While it awaits its competitive debut in real life, the new BMW GTP has arrived on iRacing and was used in the third round of the GSI Endurance Series by IVRA before the end of 2022. Teams voted on whether to utilise the new machine so quickly after its addition to iRacing or to keep the LMP2 that made up the top category for the first two rounds. 

Such is the excitement around this new era in prototype racing, the BMW was used. It was a shaky start in the Daytona 12 Hours, however, with four cautions in the first quarter of the race and only a third of the GTPs left on the lead lap by the halfway stage. 

Mistakes were prominent, and SRC Mivano Corse were handed their eventual winning margin through a mistake by Connor Harrington on the final restart’s first corner. The driver that took the chequered flag that day, Niklas Beu, said after the race that: “it was definitely interesting to learn the car, I wouldn’t say difficult, we figured out what to do very quickly”. 

The same certainly couldn’t be said for other teams, but with the Christmas break now behind us, how are the drivers getting along with the new car? We had a brief chat with Private Label Team Hype driver, and newly minted Lionheart Indycar Series Champion, Phil Kraus to find out more. 

While acknowledging that it is a significantly harder challenge than the LMP2 that came before, he did admit to not having driven the GTP too much over the Christmas period. However, he did say that it is “much more sensitive on the tyres and brakes, due in part to the hybrid system and its regen”. 

Hybrid systems aren’t all-new to iRacing, the LMP1s utilised them many years ago on iRacing, but stability on the brakes was a struggle for the drivers during the Daytona race. It is also something for GT3 drivers to adapt to. 

After the Daytona race, Urano Esports driver Niclas Laubisch said that: “This was one of the scariest races I’ve ever driven”. A lot of this can be put down to the car being new, and Daytona as a track can be difficult sometimes too, but the unpredictable braking that the GTP can experience meant the GT3s got caught up in crashes just as often. 

As previously mentioned, one team that didn’t struggle so much was SRC Mivano Corse, and we also spoke to Niklas Beu again more recently on their progress. He said: “We as a team are getting along well with the new car so far, although there are still some issues we need to work with”. 

While other teams are scrambling to drive the car correctly, it sounds as if SRC Mivano Corse are already looking to maximise the car’s performance. They will certainly be hard to beat in the GSI Endurance Series this season. 

Their new championship lead, coupled with an ability to get a handle on the BMW GTP very quickly, could make a formidable pairing. And dare we say it, a championship winning pairing. 

The next round of the GSI Endurance Series is coming up in February, for the 1500km of Monza.