Winter update 21/22
Time for another update! Once again, it will be a collection of what has happened since last time. For more frequent updates, we post on our instagram @hellracers.se.
GSI Endurance Series by IVRA and VCO, 1000 km at Watkins Glen
IVRA Endurance now has a collaboration with Gomez Sim Industries and therefore the series has changed name, but it’s still the same format and we still compete with two cars, one LMP2 and one GT3 Pro. This week’s track was Watkins Glen, a track where our drivers usually are fast. The LMP2 had a rough qualification session and ended up almost at the back of the field but climbed fast and were up in P5 just a few stints in. A collision caused by the LMP2 with a resulting penalty put them back again, and the climb had to start over. Two safety cars helped them out and they ended up in P5 again over the finish line. A strong performance!
The GT3 Pro had a better qualifying and started in P4 and had a solid P3 after a few laps. That’s pretty much where the car drove almost all race until right at the end, where one of the faster cars got caught in a collision during the restart after a safety car period. The other main contender for the P1 position got two penalties in the end and had to go in for a stop and go, meaning that our GT3 had a pretty easy ride to the finish line and took our first IVRA win in the GT3. We have had victories in LMP2 and GTE before, but not in GT3. Now we can tick that box as well!
Simracing for ALS Norge (Norway)
Team SlowMo from Norway arranges one charity race each year and this year it was for the ALS Norway foundation. We started as the only Swedish team in a cloud of Norwegian teams. With the Club Scandinavia League and other communities we race quite a bit with Norwegian teams so it feels good to do it while contributing to a good cause. We put one Porsche RSR and our trusty LMP2 on the grid.
The race had connection issues on a level rarely seen on iRacing, we have never experienced something so bad. Unfortunately this disrupted the race several times and even though the organizers did their best, the racing of course suffered from this. In the end, the safety car was brought out a couple of times to give the disconnecting teams a chance to catch back up. This also meant that the standings in the race was hard to follow since teams went up and down the field during the disconnects.
In the end, we ended up with a P2 in the GTE field and P3 in the LMP2, not undeserved but maybe a bit unexpected given how the race developed. This also meant that Sebastian’s first race with us ended up with a P2, a good start!
24 hours of Daytona
One of the biggest events on iRacing, gathering teams from all over the world to fight it out on the Daytona road course. It’s also the first event of the year when a lot of people are hungry for racing after the Christmas break. We decided to start with only one car to avoid too long driving stints, meaning we divided the 24 hours on six drivers. A solid performance by all drivers with very few mistakes over the entire race meant we brought home a P4 in our split, with the last overtake being done by Niklas in the bus stop on the second to last lap. Awesome effort!
IVRA Clubsport
Two races have taken place in the Clubsport league, the 400 km at VIR and 700 km at Road Atlanta. We took P4 in VIR after a great performance on a fun track that is not driven enough! Road Atlanta was a tough mistress and a bit too eventful for us to make it possible with a top five finish and we had to settle for P9. We really enjoy the Clubsport series though, it is sometimes seen as the “little brother” to the Endurance series but brings another flavor of racing altogether and can definitely stand on its own.
It’s time for 400 km at Zolder already next week, another fun track that will definitely bring some intense racing!