The 2024 Season is well under way now as the drivers and teams head towards Austria for Round 3 of the Championship and Red Bull Ring this week.

As the Logitech G Pro Invitational Series charges into Round 3, all eyes are fixed on the legendary Red Bull Ring. Nestled amidst the picturesque Austrian Alps, this iconic circuit presents a formidable challenge to drivers, demanding precision, strategy, and absolute commitment.

Among the contenders poised to conquer this battleground is Shawn McNamara, the seasoned virtuoso from 9ine5ive SimSports. With his wealth of experience, McNamara shares his invaluable insights into mastering the Red Bull Ring, unravelling the secrets behind achieving success on this hallowed track.

Qualifying

Put simply, you need to qualify well to have a chance at a result here. Finding that limit in qualifying and working with the right cars will make or break the qualifying lap! Equally, push to hard and the off track is right there at those commitment points.

Setup

On paper, Red Bull Ring is a simple track, just turn right a few times. But the long straights into tight first and second gear corners, coupled with the flowing middle section require a very balanced setup. Some may go for the straight-line speed, others will go for balance and stability.

Strategy

This is a draft track, love them or hate them, they always create interesting racing. No doubt the first stint will see most drivers patiently sitting in que, saving fuel, and looking after the car. The question will be, who will want to push forward and scatter the pack. Race’s like these can be won or lost in pit lane.

Damage

Being a high speed track, any damage will have a big impact on straight line performance. Avoiding contact, staying off the couple of sausage kerbs will mean you have a strong car for the final stint. As we have already seen this season, engines have been expiring even with minimal front damage, so keeping it clean will be of big benefit.

Luck

If everything above goes well, then you will need to have some luck on your side. People say you create your own luck, but as we have seen this season, things can go wrong in a heart beat and with the style of track Red Bull is, you will need to be quick on the reactions to ensure lady luck stays on your side!

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After all the drama and dust took weeks to settle after Round 1, we have finally reached Round 2.

Sebring 2024, that race is going to live in the memory of the Australian Sim Racing community for a very long time. I have had so many discussions with fans wanting to know what happened, why it happened and my take on it. Its bolstered the eyes on what we do, without a doubt.

The real question is how do you build a season out of this? First you put the hours and the work in. “The Island” is one of those places that all of the drivers will have done a million miles at, and when you consider some of them have been racing right here on iRacing for close to 15 years, that could actually be a true statement.

Points of note coming into this round are very important to discuss so lets start our preview highlighting the drivers who don’t have a single point to their name. Why? Well, you have to cross the line on the last lap of the race, and none of these drivers had an engine underneath them to do that.

The drivers I’ve highlighted are ones who will think they have a realistic shot of being in a fight for a championship. The others now have to make the remaining 11 rounds count. This season sees two additional rounds added to the championship, and that may be a saving grace that gives them the time to climb their way back to the fight.

Richard Hamstead lost a protest to see his on track position returned. For him that means he not only loses the 72 points he did score after his post race penalty, but starts Round 2 with NEGATIVE 28 points. It costs you 100 points to lodge a protest (a step to ensure that drivers come to the table with new information and should help prevent frivolous protests) and that might cost Hamstead late in the season.

Robert Gibbs is still riding that sensational high from Sebring. Can he find a few extra tenths throughout the entirety of the season and transition an unlikely result into a true championship challenge? It's a question that bounces around my head as an opportunity for a number of drivers including Tom Freer, Hayden Veld, Matthew Bowler, Dylan Rudd, Ric Kuznetsov just to name a few.

Robert Gibbs on his way to Round 1 Victory

With that group of drivers as well the two I will be watching with a close eye are Dylan Rudd and Ric Kuznetsov. Both drivers have just moved teams in the last few months and are really looking to show their wares.

Dylan Rudd finished 5th on the road. The importance of that result is that he would not have been expecting to be the leading Lobs Esports driver on points. Remember he’s surrounded by the likes of James Scott and Jarrad Filsell. Right now the motivation levels for him would have to be super high. If he can push for a top 5 or even a podium at Phillip Island he will emerge as the frontrunner in the first half of the season.

Ric Kuznetsov followed Dylan Rudd home to finish in 6th at Sebring. That's a difference of 4 points in the championship. Ric has had a lot of pace recently at Phillip Island and I strongly feel he is really coming into form of late. I’ve seen some very strong drives from him of late, and in particular his ability to defend, block and hold onto positions but be clean about it at the same point in time is a real asset. 

Ric said “Confidence is pretty high, Phillip Island is ony of my stronger tracks. Its also where I got my first Logitech Pro Invitational Podium last year. With [Andrew] Gilliam on my side its good to gather data and compare each other with pace and setup. We are feeling good for Round 2 of the Pro Invitational.”

