Story and Images by David Anderson
June 27th, 2023 – The Champion Motorsports iRacing Team Endurance Series (iRTES) raced at Twin Ring Motegi for the first time in our three year history this past weekend and the track and event did not disappoint as we had a great race and some excellent challenges thrown at the field from the hidden gem of circuit in the Asia Pacific Region. Thirty-one cars to the grid for this contest as we have officially entered the 2nd half of our season and it’s time to make strides for key positions and championship runs in all the classes.
In the Prototype LMDh category RD Simsport takes their first win of the season and the fourth different winner in as many races in the class. We learned from the season opener at Daytona that this particular class would be hotly contested all season and that has been exactly how things have played out. In fact, going into Round 5 at Spa, the top 6 in points are separated by less than 20 points and we are going to see a tremendous finish in this class the last two rounds to decide our 2023 Champion. We do know for certain that in 2023 we will have a new team atop the Podium in the highest category as the Satellite Racing team has had to miss a few races this year that will prevent them from defending their two-time championship runs in 2021 and 2022.
RD Simsport Takes the Win at Twin Ring Motegi Overall and in the LMDh Class – another great run (above)
In the Prototype 2 LMP2 Category we have seen a complete dominance by the top team like none we have seen before. The Tempus Simsport team continues to be the fastest and cleanest team in the field, running out front in an epic display of how to drive Sportscars. They took their fourth win in a row this week at Twin Ring Motegi and definitely now have to be thinking about the unthinkable of sweeping the season series with two wins to finish.
The teams behind them however, will not give up without a fight and they are all bunched up in a tremendous points battle as well. SimHQ Motorsports Red, Longhorn Racing II, and Blue Shell racing are all separated by less than ten points and are all at the ready to pounce as soon as they are given an opportunity up front as well. We expect a great finish in LMP2 for positions on the podium in what is one of the most experienced group of simracers in our series within this class.
Tempus Simsport (above) has now made it 4 in a Row in the LMP2 Class, threatening to sweep the series
For GT3 this week we saw the TPRT (defending Champions) take their first win of the 2023 season. They broke a three race win stream by RD Simsport IV in the GT3 category to show that they are not going down without a fight in the Championship and look to have a very strong 2nd half of the season. They are a mere 13 points behind RD Simsport now for points and we have Simracing PR also chasing closely behind on the podium as well. In our largest class their are great points battles throughout the field and we expect a terrific GT3 race at Spa, especially with our calendar aligning well with the iRacing 24 Hours of Spa event so the teams will want to be sharp.
TPRT Grabs their First Win of the 2023 Season in a Great run in GT3, backing up a phenomenal 2022 season (above)
We will be back to the track on July 16th at Spa for Round 5. Here is a look at the Championship Standings by class and Gold Cup Driver Standings through the current season progression as well as the full race replay of the broadcast from Apex Simracing TV from Twin Ring Motegi! See you all at Spa in a few weeks!