With the 2023 Logitech G Supercar Pro Invitational in the record books attention has turned towards the much anticipated Qualifying Series that will get under way in Late January.

With the top 20 from the 2023 Series automatically awarded invitations to return in 2024, the scramble is set to begin to earn one of the highly sought after remaining spots on the grid. With the series continuing to go from strength to strength, it is expected that the Qualifying Series which is set to take place in early 2024 will be hotly contested.  

When registrations opened recently there was a rapid influx of nominations to the league and with registrations remaining open until 7pm AEDT January 12th the number is still expected to grow. Below is a complete list of those drivers who have already signaled their intentions race when things kick off for Round 1. 

With the field capped at 45 entries, a pre qualifying process will take place to reduce the field down before Round 1 of the actual qualifying series gets under way on January 31st at Road Atlanta.

Drivers will then compete the following week at Magny Cours on February 7th, followed by Hockenheim on February 14th with Fuji set to host the final round on February 28th.

This will seed drivers based on overall points from the 4 Races where the top 20 will be considered for the first round of invitations to complete the grid for the 2024 Logitech G Pro Invitational series.

Registrations for the Qualifying Series remain open until January 12th at 7pm AEDT and can be completed at the link below:

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Our 2024 series runner up James Scott has been an avid sim racer for a number of years. He is an intense racer that can bring out the best of himself when it matters to get a solid result. The 2023 rookie of the year, James proved himself to be worthy of a podium position in the Logitech G Pro Invitational series bought to you by Motorsport Australia.

We took the time to have a chat with James and see what it would have taken for him to get on the top step.

First of all, James, second place, it’s a great result, one that many would be extremely happy with, what though are your thoughts?

Whilst second is a great result, I don’t think its what any of us go racing for and to have taken it down to the final few rounds is hard but and the end of the day we just made too many mistakes over the course of the year. To be able to win a championship like this you cant put a foot wrong all season and we just did it a few to many times this year which we will be looking to fix next year to hopefully go 1 better.

What do you think was the turning point in the series?

I really don’t think there was a turning point all year, with the gap at the top of the standing being extremely close all year it never really felt like there was a single point where it turned. However in saying that in the 2nd last round there was a tough strategy call to make and we unfortunately fell on the wrong side of that and from that point on I had given up any hope of the championship win.

Strategy is an important part of a solid result, how much did this affect you?

Massively, looking the points we lost through poor strategy this year was a lot and cost us a lot of points. And to finish still quite close to the championship winner with all these errors is promising and should bode well for us next year if we can get this area of the racing in order and be able to scrap for every point possible.

SSR as a team have had a solid team with driver depth, what are your thoughts on the team as a whole and how much did they help you?

SSR have been great, obviously having quite a few fast guys, it makes race preparation just that bit easier having someone to compare to in the lead up to the race. Being a 1 man team at the front would be tough without really knowing where to improve etc. We have worked quite well as a team all year and I think we have all improved in different aspects of our racing over the course of the year which is great to see.

The Bathurst win was surely a highlight, how did you find that weekend?

Bathurst was awesome, there is always a debate in real life whether winning Bathurst or the championship is more of an achievement, for me im probably slightly more of the latter however in saying that, the Bathurst win was incredible. Teaming up with SVG was great and to have his experience both in and out of the car made my job really easy, just drive as fast as possible. It felt like we had a really fast car however with the really strong draft model just couldn’t break it to really compare our pace to the others. The fight at the end was awesome and it was awesome to come away on the right side of it and grab the win.

Did you think at any stage that the title may be slipping away from you or was it a matter of fighting to the last lap?

All year it was so close however as I mentioned just before, probably mid point of road America when we went with a different strategy and it didn’t come off I knew it was going to be hard to come back from there especially knowing how busy I was going to be in real life for preparation in the last round.

What are your thoughts on the series overall?

The series is great, having the best guys go against each other is awesome and not to have the commitment of racing every week. The media work the series does to promote different aspects of the series/teams really makes it the pinnacle of v8 racing on iRacing.

Many punters would say that you were the quickest driver/car combo of the year, how do you get that consistency week in week out?

Hard to put a finger on it, ive been on the sim for a little while now and it just feels natural and I feel like it just happens through that. Im always my own harshest critic so striving for perfection for me is the only option whether its in real life or the sim and I don’t like to accept anything less. Having pace is 1 thing however we did not maximise that enough this year which is extremely disappointing so I will work on that in the off season to try and be better next year.

And finally, in 2024, do we see the car 088 up the front again? if so, what, if any changes will be made to ensure you get on the top step?

