With less than 70 days until the 24 Hours of Daytona, VSCA announced that registrations for the 2023 season will open on Saturday, November 26 at 16:00 GMT.
At that point members and teams will be able to register for the 2023 VSCA SportsCar Championship, including new members and teams.
The updated 2023 series regulations will be published in the coming days, organizers have confirmed.
“We plan on having the regulations published by November 20, so they should be available before registrations open one week later.”, said VSCA founder Benjamin Fischer.
Even with the 2023 regulations not finalized yet, several key notes were confirmed by organizers already.
2023 season schedule will expand to 12 races
The season schedule will expand to twelve races in 2023, including a non-points, qualifying race “Roar before the 24” at Daytona, that will set the grid for the 24 Hours of Daytona.
Other races include next season are the 12 Hours of Sebring, 6 Hours of the Glen and Petit Le Mans, plus sprint races at Long Beach, Laguna Seca, Mosport, Indianapolis, Detroit Belle Isle, Virginia International Raceway and Road America.
Series will expand to three classes, including LMDh
The car classes will see some changes as well.
The GT3 class will return, albeit under a new name “GTD” and feature the Ferrari 488 GT3, Mercedes AMG GT3, Lamborghini Huracán GT3, BMW M4 GT3 and Porsche 911 GT3 R. The Audi R8 LMS GT3 will not return to the series in 2023.
The P2 Prototype class will return under the new name “LMP2” and with the Dallara P217, same as last season.
LMDh will be the new top class, featuring the Porsche 919 Hybrid as a placeholder, which will be replaced as soon as iRacing releases any LMDh car.
Organizers have confirmed if iRacing releases the BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDh in the 2023 Season 1 build in December, the 2023 VSCA SportsCar Championship season will immediately use the BMW LMDh car and will not use the Porsche 919.
“We’re in a bit of a holding pattern right now, waiting to see what iRacing does. The announcement by iRacing on October 29 certainly is exciting. But we don’t know yet, when the new car will be released.”, explained Fischer.
The grid size will be 55 cars total; 15 cars in the LMDh class, 15 cars in the LMP2 class and 25 cars in the GT3 class.
Introduction of all-new VSCA Driver Rating system
VSCA is also introducing its own driver rating system.
First-time drivers, with no career starts will be required to have an iRacing road iRating between 1500 and 4000 going into their first race in the VSCA SportsCar Championship. Their iRating will determine their initial VSCA Driver Rating.
After a driver’s first career start, their VSCA Driver Rating will be based on a mix of their iRating and their performance in the VSCA aces they have competed in, allowing drivers to go under 1500 or above 4000 iRating and not automatically becoming ineligible for the VSCA SportsCar Championship.
Safety License System and Clean Racing Points to promote clean racing
The league continues to strengthen its focus on the importance of good, clean racing.
VSCA is also introducing its own safety license system, based on the “corners per incident” number per driver. All drivers will be required to meet minimum VSCA Safety License requirements in order to be allowed to compete.
Additionally, the league is introducing “Clean Racing Points”, rewarding the cleanest competitors with extra points, additionally to the points scored based on finishing position.
How to register for the 2023 season
So, how will new members and teams be able to register when 2023 season registrations open on November 26?
“We’re working on the necessary website updates. It’s a lot of work and we’re pushing hard to get everything up and running as quickly as possible.”
“The VSCA Paddock web app and the “Register” link on VSCAracing.com, will both be available in time for November 26 when 2023 season registrations open. So keep an eye out for that.”, explained Fischer.
“New members will then be able to sign up via the “Register” link. Once approved, new members and team managers can then use the VSCA Paddock web app to register their teams and entries for next season.”, Fischer added.
Entries will be confirmed for a spot on the series grid on a first-pay-first-serve basis. The entry fee will be $60 USD per car, VSCA has confirmed.
“First of all, we do want to make it clear we understand that $60 USD for most people is a lot of money; especially these days. I know from personal experience how expensive everything is these days.”, said Fischer.
“We have given a commitment to all our members that VSCA is and always will be a non-profit organization. Organizing a league like VSCA comes with quite some expenses such as webhosting, iRacing hosted sessions, live race control, championship trophies etc. We use the entry fees exclusively to cover these expenses.”
VSCA has also confirmed it is still actively trying to find sponsors and that some talks have taken place over the past few months, but nothing is ready to be announced.
The Organizers are gladly available for questions via VSCA Discord or via email at [email protected].
Related Links