DAYTONA TAKEOVER!

Tuesday 3rd January, 2022.

Midnight strikes on Tuesday morning - it's the first iRacing Week of 2023.

Confusingly Season 1, 2023 already started 4 Weeks Prior - however this started in the last few weeks of 2022.

In preparation for the upcoming Daytona Double-Header (ROAR Before The 24 and then the Daytona 24 Hours), 13 different series from all different disciplines have included Daytona in their calendars to allow drivers sufficient practice for both races.

3rd - 9th January, 2023

This kicked off with the GT4 Challenge, Michelin Pilot Challenge series and (Turn) Touring Car Challenge - all between the 3rd - 9th January. The Michelin Pilot Challenge is a 2 Hour Series - so would have been the perfect length-race to have a demo-run of the ROAR Before The 24.

Both the GT4 Challenge and the Michelin Pilot Challenge would have been invaluable practice for the ROAR Before the 24...there was just one slight problem...

I wasn't around...for a while - only returning to my rig on Friday 13th Jan - by this point, the GT4 Challenge and Michelin Pilot Challenge had both moved onto their next week - which wasn't Daytona.

This...outcome of events was rather ironic - as the previous year, I only started practicing for the ROAR Before The 24 about 12 hours before the race - just like I did in 2023.

the 3rd - 9th was also a big week for other series too. F4/Formula D/IR-04 headed to Bathurst (which I'm glad I missed!) and the European Endurance Series (6hr races) headed to Le Mans, which was a bit of a bummer - but Le Mans is REGULARLY on the endurance calendar and there's always another opportunity - like VRS E Silverstone on the same weekend.

10th - 16th January, 2023

Whilst the 10th January saw the end of the GT4 Challenge and Michelin Pilot races at Daytona - it saw the start of MANY GT3 series at Daytona (Daytona 24 Hour prep.)

From the 10th - 16th the following series were at Daytona

- GT3 Challenge (Fixed and Open Setups)

- VRS GT & VRS GT Endurance (VRS GT Endurance on Sat/Sun)

- European Sprint Series

- IMSA Endurance (On Sat/Sun)

Only getting back on Friday afternoon - I had limited practice - and then dedicated Saturday to the ROAR Before The 24 which went...wild.

https://www.kabortmotorsport.com/post/the-2023-iracing-roar-before-the-24-~-the-comeback-kid-strikes-again

On the Sunday (and Monday) my real life bit again and I wasn't back until Tuesday...after which, the beforementioned series weren't running Daytona any more.

All was not lost - as four last series ran Daytona between 17th - 23rd January - although two (of these series) weren't exactly...useful for me

- LMP2 Prototype Challenge (Not Useful For Me)

- Ferrari GT3 Challenge (Not Useful For Me)

- IMSA Sprint Series

- European Endurance Series

No sooner had my ROAR Before The 24 finished...(and I helped someone else do theirs) - I was back on the (real life road) - Daytona will always be there for me, year after year...family, will not - and when family calls, I like to help out.

I return to the sim on the 17th - and having missed the F4/Formula D/IR-04 race at Barcelona/Catalunya (quite a favourite of mine), it was time to get back into the groove of things at Okayama - but that's for another blog.

With a grand total of 0 practice races and countless hours of practice sessions, Daytona eventually presented itself and with a 3-Year streak of not finishing the Daytona 24 Hours, I was determined to make this one the streak-breaker.

It was A LONG race with a completely unexpected result - with every hour taking another turn in an unexpected direction - I don't think at the start of the 24 hours (starting in second to last) we'd expect to be here - so to finish my first D24 is an absolute achievement in of itself - no matter how we got there.

And with that I never have to see, think or imagine Daytona again for the rest of the year!

Daytona 24hr Race Report..."It's ready when it's ready"