I certainly hope so, I don’t think we need to make wholesale changes just need to refine what we have and improve the process and I think that should really help in 2024.

Thanks so much for your time on this James,and congratulations on a very entertaining year of racing.

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Trans Tasman Racing have put on a dominant display of driving at the season concluding event held at Road Atlanta on Wednesday evening.

Qualifying saw a hotly contested session, with Madison Down solidifying his title charge with a commanding pole position over Evolution Racing Team’s Ethan Grigg-Gault. Title challengers James Scott & Brady Meyers would line up on row two, followed by Josh Anderson who would round out the top 5. Making up the remainder of the top ten saw Jake Burton in 6th, followed by Richard Hamstead, Tom Freer, Brenton Hobson & Ric Kuznetsov rounding out the top 10.

Contact on lap 1 between title contenders

Racing soon got underway, With Madison Down leading the field away on the approach to turn 1. A rough getaway for the #77 Trans Tasman Racing Commodore left Down vulnerable, with Ethan Grigg-Gault & James Scott adding pressure on the approach. Entering the corner three wide, down would loose out on the run towards the turn 2 & 3 complex, with Grigg-Gault & James Scott side by side racing for the lead. Contact between the two saw both cars exit the road, falling down the order handing the race lead back to championship favourite Madison Down. Josh Anderson would slot into second place after the turn 3 scuffle, with Brady Meyers moving into the final podium position.

Lap 15 saw the opening pitstops of the night begin, with Synergy Sim Racing duo Brenton Hobson & Tom Freer making the call to be the first to clear their opening compulsory pit stop of the night.

O'Shea with a motor detonation early in the race

Meanwhile on circuit, Dylan O’Shea’s top 10 championship hopes went up in smoke, suffering from a engine failure on lap 18 of the race entering the final chicane. With power out completely, O’Shea managed to nurse his ailing 9ine 5ive SimSports Mustang back into pit lane without bringing out the safety car. A night with promise coming to an end early, O’Shea will now look towards 2024.

With Madison Down continuing to lead the way, it would be James Scott peeling off to take service on lap 21 from 6th position in a bid to gain an early advantage, gaining back some of the track position he lost during his lap 1 incident with Ethan Grigg-Gault. James would re join in clean air, setting the pace.

Josh Anderson would be the next to pit, making move to the lane on the end of lap 29. He would be followed by Trans Tasman Racing Stablemates Madison Down & Brady Meyers only laps later, Down choosing to relinquish the lead on lap 30, with Meyers boxing on lap 31 also.

As the field cleansed, Josh Anderson would inherit the lead ahead of the early pitting Ethan Grigg-Gault with Meyers also jumping championship leader Madison Down. James Scott’s early stop worked well for the #088 gaining slight track position and putting his Synergy Sim Racing Commodore well and truely back in the fight.

TTR Team Mates make contact

Anderson would continue to lead the race comfortably throughout the middle stint of the event, consistently lapping inside the top 4 times while out front.

Behind, moves were starting to be made, notably Jake Burton would make some ground in this stint, passing teammate Richard Hamstead on lap 40, moving into the top five and continuing his charge. Others making good ground included Dylan Rudd, Andrew Gilliam, Jordan Ross & Wayne Bourke who all were finding a way to advance up the order and into contention for a great finishing position.

As Meyers cleared Grigg-Gault advanced towards the race lead on lap 45 moving into second, Anderson made his move to the lane, being the first to take their final pit stop if the night. Ethan Grigg-Gault would follow a lap later on lap 46 along with Jordan Ross & Brady Meyers pitting at the conclusion of lap 48. Burton would follow suit a lap later along with Gilliam & Wayne Bourke.

As race contenders re emerged and settled back into a rhythm, Down finally would put to make his final stop of the night on lap 53. Pitting from the lead, Down would enter back into the race in a comfortable 5th position, now setting his sights on doing what he has to do to claim the 2023 title.

Jake Burton finishes 2023 on a high note

It was a three way fight at the front however to close out the 2023 season, with Brady Meyers, Josh Anderson & Jake Burton throwing the kitchen sink at one another, all with the hope to claim the final victory of the season. An excellent move from Burton into turn 1 on lap 59 secured the lead for the #8, while Josh Anderson & Brady Meyers continued their battle trying to hold onto second. All would come undone only corners later for the pair, with contact being made firing Meyers off the road and out of contention. Anderson would hold onto second, while Meyers would tumble down the order promoting James Scott into a podium place.

