Previews

The wait is finally over, we’re back in action for Round 2 of The Gamesmen GT Pro Invitational Series!

This time out, Australasia’s best GT3 drivers leave the iconic banks of Daytona behind and head to the sweeping peaks and troughs of Fuji International Speedway.

This electrifying, high-altitude mix of long straights, flowing corners, and slow technical sections makes this venue a must-watch for drivers and fans alike.

Before the lights go out on Friday night, here’s a quick recap of the story so far and a few things to keep an eye on!

Who showed up in Daytona?

It was Evolution Racing Team who took the chocolates in Daytona, with Lachlan Caple and Hayden Veld claiming a dominant victory in their Corvette Z06 GT3.R. They were hotly tailed for the better part of the race by the Vermillion Esports #17, piloted by Zach Rattray-White and Jamie Christison, who finished second.

Things weren’t so bright for other sides of the ERT garage, with the #7 Corvette of Jobe Stewart and Matthew Bowler experiencing race-ending issues in the dying stages. A devastating fall from grace after starting on pole position.

ERT came out on top at Daytona

To make matters worse, the #456 Corvette of Jon Piesnik and Reece Gucul was also involved in a late incident that left them with a 40-second stop and hold penalty after the fact.

Eclipse Simsports were also out in force in Daytona, but slipped down the order while on the attack. That allowed two ERT Corvettes to dart up the road with relative ease, enabling their eventual race victory. Kody Deith and Dylan Birse managed to wheel their #1 Acura NSX GT3 Evo onto the podium regardless, with teammates Byron Phillips and Lachlan Cowie finishing just behind in the #69.

One Performance Racing joined Eclipse with two cars inside the top 10, with the Arete eSports #79 and Orbit Drop Bear #862 also sneaking into the front running order.

What’s on the menu for Fuji?

Round 2 of any championship always delivers an exciting dynamic. While you can absolutely get a general indicator of pace from one round, it is hard to tell who is a genuine threat until things play out in a series-length timeline.

What we can be sure of, though, is the race format! As will be the case for every round of The Gamesmen GT Pro Invitational Series, drivers will be tasked with a three-hour endurance race, with the grid set by a 20-minute open qualifying session.

With 16 corners sprawled throughout 4.5km of Japan’s finest asphalt, Fuji delivers an exciting challenge for engineers and drivers. At Daytona, setting up a car is generally about how much wing you can strip off the car without it becoming undriveable - mainly at the bus-stop chicane.

Here in Fuji, engineers have a little more to consider with a number of high-load corners making low downforce setups notably difficult to drive. Drivers must have a degree of tolerance though; nearly 40% of a lap around this place is pedal to the metal. Teams cannot afford to lose even half a km/h of straight-line speed on their competitors.

Will the threat of Rain play a role on Race Day?

Crunch time for car selection!

On the note of top speed, it will be interesting to see which teams opt for a different car choice to their Daytona entries. Teams have two cars to choose from in their arsenal to maximise performance at different circuits. For this one, I’d expect a number of Acura’s you may have seen in Daytona to be taking a rest day.

There are a significant number of teams with McLaren 720S EVO’s, Ford Mustang’s, and Ferrari 296’s up their sleeves. While the Acura NSX continues to show significant strength in the GT3 category, teams will surely be grasping at the opportunity to run a car with a subtle edge in straight-line speed.

But with rain not entirely out of the equation, car choice may not be such a clear-cut decision to make. The Acura is notably strong in both wet and dry conditions, which is something teams cannot look past when considering outright adaptability. At the moment, precipitation chances are relatively low, but the iRacing Tempest weather system is not to be mocked!

Don’t miss out on the action; catch Australasia’s most competitive GT3 series live on SimSpeed on the night of May 16th!

Published on

by Harrison Lillas

After a month-long break from Pre Qualifying at Phillip Island, the 2025 GT Pro Invitational Series is now just days away. With 40 cars separated by just 0.616s - and five ominous contenders securing their place from the OSR Bathurst 12 Hour - the scene has been set for six exhilarating rounds of racing action.

Before the lights go out for Round 1 in Daytona, here’s everything you need to know about the GT Pro Invitational so far!

The class of 2025 shapes up

To earn their spot in the region’s pinnacle of GT competition, teams would need all hands on deck to wrestle the peaks and troughs of the iconic Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.

Drivers had three nights to complete their laps, and car choices were not mandatory as final selections for the series should they make the 40-car cutoff line.

At the top of the finalised timesheets was the Trans Tasman Racing #77, setting a 1:26.669 to pip Evolution Racing Team’s #7 by just 0.021s.

Madison Down set the pace at Phillip Island in Pre Qualfying

There was absolutely nothing in it throughout the field, with a number of familiar team names in Eclipse Simsports, Vermillion eSports, 9INE5IVE Simsport, Blackout OPR, and Synergy Sim Racing all entering multiple cars.

Five additional entrants made the list without having to pre-qualify, having caught the eyes of ASRG through their results in the OSR Bathurst 12 Hour. These ‘Golden Ticket’ entries included the Eclipse Simsport car that won the event, two from Blackout OPR, one from Evolution Racing Team, and another from Orbit Drop Bear.

In total, there will be 45 cars on the GT Pro Invitational grid.

Locked in manufacturer selections

The GT Pro Invitational requires that teams commit to two cars selected at the beginning of the season. While teams can switch between these cars whenever they see fit, car choice remains an incredibly difficult task.

While assumptions can be made about ‘top speed cars’ being a strong choice for this calendar, there is also plenty of time throughout the season for iRacing to morph the strengths and weaknesses of the ever-changing GT3 roster.

Mid-engine cars remain the choice for outright grip, but teams will have to factor in top-speed performance with tracks like Fuji, Le Mans, and COTA on the horizon.

A lo of interest circulates car selection for the 2025 Season

The lay of the land

Each round of the GT Pro Invitational will consist of a three-hour endurance race, with the grid set by a 20 minute open qualifying session.

Teams must run at least two drivers per car for each event. They can select from a pre-approved roster of up to 4 of their drivers, which can be used freely throughout the season.

The server will be open to drivers from 7pm (AEDT) for a 60 minute practice session, followed by qualifying directly after at 8pm. There will be a 10 minute grid walk after qualifying, with the green flag dropping at 8:30pm.

Viewers will be able to hear from the drivers in the post-race show at 11:30pm.

The broadcaster for the entire GT Pro Invitational season will be SimSpeed TV, who are proud to return following a successful partnership with ASRG in the Logitech G Pro Invitational Series in 2024.

The high speed nature of Daytona is guaranteed to create excitement on Friday Night

The drivers-eye view of Daytona

GT3 racing at Daytona is a unique challenge, both in finding outright speed in qualifying and climbing positions in a race scenario.

The ‘Key to Daytona Road’ is a very simple formula. Much like its oval counterpart, you will need slipstream to go fast. If you want to be anywhere competitive in the starting order, you will need to stay in the train. Falling out of sync will mark disaster for a driver's qualifying efforts.

That formula gets complicated when you throw 45 antsy drivers into a race situation. In an ideal world, everybody stays calm and saves fuel behind the leader. With plenty of opportunities for lifting and coasting, there are laps of fuel to be saved in the pitlane across 3 hours of racing.

But this is not an ideal world; this is the opening round of the most competitive GT3 Championship in Australasia. ‘The train’ is likely to be broken down into groups as the race progresses, and it will be crucial for drivers to maintain composure as this happens.

If there is one thing you can put your money on, it’s that this series won’t be one to miss.

Catch all the action from Daytona on SimSpeed TV, the night of March 28th!

Published on

by Harrison Lillas