For years now, IVRA has been one of the leading organisers of esport events on iRacing. It is commended for its community feel, while being able to support competitive racing alongside this. With IVRA embarking on a new era, and a new season, we caught up with Co-Founder Richard Bell to get his thoughts on expanding this success into the upcoming season.
He said: “I’m ecstatic about the effort put in by the teams and managers to facilitate a positive racing environment both on and off the track”, adding that, as a result, this effort is now creating fairer and more competitive racing for everyone. “My highest of hopes is that the IVRA community can continue these trends through this season”.
The Head Steward also went on to say that despite a couple of technical errors, last season was still a success on the whole, adding that organisers are aiming to remedy those problems this season. There have also been adjustments to the rules, most notably the tightening of penalty points. This will decrease the amount of penalty points needed to exclude a driver from a race. Commenting on the rule change, he said: “Drivers will be under more pressure to drive within the rules and expected driving standards”.
In addition to the changes around penalty points, the way time penalties are served in race is also changing. The time penalties will now be served in a penalty box which mirrors 24H SERIES ESPORTS, and the minimum penalty has been reduced to a 5 seconds time penalty, whereas previously it was a drive through.
The community feel at IVRA is made by the teams and drivers, so there will be additional focus on them throughout the season. Bell said: “There have been amazing stories to tell throughout each series, and we would like to bring those stories to the fore”. This will come through the broadcasts on Racespot TV, and now also through other activities online thanks to an expanded media team, with regular news articles every week and a new podcast on the IVRA Series.
As for the racing, the series themselves remain the same, with Endurance, Clubsport and GT Sprint Series all taking place. Fuji will make its IVRA debut by featuring in both the Clubsport and Endurance championships as one of six tracks that feature in twice this season.
All this, alongside the prospect of promotion to 24H SERIES ESPORTS for high performing teams, makes this one of the most eagerly anticipated seasons in years. Pre-Qualifying begins on the 17th of September, where the excitement will continue to build before the season openers in October.