iRacing Season 04 2023 - iRacing.com (2024)

Porsche 963 GTP

After a five-year hiatus from top-level prototype racing, Porsche returned to the discipline in 2023 with the all-new 963 for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GTP class. Partnering with Multimatic to construct the chassis, the 963 made its racing debut at the 2023 24 Hours of Daytona with Porsche Penske Motorsport, and more teams have begun to adopt the car around the world as the season has continued. Penske’s Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy gave the car its first win at Long Beach in its third start of the IMSA season.

Powered by Porsche’s 4.6 liter, twin-turbocharged V8, the 9RD engine that powers the 963 makes over 670 horsepower. As with other GTP cars, the car weighs 1,030 kg and features a spec 50kW hybrid system.

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Acura ARX-06 GTP

Built to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s new GTP regulations, the Acura ARX-06 debuted at the 2023 24 Hours of Daytona as a replacement for the ARX-05 that had run for five years under the previous DPi rule set. Acura continued its previous relationship with constructor Oreca to build the new car, which would debut in the hands of Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian and Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport; the teams would come roaring out of the gate by finishing 1-2 at Daytona.

The ARX-06 features a 2.4-liter, twin-turbocharged V6 engine, smaller than its predecessor but packing a powerful punch at over 670 horsepower. As with other GTP cars, the car weighs 1,030 kg and features a spec 50kW hybrid system.

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Ferrari 296 GT3

Ferrari’s latest foray into GT3 racing, the 296 GT3 made its debut in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and other major global championships in time for the 2023 season. It succeeds the 488 GT3 EVO that made its debut in 2020, and it was designed to build on that car’s successes with easier setup modifications for the crew and significantly more downforce than its predecessor.

Powered by a V6 engine just like its road-going counterpart, the 296 GT3 is capable of producing 600 horsepower from its 2.9-liter powerplant. Four cars took to the track across IMSA’s GTD and GTD Pro classes in its debut at the 24 Hours of Daytona, and the car took its first win in a twice-around-the-clock endurance race a few short months later at the Nürburgring.

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Super Formula SF23 – Toyota

Debuting in the 2023 Super Formula season, theSF23is the third open-wheel car developed by Italian manufacturer Dallarafor Japan’s premier open-wheel racing series. From a visual standpoint, the SF23 evolves from its predecessor by introducing new aerodynamics designed to produce more overtaking. From a sustainability one, the new design reduces carbon dioxide emissions in raw materials and manufacturing by 75% thanks to new, natural materials, while even the Yokohama tires used on the car use significantly more renewable raw materials while maintaining the performance of previous tires.

Super Formula cars are powered by high-performance, turbocharged 2.0-liter I4 engines, each capable of producing more than 550 horsepower. Each is equipped with an Overtake System (OTS) that allows for up to 200 seconds of additional fuel burn in each race.

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Super Formula SF23 – Honda

Debuting in the 2023 Super Formula season, theSF23is the third open-wheel car developed by Italian manufacturer Dallarafor Japan’s premier open-wheel racing series. From a visual standpoint, the SF23 evolves from its predecessor by introducing new aerodynamics designed to produce more overtaking. From a sustainability one, the new design reduces carbon dioxide emissions in raw materials and manufacturing by 75% thanks to new, natural materials, while even the Yokohama tires used on the car use significantly more renewable raw materials while maintaining the performance of previous tires.

Super Formula cars are powered by high-performance, turbocharged 2.0-liter I4 engines, each capable of producing more than 550 horsepower. Each is equipped with an Overtake System (OTS) that allows for up to 200 seconds of additional fuel burn in each race.

NASCAR Pontiac Grand Prix

Campaigned by Petty Enterprises, Blue Max Racing, RahMoc Enterprises, and McDuffie Racing, the Pontiac Grand Prix had a small but mighty driver lineup for the 1987 NASCAR Cup Series season. Rusty Wallace led the drivers at fifth place in the standings with two wins and nine top-fives, while Richard Petty scored the final top-10 points finish of his career in eighth with nine top-fives of his own.

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NEW TRACK

Circuit de Lédenon

Lédenon, France

A lap at Lédenon begins with the long, high-speed frontstretch before entering the Triple Gauche, three left-hand corners that lead into the Virage du Pont, a tighter right-hander. After the slow La Carrierrasse left-hander, drivers accelerate through La Courmelle and downhill into the Virage du Camion, before Le Cavalet turns them hard right and uphill once again. After getting through La Servie, drivers accelerate through one more straightaway broken up by smaller corners before La Cuvette sends them back onto the frontstretch.

NEW TRACK

Kern County Raceway Park

Bakersfield, California, USA

One of California’s most unique racing playgrounds, Kern County Raceway Park opened in 2013. The track was built about 30 miles west of the former Mesa Marin Raceway, another half-mile paved oval that held races from 1977 through 2005, including nine NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series events. Alongside the paved oval, which is a regular host of the ARCA Menards Series West and other stock car events, Kern County also has a third-mile, asymmetrical clay oval for sprint car and midget racing.

Kern County’s paved oval features progressive banking in the corners, starting at 12 degrees at the bottom of the track and rising to 14 degrees at the top, as well as eight degrees of banking on the straightaways. Turns 1 and 2 are raised slightly higher than the straightaways and Turns 3 and 4. The corners are also different on Kern County’s dirt oval, with Turns 1 and 2 of that track tighter than Turns 3 and 4.

NEW RE-SCAN

Circuit Zandvoort

North Holland, Netherlands

Circuit Zandvoort ranks among the most historic and challenging road courses in all of Europe. Home of the Dutch Grand Prix from 1952 to 1985, and again since 2021, Zandvoort features a testing blend of straightaways, tight, medium and high-speed turns that run over and around the sand dunes just a few hundred yards from the North Sea.

Designed by John Hugenholtz, the Zandvoort circuit opened in 1948. The 2.6 mile road course, located west of Amsterdam, boasted a couple of signature corners, including the fast and undulating Scheivlak, and Tarzanbocht a slightly-banked 180 degree turn at the end of the long pit straightaway. Coupled with the heavy braking at the end of the straightaway, the modest banking encouraged overtaking maneuvers, the most famous of which resulted in Mario Andretti and James Hunt banging wheels during the 1977 Dutch Grand Prix.