Daytona was the location for an enthralling double-header of IVRA action to round off 2022. In the GSI Endurance Series, it was SRC Mivano Corse that took overall victory in the new BMW GTP despite an incident into the International Horseshoe on Lap 1.
Urano Esports took the chequered flag first in GT3 Pro for the third time this season, while GT3 was won by Satellite Racing. The next day, the GT Sprint Series powered by Heusinkveld was won overall by Sean Campbell for Deltasport in an exciting late race battle involving four teams.
Although we did see our first Safety Car period of the season in the GT Sprint Series, it was still a cleaner race than the GSI Endurance Series that had nearly a caution an hour, on average. It went much further than the Lap 1 incident too, as evidenced by only 3 cars finishing on the lead lap despite those Safety Cars.
12 cars in GTP did score points at the halfway stage, but even by then there was only 6 cars on the lead lap, with main contenders like Urano Esports, Veloce, Orion Race Team and Satellite Racing nowhere to be seen. It didn’t take long for that to become 5 as Sim City Racing lost 10 laps while repairing their BMW.
A spin out of Turn 6 for Puresims Esports would result in contact with a GT3, leaving them to lose 8 laps, while Team RSO had a small damage repair that also lost them a lap. They had a chance to get the wave around back onto the lead lap a little while later, but strangely didn’t take it, so would finish 4th.
Up front, the race was decided at the first corner of the final restart with Connor Harrington going wide for Private Label Team Hype, leaving the door open for Sacha Gorle of SRC Mivano Corse. It would be a lead that they never gave up, taking it to the flag to win by over 50 seconds.
GT3 Pro was a very exciting fight, with Urano Esports, Team Heusinkveld, Impulse Racing and Phoenix Racing eSport battling for the win towards the final pitstops. In the end, only Urano Esports finished on the podium by taking the win, as various bits of contact with other cars gave out penalties, and Team Heusinkveld were disqualified post race for an unregistered driver infringement.
GT3 also delivered on drama. Valorous Motorsports were leading towards the closing stages, but an incident caused them to drop 6 laps, while Satellite Racing would take over the lead to win the race, but the win could do little to reduce Maniti Racing’s healthy championship lead.
The next day, the IVRA GT Sprint Series powered by Heusinkveld lined up for their race at Daytona. It was a Team Fordzilla lock-out on the front row of the grid after an impressive qualifying from Josh Poulain and Tom Burns.
Their coordinated start allowed them to hold that 1-2, with Poulain being pushed by Burns over the line at the end of Lap 1. They tried to reduce the front group as much as possible, only bringing Team Heusinkveld with them, but all of it didn’t matter 20 minutes in when the first Safety Car of the season was thrown for Deutche Payment Esports’ huge crash at the bus stop.
Immediately after the Safety Car, the Top 3 got away in similar fashion once again. The pitstops allowed Team Fordzilla to get away and build a 14 second lead, but their pitstop was well short of the minimum 1 minute, and so both were given drive through penalties.
This left a train of four battling for the win in the final half an hour. As well as Tom Burns for Fordzilla and Philipp Klinger for Team Heusinkveld, Deltasport and OTR by Buttkicker had joined up for an all-Porsche fight for the win.
Burns was by far the most aggressive in the group, taking Fordzilla back to the front with 6 minutes to go. Sean Campbell had positioned himself in 2nd place for Deltasport, but as they went onto the final lap he made the pass on Burns to take the lead.
Campbell slowed up on the way into the bus stop, and with a great run on the exit, was able to hold on from Team Fordzilla by roughly 2 tenths at the line. It was Campbell’s second win in a row and third podium in three rounds to strengthen his hold on the championship lead.
In Division 2, JTR Esports held a healthy lead from the exit of the pitstops to win, as did Element Simracing in Division 3. It is still early days, but especially in those championships it is all to play for in 2023.
Daytona delivered the drama once again. A fantastic way to end 2022, and a great taster for what we can expect as things get more serious in the New Year, as racing returns on the 7th of January.