No further movement would take place in the dying stages, with Jake Burton taking yet another commanding victory to round out his 2023 campaign. Anderson would finish the year off in style in second, with James Scott securing his runner up status with a solid podium to round out the year. Grigg-Gault ended a solid campaign in 4th position at road Atlanta, followed by Madison Down in 5th, finally securing the Motorsport Australia Logitech G Pro Invitational Cup title for 2023.

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Our 2023 series Champion Madison Down has been involved in Sim Racing for over half his life. Winning multiple championships previously, this was Madisons first series win in the Logitech G Pro series bought to you by Motorsport Australia.

We took the time to have a chat with Madison and get his thoughts on the 2023 season, and what it means to him.

First of all, Madison, congratulations on the series win, what does this mean to you?

Winning the Logitech G Pro Invitational is easily one of my hardest fought titles and another series that I was really wanting to tick off the list to have won. So to tick this one off the list is an awesome feeling especially given how much work goes into the series across the year.

What do you think was the turning point in the series that gave you the confidence to take the title?

Round 1 for me coming in out and taking the win at Sebring really gave me a confidence boost especially after the horror start I had in 2022 missing Round 1. Knowing that we had achieved 2nd in 2022 missing a round, I certainly knew that a title win could be on the cards right from the start of the year. The goal for the year was to make sure that we maximized every round. Win the race when we had the pace to do so and consolidate and score solid points when the pace wasn’t there. Thankfully, we had a super consistent season and really kept our poor results to a minimum. It wasn’t until the Enduro season finished up that we had a much more clear picture of the points standings and could see that winning it was a really strong chance.

Strategy is an important part of a solid result, who helped you make these calls, and how much do you think you gained from it?

Across the season, primarily it was a team effort. We as drivers in TTR all race from the same channel and therefore are discussing strategy throughout the race. As the championship looked more likely, we began having some outside assistance through spotters particularly in the final round. We are privileged as a team that we have multiple drivers with years of experience in sim racing and as a result are often able to make the right calls when it counts the most. However, I will give an individual shoutout to both Jake Moloney and Brock Salmon for their strategy assistance. Both those individuals made some fantastic calls that made the difference in key rounds. We didn’t make a bad call as a team all season and when you compare to our rivals, that certainly made a massive difference to the overall points at the end so I do have my teammates to thank as well for their collaboration.

TTR as a team have been incredibly strong for a number of years, what do you think is the secret?

Team culture. Over the years, we’ve had our up and down moments and had rival teams come and go. The difference for us is the culture in the team. We are all mates, we all have a deep love for racing whether it be real or virtual and we all love winning. Across the team’s 15 years or so in sim racing though, the constant has been that we are a group of mates that just love racing together and as a result we share each other’s wins and losses and work together to achieve our goals. It sounds cliché, but in my opinion that culture is everything when it comes to success.

What was in your opinion the best race of the year?

It would be easy to say any that I won! However from an excitement point of view it was definitely the Bathurst 1000 for me. Super competitive race and a fight for the lead across the entirety of the 1000km. To come down to a 3 car fight with the 3 championship protagonists at the end was just super. Yes, we didn’t get the win that day but I did thoroughly enjoy the fight with James Scott in the final stint and threw absolutely everything at him but he was too good on the day. That race felt like everything that this car and this series is about. Close, Hard touring car racing!

Did you think at any stage that the title may be slipping away from you?

There were times I felt like that lacked outright car speed, we were always there or thereabouts however at times just were on the wrong side of a tenth of a second which was costing us. It was feeling as though we’d need to find that pace more quickly than our rivals and were playing catch up. I don’t think there was ever a key moment it felt like it was too far away, we ran inside the Top 5 in points all season and were always close to the top of the standings. Thankfully, we worked really well together and were able to bridge that gap in pace I feel as the year went on. It did seem though that we struggled at low speed circuits and were fast at high speed and flowing circuits.

What are your thoughts on the series overall?

Without a doubt the Logitech G Pro Invitational is the pinnacle series in Australia for sim racing in my opinion. Super professionally run and by far the most competitive series out there. Just look at how close the field is and the depth of that field and its just amazing to see. Its been a pleasure to be a part of and to actually now say that I have won the Driver’s Championship in this incredible series is just an absolute honor!

And finally, 2024, will we see the car number 1 battling its way for the championship for the 12 round championship?

Absolutely! We will be back and will be benching the #77 while we defend our title in Car #1! I can’t wait for a bigger and better season to get started in 2024!

Thanks so much for your time on this Mads, really appreciate it.

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