VRS Coanda Simsport Wins Top Split of 2021 iRacing 24 Hours of Daytona
January 25th, 2021 by Chris Leone
Three of iRacing’s most dominant road racers combined to take top honors in the top split of the 2021 iRacing 24 Hours of Daytona on Sunday morning, as VRS Coanda Simsport’s Joshua Rogers, Mitchell deJong, and Mack Bakkum took the checkered flag in the annual twice-around-the-clock visit to Daytona International Speedway modeled after IMSA’s premier event. The trio combined to lead a whopping 861 of 898 laps in the Dallara P217 LMP2, over 60 laps more than Rogers, deJong, and Martin Kronke completed on the way to last year’s top split victory.
All three podium entries in the top split were on the same lap. The Williams Esports quartet of Moreno Sirica, Josh Thompson, Diogo Pinto, and Michael Romanidis led 19 laps on the way to a second place finish, climbing from eighth on the grid. Mivano Simracing Everyeye.it’s Dion Fiallo, Tommaso Carla, Fraser Williamson, Sacha Gorle, and Maxime Brient completed the podium and led five laps of their own.
When all was said and done, two of the three classes were decided by less than a lap. In the GTE class, Triple A Esports’ Andreas Jochimsen, Jackson Souslin Harlow, Rafaele Rezzag, and Chris Lulham beat the MSI eSports squad of Marc Perez, Alejandro Sanchez, Salva Talens, and Dani Elgarbay in a battle of BMW M8 GTEs. The only one-lap margin of victory came in GTD, as Team BMW Bank’s Kay Kaschube, Nils Koch, and Laurin Heinrich defeated Vendaval Simracing’s Braden Eves, Dekota Fripp, and Joshua Anderson in a showdown of the new BMW M4 GT3 and Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo.
iRacing’s 24 Hours of Daytona featured two event dates, a Friday evening launch and a Saturday morning start that was delayed into the afternoon due to overwhelming iRacer demand. More than 3,100 total entries signed up for this year’s event, with a total of nearly 10,000 drivers blowing last year’s record of over 6,200 signups out of the water. The event always attracts a large number of real-world racers, and 2021 was no exception: F1’s Max Verstappen and IndyCar’s Sage Karam were each in the top split, while Fernando Alonso, Rubens Barrichello, Landon Cassill, Garrett Smithley, James Davison, and Anthony Alfredo were among the real-world racers to score podiums in their respective splits.
Results from the top split of the 2021 iRacing 24 Hours of Daytona were as follows:
Fin. |
St. |
No. |
Team |
Car |
Class |
Laps |
Interval |
Led |
Best |
1 | 1 | 8 | VRS Coanda Simsport $8 | Dallara P217 | LMP2 | 898 | 861 | 1:32.809 | |
2 | 8 | 6 | Williams Esports | Dallara P217 | LMP2 | 898 | -50.788 | 19 | 1:32.514 |
3 | 5 | 5 | Mivano Simracing Everyeye.it | Dallara P217 | LMP2 | 898 | -57.912 | 5 | 1:32.530 |
4 | 13 | 15 | Team Redline Purple | Dallara P217 | LMP2 | 897 | -1 L | 0 | 1:32.735 |
5 | 4 | 12 | Team Redline Ice Blue | Dallara P217 | LMP2 | 897 | -1 L | 0 | 1:32.519 |
6 | 20 | 33 | DeltaSport U4K | Dallara P217 | LMP2 | 896 | -2 L | 0 | 1:32.764 |
7 | 12 | 17 | YAS HEAT Richard Mille | Dallara P217 | LMP2 | 896 | -2 L | 0 | 1:32.560 |
8 | 14 | 67 | VRS Satellite Racing Red | Dallara P217 | LMP2 | 894 | -4 L | 0 | 1:32.754 |
9 | 15 | 29 | Energy Simsport #77 | Dallara P217 | LMP2 | 894 | -4 L | 0 | 1:32.295 |
10 | 9 | 13 | VRS Coanda Simsport $88 | Dallara P217 | LMP2 | 894 | -4 L | 0 | 1:32.766 |
11 | 3 | 24 | Inertia SimRacing EURORC.COM | Dallara P217 | LMP2 | 891 | -7 L | 0 | 1:32.868 |
12 | 2 | 18 | VRS Coanda Simsport $18 | Dallara P217 | LMP2 | 891 | -7 L | 13 | 1:32.490 |
13 | 7 | 22 | RaceKraft Esports Gold | Dallara P217 | LMP2 | 890 | -8 L | 0 | 1:32.420 |
14 | 16 | 30 | Obsidian Racing | Dallara P217 | LMP2 | 884 | -14 L | 0 | 1:32.900 |
15 | 27 | 210 | Triple A Esports White | BMW M8 GTE | GTE | 849 | -49 L | 0 | 1:39.212 |
16 | 24 | 1 | MSi eSports Red | BMW M8 GTE | GTE | 849 | -49 L | 0 | 1:38.892 |
17 | 30 | 89 | BMW Team BS COMPETITION | BMW M8 GTE | GTE | 848 | -50 L | 0 | 1:39.155 |
