It’s the halfway stage in all three IVRA championships now, with the next round in any championship set for later this month. Given the pause in hostilities, let’s have a look at how last season’s champions are faring in the new season.
As the only reigning champions to be leading their championship at this stage, Team Heusinkveld has to be the place to start. They have won two separate IVRA championships, and are winners of all three races so far this season in TCR.
It’s not their pace that is devastating the field, but smart decisions and playing the strategy well throughout races has given them a championship lead. And while Impulse Racing and Tedline Racing are still in touch, they need to start gaining back some points quickly before Team Heusinkveld secure back to back titles.
They’re not the only team to have won all three races in the HyperX Clubsport Series so far, as HydroRace Geodesic Racing have done the same. It’s in the Sport category, where reigning champions Fiercely Forward are down in 17th. With no points in either of the first two races, they have one of the worst records of a reigning champion entry.
There will be new champions in the Cup category, and of course there won’t be any new GTE champions, as that GSI Endurance Series class was axed after 2021/22. Puresims Esports are reigning champions in LMP2, and they were leading the standings earlier on this season.
However, the class has changed to GTP, and during the 12 hour race at Daytona, they dropped to third. However, they are only 44 points adrift along with Team RSO in second, so it’s not a lost cause just yet and SRC Mivano Corse can definitely still be caught.
The GT3 Pro leaders are also different, as Urano Esports are debut entrants, but have made no rookie errors just yet as they have taken the win in all three races. This has included a close fought 12 Hours of Daytona last time out, and it’s earned them a 73 point lead.
The reigning champions are 5th right now and without a podium. It needs to be a big performance from them at Monza to rekindle any championship hopes.
There’s a similar situation for the Archer Brothers in GT3 too. They’re also 5th, but do have a podium, however there’s a lot of work to do to get back into contention. Winners of the Winter Season in 2022, Maniti Racing are currently GT3 championship leaders.
In the IVRA GT Sprint Series powered by Heusinkveld, Maniti Racing were champions by some distance in Division 1. Things haven’t gone quite so smoothly for the IVRA veterans this time around.
They currently find themselves 181 points adrift of leaders Deltasport, partly due to a DNF at Imola. Max Riedmuller has been doing most of the driving so far, including a win at the Nurburgring, but Tim Matzke has not been used yet despite being available on the entry list.
There’s a quick look at where the reigning champions are in the standings at the halfway mark. Racing will resume again in just over two weeks with the 1500km of Monza in the GSI Endurance Series.