For me there isn’t very much keeping Ric from being a mainstay in the top 5. Could this be his year? Only he can control that destiny.

Race Stats and information

57 Laps - 253km

Predicted Weather Conditions
Cloud Cover 25-40% (low to medium)
Air Temperature 19-20C

That's not what you guys are reading this far for though. You want those juicy juicy stats, me too!

Main Race Format (60 laps)
Pole - Madison Down - 1:28.114
Winner -  Brady Meyers

Super Sprint Format (2x 23 laps)
Pole - Madison Down - 1:26.910
Race 1 - Jake Burton
Race 2 - Jarrad Filsell

Phillip Island is that track that exists on every V8 Supercars Series Calendar for a reason - It's in Australia! Well yes and no. It's also a track that challenges every aspect of the car and driver. Car balance is tested to the extreme. You must have a car that rotates on entry and plants mid corner to fire off quickly. You must have downforce to get the tires into the ground and get enough bite, but at the same time your primary overtaking points are at the end of long straights, downforce comes with a cost.

TTR and Lobs (previously under the Synergy Sim Racing banner) have both fielded extremely strong cars at this event for a number of years, but the margin to the other teams is miniscule just with the raw amount of laps done here over the years. Keep your eyes on the newly liveried Vermillion Esports cars of Kuznetsov and Gilliam. They’ve got pace to burn as well and could show it.

Commentators Keys to Victory

Lachlan Mansell - Commitment. There are key sections of the track (especially Turn 1 and Hayshed) where it's essential to drive right on the limit at high speed, with big consequences if you get it wrong.

Stephan “Sandman” Clarke - Capitalise on Clean Air - its very easy to cost yourself time with a good pitstop by coming out in traffic, so make sure you time it right to return to the track in clean air.

Scott Rankin - Discipline. Lachy already touched on it, but commitment is nothing without the right amount of Discipline. You MUST be aggressive, but that toe over the line means disaster. Watch for Miller Corner on Lap 1, with the field packed up anything is possible. Think James Courtney in 2013.

Points finishes will be a key component that we will be tracking all the way to the last lap of Spa on November 13th. Every moment of racing action will come with that asterisk over who wants to win a championship and is thinking that way.

Either way, maybe the yacht that Steve Myers and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are floating around on might be the place to watch. Then again, maybe it’s the commentary box whilst calling the action!

See you all from 7.45pm AEST Wednesday night!

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By Scott Rankin

In all the madness of the first race of the year, one thing that wasn't expected was to see another group of team changes. 

It's already been discussed at length about the breakdown in the relationship and teamwork that ended up with “LOBS Esports” being formed, but this week the driver market shifted again.

Atlus Australia’s driving lineup was shaken to the core with Andrew Gilliam, Ric Kuznetsov, Andre Yousiff and Tao Soerono having all just signed with Vermillion Esports along with a few other teammates from Altus not currently racing in Logitech Pro Invitational.

Talijancich has previously done a large part of the management duties back when the group of drivers ran under Pursuit Sim Racing, and in part, the move to Altus was an opportunity to go back to focussing on his driving more. “Talli” is happy with the current arrangement and is looking to stay where he is for now.

Further from the Vermillion lineup, Connor Nixon came to a mutual agreement with the team to part ways at the current juncture. Of critical note here was the fact that Connor was doing the bulk of the setup design work for the Logitech Pro Qualifying and Invitational series. Where this workload will now shift within a strengthened Vermillion lineup is currently up for debate, but Gilliam has carried that load previously and may step up and do so again.

Andrew Gilliam will no longer be seen in Altus eSports colours as he makes the move to Vermillion

An interesting point to note is that the Vermillion lineup now has 42 drivers across the breadth of the team and all its categories of racing. In recent history multiple teams have attempted to make larger driver bodies work, but the trend has been that smaller tighter-nit groups tend to work better.

Synergy Sim Racing are one such team and found mixed success with managing a wide variety of personalities, motivations and speed. Jordan Ross commented “It’s a tough gig. Many different personalities to manage. Inevitably big teams split up into smaller groups internally, and that is when problems start!”

Ric Kuznetsov has an insane amount of talent and potential. His skillset in a Porsche Cup 992 car is legendary, PESC is an option for him to chase if he can surround himself with the right people. Altus should have opened that door for him, but whether it was a priority in his short time span with the team is up for debate. Could this be a leading cause for him moving to Vermillion? Ben Faulkner (team manager) made it known this week the team does have aspirations outside of Australia.

With the first round of the season being a “wildcard” in terms of results the entire field is in a place where good results over the next few rounds changes the entire championship outlook. If the new Vermillion lineup is to succeed, these rounds will be absolutely critical. Gilliam will want top 5s and podiums, Kuznetsov has recently shown pace at Phillip Island. 