18 | 29 | 707 | KOVA | BMW M8 GTE | GTE | 848 | -50 L | 0 | 1:39.126 |
19 | 22 | 71 | BMW Team Redline | BMW M8 GTE | GTE | 847 | -51 L | 0 | 1:39.331 |
20 | 28 | 77 | BMW Team GB | BMW M8 GTE | GTE | 847 | -51 L | 0 | 1:39.270 |
21 | 31 | 43 | ASTRO Gaming Altus Esports | Porsche 911 RSR | GTE | 845 | -53 L | 0 | 1:39.290 |
22 | 35 | 4 | Triple A Esports Black | BMW M8 GTE | GTE | 843 | -55 L | 0 | 1:39.461 |
23 | 32 | 28 | Sportteam Competicion | Ferrari 488 GTE | GTE | 840 | -58 L | 0 | 1:39.686 |
24 | 36 | 27 | AlpineEagleRacing | Porsche 911 RSR | GTE | 835 | -63 L | 0 | 1:39.842 |
25 | 38 | 7 | Team BMW Bank | BMW M4 GT3 | GTD | 815 | -83 L | 0 | 1:42.800 |
26 | 41 | 141 | Vendaval Simracing Red | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO | GTD | 814 | -84 L | 0 | 1:42.941 |
27 | 48 | 176 | SimRC Carbon $Daytona 24 | BMW M4 GT3 | GTD | 813 | -85 L | 0 | 1:43.254 |
28 | 37 | 451 | Biela Racing Team EURONICS $GT3 I | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO | GTD | 813 | -85 L | 0 | 1:43.017 |
29 | 39 | 142 | Vendaval Simracing Blue | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO | GTD | 813 | -85 L | 0 | 1:43.283 |
30 | 46 | 48 | SRC Squadra Corse Black | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO | GTD | 813 | -85 L | 0 | 1:43.135 |
31 | 47 | 19 | Team Fordzilla | BMW M4 GT3 | GTD | 813 | -85 L | 0 | 1:43.177 |
32 | 44 | 9 | MAHLE RACING TEAM | BMW M4 GT3 | GTD | 813 | -85 L | 0 | 1:43.103 |
33 | 50 | 14 | Aurys Racing Team MRW | BMW M4 GT3 | GTD | 812 | -86 L | 0 | 1:43.341 |
34 | 42 | 3 | CoRe SimRacing | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO | GTD | 812 | -86 L | 0 | 1:43.210 |
35 | 49 | 452 | Biela Racing Team EURONICS $GT3 II | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO | GTD | 812 | -86 L | 0 | 1:42.863 |
36 | 55 | 25 | R8G eSports Jr #2 | BMW M4 GT3 | GTD | 811 | -87 L | 0 | 1:43.260 |
37 | 53 | 116 | Puresims Esports | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO | GTD | 809 | -89 L | 0 | 1:43.443 |
38 | 54 | 16 | URANO eSports HKM | BMW M4 GT3 | GTD | 737 | -161 L | 0 | 1:43.275 |
39 | 18 | 97 | Team RSO #97 | Dallara P217 | LMP2 | 600 | -298 L | 0 | 1:32.812 |
40 | 19 | 10 | #R4RMotorsport | Dallara P217 | LMP2 | 564 | -334 L | 0 | 1:32.756 |
41 | 25 | 20 | Maniti Racing GTE | BMW M8 GTE | GTE | 524 | -374 L | 0 | 1:39.548 |
42 | 51 | 26 | Triple A Esports # Green | BMW M4 GT3 | GTD | 378 | -520 L | 0 | 1:43.437 |
43 | 45 | 91 | BS COMPETITION | BMW M4 GT3 | GTD | 228 | -670 L | 0 | 1:43.451 |
44 | 26 | 1 | DV1 TRITON Racing | BMW M8 GTE | GTE | 191 | -707 L | 0 | 1:39.610 |
45 | 52 | 79 | Maniti Racing GTD | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO | GTD | 146 | -752 L | 0 | 1:43.589 |
46 | 21 | 72 | Team Redline Orange | BMW M8 GTE | GTE | 89 | -809 L | 0 | 1:39.704 |
47 | 10 | 169 | R8G Esports #8 | Dallara P217 | LMP2 | 0 | -898 L | 0 | |
48 | 11 | 78 | MB Racing Esport Nordic | Dallara P217 | LMP2 | 0 | -898 L | 0 | |
49 | 17 | 81 | VRS Coanda Simsport $81 | Dallara P217 | LMP2 | 0 | -898 L | 0 | |
50 | 34 | 2 | R8G Esports #2 | BMW M8 GTE | GTE | 0 | -898 L | 0 | |
51 | 40 | 76 | SimRC Titan $Daytona24 | BMW M4 GT3 | GTD | 0 | -898 L | 0 | |
52 | 33 | 11 | Logitech G Altus Esports | Porsche 911 RSR | GTE | 0 | -898 L | 0 | |
53 | 43 | 21 | URANO eSports HP | BMW M4 GT3 | GTD | 0 | -898 L | 0 | |
54 | 6 | 23 | YAS HEAT Microsoft | Dallara P217 | LMP2 | 0 | -898 L | 0 | |
55 | 23 | 911 | Porsche24 driven by Redline | Porsche 911 RSR | GTE | 0 | -898 L | 0 |
The next iRacing special event is the 2021 iRacing Daytona 500, taking place on February 12-14 as part of the NASCAR iRacing Series schedule. The next road racing-themed special event is the 2021 iRacing Bathurst 12 Hour for GT3s on February 26-28, while the IMSA class lineup returns in the 2021 iRacing Sebring 12 Hour on March 26-28. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.
Image via Improvised Design/Coanda Simsport