This Week in iRacing: September 10-16, 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.

Welcome to 2024 Season 4, a special season with 14 weeks! Here’s what to expect from 2024 Season 4, Week 1, from September 10th to September 16th, 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.

2024 iRACING INDY 6HR – iRACING SPECIAL EVENT!

The next special event on the 2024 calendar is this weekend—The iRacing Indy 6HR. This new special event is based off the six-hour IMSA race held annually in Speedway, Indiana. Ours is also held in virtual Speedway, and will feature multi-class, endurance-style team racing for a six-hour timeframe around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.

This weekend, from September 13th to September 15th, there will be five chances to participate in the event. The GTP class will have the Acura ARX-06, BMW M Hybrid V8, Cadillac V-Series.R, and the Porsche 963. The Dallara P217 will be the only car available in the LMP2 class. The GTD class includes the Audi R8 LMS EVO II GT3, BMW M4 GT3, Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, Ferrari 296 GT3, Ford Mustang GT3, Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO, McLaren 720S GT3 EVO, Mercedes-AMG GT3 2020, and Porsche 911 GT3 R (992).

RACE 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 2024 iRacing Indy 6HR -> CLICK HERE
For more information on the 2024 iRacing Special Events calendar -> CLICK HERE

NASCAR iRACING SERIES

Back in 2024, the NASCAR iRacing Series (Open Setup and Fixed Setup) follows the NASCAR Cup Series schedule for a 36-week racing season. Week 28 of 36 is set to take place at Watkins Glen International, a 45-lap event which utilizes the NASCAR Next Gen Stock Cars from Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota. With this week being on a road course, splits will be sorted by Sports Car rankings.

The races this week are scheduled for:

Fixed Schedule: Wednesday, 21:00 GMT; Friday, 01:00 GMT; Saturday, 10:00 and 16:00 GMT; Monday, 01:00 GMT
Open Schedule: Thursday, 01:00 and 19:00 GMT; Saturday, 01:00 GMT; Sunday, 14:00 GMT

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

INDYCAR iRACING SERIES

With the return of INDYCAR, the INDYCAR iRacing Series (Open Setup) predominantly follows the real world INDYCAR schedule. It will have full length races on road courses while utilizing amended race distances for the ovals during the 16-week racing season.

The series concludes this week, in the 16th week of competition. Once again on an oval, iRacers will take on Nashville Superspeedway, utilizing the Dallara IR-18 for 200 laps of competition.

Week 16 Schedule: Thursday, 01:00 GMT; Friday, 20:00 GMT, Saturday, 18:00 GMT; Sunday, 02:00 GMT

For more information on the INDYCAR iRacing Series -> CLICK HERE

SMIAGIC FIA F4 ESPORTS REGIONAL TOURS

While 2024 Season 3 featured a regional face-off to qualify for the Global Championship, in 2024 Season 4, the SIMAGIC FIA F4 eSports returns to a normal weekly series. With the popularity of the series, this season will introduce racing every hour, each region start time offset by 15-minute intervals. The global FIA Formula 4 Challenge series will also pair with a Regional Tour schedule every week and will alternate throughout the season.

Week 1 Schedule:

Americas (races every hour at :45 after): Willow Springs International Raceway – Big Willow
Asia-Pacific (races every hour at :15 after): Suzuka International Racing Course – Grand Prix
Europe (races every hour at :30 after): Rudskogen Motorsenter
Challenge Series (Fixed Setup races every odd hour on the :00 / Open Setup races every even hour on the :00): Rudskogen Motorsenter

RICMOTECH RING MEISTER / SIMAGIC DRAFT MASTER COMBINATIONS

Two of the more unique daily racing series on iRacing are the Ring Meister Ricmotech Series and the Draft Master SIMAGIC Series, where the cars change every week as opposed to the tracks. 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, although this season will feature a week with some Rallycross cars and a few weeks with some oval stock cars.

As for Draft Master (races every hour on the hour), the series contests six weeks at Talladega Superspeedway and six weeks at Daytona International Speedway. With Season 4 having a 14th week this year, iRacing Superspeedway returns for a 13th week showdown as well in the 2009 NASCAR Cup Series Impala COT. Both Talladega and Daytona will feature six oval racing vehicles—the SRX, 1987 NASCAR Cup cars, NASCAR Craftsman Trucks, the aforementioned 2009 Impala COT, NASCAR Next Gen cars, and the Xfinity cars. This series heads to Talladega for the first six weeks.

Week 1 Schedule:

Ring Meister: GT4 Class at Nürburgring Nordschleife – Industriefahrten
Draft Master: SRX at Talladega Superspeedway

RAIN MASTER

For wet weather racing enthusiasts, Rain Master is one of the latest Special Series available on iRacing. New for 2024 Season 4, those looking for some fixed setup wet weather racing can now jump into select GT3 vehicles, including the BMW M4, Lamborghini Huracán EVO, Mercedes-AMG, Porsche 911, Ferrari 296, Audi R8 LMS EVO II, Chevrolet Corvette Z06, and Ford Mustang, at 12 different road courses around the world. The forecasts will include light rain throughout the short, 15 minute events. Races run every hour at 15 minutes past the hour.

