When VSCA first opened its doors with the public announcement of the VSCA SportsCar Championship in October 2021, it was not clear how the series would be received by the community and if there would be a full field at Daytona.
Now, just a few short months later, it is clear that there will be 53 cars on the grid at Daytona, who will battle for the win in a spectacular season opener of a race.
„Everybody knows Daytona is special. There is no better place for us to kick off the season. We’re thrilled to have such a fantastic field of teams and drivers take the grid. We expect an exciting race with a lot of great racing.“, a VSCA spokesperson said Friday.
In total 21 P2 class Dallara P217 prototypes will compete in the race, followed by no less than 32 GT3 cars. The two classes will make for some tight multi-class racing at the 12-turn 3.56-mile legendary racing circuit in Daytona Beach, Florida.
On top of full-course cautions, the race will also feature an independent live race control team with race marshals watching over the entire duration of the race, to ensure a fair and clean race and competition.
A custom balance of performance issued by VSCA has lead to practice sessions showing a mix of car manufacturers near the front so far, with a slight tendency of Porsche teams showing strong performances throughout.
Since the 24 Hours of Daytona will be part of the Endurance Cup, there will be Endurance Cup points awarded at the six-hour, twelve-hour, 18-hour and 24-hour mark of the race, making for an additional strategy element.
Speaking of strategies, VSCA has announced that P2 Prototype teams will be limited to a total of 13 tire sets in the race and GT3 teams will get 11 tire sets.
„This will make for some tight strategies, I’ll say. But we know we can triple stint at night, perhaps even do quad stints. Either way, everybody’s in the same boat. But it’s clear some teams will have to save their stuff. You won’t be able to just push throughout and abuse your tires.“, a team engineer said in the series garage.
Teams and drivers from 17 different nations will compete in this weekend’s 24 Hours of Daytona, underlining a strong international influence in VSCA that it prides itself on.
„Oh yeah, it’s fantastic to be part of such an international grid. It’s truly fantastic and really special. That’s what I love about sim racing and racing in general for that matter, the way it brings people together. It’s great and maybe needed in these times more than ever.“, Manuel Mayer, a GT3 driver for Fischer Motorsport said.
VSCA will have a live stream of the race on its YouTube channel, that launches at 14:50 GMT on Saturday, just in time for the race. Live scoring and timing will be available via the VSCAracing.com Live Leaderboard at www.vscaracing.com/live
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24 Hours of Daytona
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| Series | 2022 VSCA SportsCar Championship |
|---|---|
| Round | 1 of 8 |
| Event | 24 Hours of Daytona |
| Distance | 24 Hours |
| Date | January 22-23, 2022 |
| Start Time | 15:00 GMT / 10 am EST |
| Track | Daytona International Speedway |
| Location | Daytona Beach, FL |
| Grid Size | 53 cars (P2: 21, GT3: 32) |
| Track Length | 3.56 miles / 5.73 km |
| Turns | 12 |