Jacob O’Reilly has a huge opportunity on his plate to work with drivers who may pull him closer to the front. His pace this far has outstripped both Connor Nixon and Zach Rattray-White. If O’Reilly finds the last ingredient, the right garnish to the near complete meal of his driving talents if you will, then in theory the sky's the limit for him.

At this juncture all we can do is speculate on where all of this shakes out. As a commentator, pundit and racing fan I have 3 separate opinions.

The Pundit thinks - I need to see results. Phillip Island is a known quantity, we’ve been there a lot (including other leagues VERY recently). Results may be hard to come by there, so they get a pass for 1 round. They must score at least 2 top 10s at Red Bull Ring, preferably a Top 5.

The Commentator - OH BOY…. Drama? We can sell that!

The Racing Fan - That's a couple of jumps for these drivers in a short space of time. If it doesn’t work out, could we see another unique team created in the second half of the year? That could be exciting!!!

Just another swirl in the eddies of the Great Sea that is the Logitech Pro Invitational Driver Market. I’ve got another bucket of popcorn on the stove, popping away towards lights out on the 10th of April.

See you at Phillip Island.

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By Scott Rankin

For any prospective championship challenger in the Logitech G Pro Invitational Series, unexpected twists and turns are par for the course. However, the opening round of the 2024 Series at Sebring delivered a devastating blow to the championship aspirations of several top contenders.

A major accident on Lap 38, at the final corner of the track, entangled a significant portion of the front-running cars, leaving drivers such as Madison Down, James Scott, and Jarrad Filsell scrambling to pick up the pieces. With the championship fight for these drivers effectively starting at Round 2, slated to commence at Phillip Island on April 10th, the question now looms large: How can these drivers bounce back and resurrect their championship hopes over the remaining 11 rounds?

The Sebring incident sent shockwaves through the racing community, particularly among fans and pundits who had earmarked the aforementioned drivers as prime contenders for the 2024 title. Reigning champion Madison Down, whose skill and consistency has made him a force to be reckoned with, found himself caught in the chaos along with 2023 runner-up James Scott and 2022 champion Jarrad Filsell. The collision also affected a slew of other drivers, including Brady Meyers, Ethan Grigg-Gault, and Josh Anderson, all of whom were anticipated to play pivotal roles in the championship chase.

Jarrad Filsell sits stricken on the track after being involved in the lap 38 crash

For these drivers, the road to redemption begins with resilience and adaptability. The setback at Sebring served as a stark reminder of the unforgiving nature of competitive racing, where fortunes can change in the blink of an eye. However, true champions are defined not by their ability to avoid adversity but by their response to it. As they prepare to tackle the challenges that lie ahead, each driver must adopt a strategic approach to maximize their chances of success.

First and foremost, the drivers must focus on maintaining a positive mindset. Dwelling on past misfortunes will only serve to hinder their performance on the track. Madison Down stated: "It doesn’t really change my approach. The plan is always to maximise each race and having a shocker in Round 1 doesn’t change that."

James Scott also shared a similar mindset by saying that his approach is to "Tackle the rest of the season the exact same way. Just try and rack up as many wins as possible. "

Above all, perseverance will be the hallmark of those who rise to the challenge and emerge victorious. The road to the championship is fraught with obstacles and setbacks, but it is those who refuse to succumb to adversity who ultimately come out on top. After a technical failure at this very race in the inaugural 2022 Season Madison Down knows all too well how hard the fightback can be after he managed to resurrect a second place finish in the overall points that year.

He said: "The difference this time around versus 2022 is that almost the entire championship contending line up also had shockers. So the title fight is still wide open in my opinion. The positive to take out of Round 1 is that we’re fast. We were in a super strong position all night and definitely fast enough to get the job done. I’m confident that we can still defend the Number 1, it’s just going to take an absolutely flawless year from here with no room for any more mistakes or penalties."

Madison Down limped his battered TTR Commodore home for a P31 finish

As James Scott mentions, the additional two rounds in the 2024 championship also serve as an extra opportunity for drivers to score points: "Naturally 12 rounds could benefit me but won't do anything if we don't have the car speed so ensuring we are as fast as we can be at each round will be paramount and we will see we're we round up at the end."

As the championship battle shifts to Phillip Island for Round 2, the contenders must steel themselves for the challenges that lie ahead. With their championship hopes hanging in the balance, there is no room for error. However, in the crucible of competition, true champions are forged, and the stage is set for a thrilling display of motorsport prowess. The road to redemption begins now, and only time will tell which driver will emerge triumphant in the 2024 Logitech G Pro Invitational Series.

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