Week 1 Schedule:

at Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Road Course

OFF THIS WEEK

iRacing Nurburgring Endurance Championship
- Next Race -> September 28th-29th at Nürburgring Combined – Gesamtstrecke VLN (2024 Season 4, Week 3)
iRacing CREVENTIC Endurance Series
- Next Race -> November 8th-9th at Algarve International Circuit – Grand Prix (2024 Season 4, Week 9)

For more information on the INDYCAR iRacing Series -> CLICK HERE
For more information on the iRacing Nurburgring Endurance Championship -> CLICK HERE
For more information on the iRacing CREVENTIC Endurance Series -> CLICK HERE

Official iRacing eSports

As the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series begins to wrap up, a ton of other top-level eSports are just about to start up. The first to go up is the FIA SIMAGIC F4 eSports Global Championship Series, which starts on Saturday. Skip Barber also returns this week for their finale on Thursday, as does the eNASCAR Qualifying iRacing Series for their penultimate race before it switches over to Contender. Next week, INDYCAR and the PESC Contender Series begin.

eNASCAR COCA-COLA iRACING SERIES

The penultimate round of the 2024 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season takes the top-level series Phoenix Raceway on Tuesday night. Last season, Tucker Minter won his way into the Championship 4 after holding off the pack on old tires at the 1-mile oval in Avondale, Arizona. This season, the venue will once again decide which three drivers will join Steven Wilson in the title race with 120 laps of action scheduled.

PHOENIX RACE #17 – BROADCAST STARTS WITH COUNTDOWN TO GREEN AT 7:30 PM ET (11:30 GMT)

For more information on the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series -> CLICK HERE

SKIP BARBER FORMULA iRACING SERIES

The final race of the 2024 Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series takes place this Thursday night at the Full Course at Virginia International Raceway. From September 6th to September 8th, iRacing members could attempt to qualify into the race via Time Attack. The top 20 drivers on the Time Attack leaderboard is invited to run each race. While Victor Miranda has run away with the overall points lead, the battle for second through sixth is only separated by 24 points between Ivan Machado Perez, Matt Bussa, Ayden Young, Leo Ovtcharov, and Byron Mitchell.

The top three finishers in 2024 Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series points will be invited to compete in a shootout at VIR later this year, where they’ll receive a 3 Day Racing School and have exclusive access to Skip Barber Racing School training facilities and coaching as they battle for a full-season seat in the 2025 Skip Barber Formula Race Series. In addition, 1 Day Racing School certificates will be given to the Hard Charger in each race, as well as fourth and fifth in the final standings, and all drivers who qualify for any given race will receive a one-time $200 credit to Skip Barber Racing School.

VIRGINIA INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY (FULL) RACE #5 – BROADCAST STARTS AT 7:00 PM ET (11:00 GMT)

For more information on the Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series -> CLICK HERE

eNASCAR QUALIFYING iRACING SERIES, ROUND 2

The eNASCAR Qualifying iRacing Series returns on Thursday night with the sixth race of the season at Rockingham Speedway. Three weeks ago, the series competed at The Milwaukee Mile, and it was Ethan Lane and Connor Yeroschak splitting victories. After five weeks, Eddie Kerner and Brian Mercurio sit tied atop the points standings. The top-20 drivers will qualify for a chance to advance to the next round, the eNASCAR Contender iRacing Series, where the top drivers in that season will earn a chance to race in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series in 2025.

For more information on the eNASCAR Road to Pro Ladder -> CLICK HERE

FIA SIMAGIC F4 ESPORTS GLOBAL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

The first round of the FIA SIMAGIC F4 eSports Global Championship arrives this Saturday, on September 14th. 30 drivers, 10 from each of the three qualifying regions, are set to compete for a chance at winning a share of the $25,000 prize pool.

Doubleheader events have been scheduled for September 14, September 28, October 12, and November 2, with the first race session opening at 18:30 GMT. Track selections for each event will be announced 24 hours prior to the race, forcing drivers to adapt quickly to each course. Drivers will also compete with fixed setups, ensuring an equal playing field for all.

For more information on the FIA SIMAGIC F4 eSports Global Championship -> CLICK HERE

RACES #1 AND #2 AT TBA – BROADCAST STARTS AT 3:00 PM ET (19:00 GMT)

OFF THIS WEEK

INDYCAR ButtKicker Pro iRacing Series
- Next Race -> September 19th | Race #1 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Road Course
Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup Contender Series
- Next Race -> September 21st | Race #1 at Algarve International Circuit – Grand Prix

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