series, where the cars change every week as opposed to the tracks. This season, the setups are fixed in both series, which means it’s all about jumping in and racing the combination at hand.

The Ring Meister Ricmotech Series (Races on every odd 2 hours | Qualifying every even 2 hours at :30) takes place at the Nürburgring Nordschleife – Industriefahrten and cycles through mostly road-type racing vehicles every week.

As for Draft Master (every hour), there are two tracks—Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway—and six NASCAR vehicles that each track will cycle through. This series moves back to Daytona for the first six weeks of 2024 Season 1.

Week 5 Schedule:

Ring Meister: Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTE at Nürburgring Nordschleife – Industriefahrten
Draft Master: Gen 4 Cup at Daytona Int’l Speedway

Official iRacing eSports

Top-level esports return in 2024 with the resumption of the 2023-24 iRacing World of Outlaws Thrustmaster Series on Monday night. It won’t be until the end of January when eNASCAR returns with the College Series at Michigan.

iRACING WORLD OF OUTLAWS THRUSTMASTER SPRINT CAR SERIES

Thrustmaster is onboard for the 2023-24 season of the iRacing World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series. Three weeks ago, the series wrapped up its 2023 section with a dominant run by Alex Bergeron at Knoxville. Bergeron was untouchable, collecting his third win of the season. Aiden Forster closed in on Ryan Avila’s points lead with a runner-up effort, and the gap sits at eight points entering the seventh race of the season at Fairbury Speedway on Monday night. James Edens is the defending winner.

FAIRBURY RACE #7 – BROADCAST STARTS AT 9:00 PM ET (02:00 GMT)

For more details on the World of Outlaws Thrustmaster Sprint Car Series -> CLICK HERE

OFF THIS WEEK

eNASCAR College iRacing Series
- Next Race -> Tuesday, January 23: Race #5 at Michigan International Speedway

For more details on the eNASCAR College iRacing Series -> CLICK HERE

For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.