A brand new endurance series began this weekend – the iRacing Endurance Series. Featuring GTE, GT3, GT4 & TCR cars, the series will head to 4 circuits across the year, each with a 12 Hour race.
For the opening round, the Rev It Up Racing eSports Team brought two cars for Suzuka for the 12 Hours of Suzuka.
Rev It Up Racing eSports Team A
Ferrari 488 GT3
The all-Australian lineup of Jeremiah Morton, Jackson Freer & Sam Doecke started on the third row of the grid in the GT3 class, with Freer qualifying in 5th. After quickly moving into 4th place, the race would come undone on just Lap 4. The 3rd placed car span in front of Freer, and, making a split second decision of which way to avoid the incident, Freer was collected by the spinning car, and set backwards into the barrier. The incident dropped him back to 15th place, with damage costing him a second or more per lap. After the first stint, the team took close to 3 minutes to repair the car to a competitive pace.
With 11 hours still remaining, and so many unknowns in the new series, the trio put their heads down and worked hard, slowly grinding their way from 15th, up into the Top 10, and eventually, in contention for a Top 5 finish in the closing hours.
A triple stint by Morton between hours 6 – 9 of the race closed the gap to 5th place, leaving Doecke & Freer to finish the job. A great end to the race saw Doecke hold a 15 second margin back to 6th, to come home with a Top 5 result!
Rev It Up Racing eSports Team B
Ferrari 488 GT3
Cedric Finsac (FRA), Thomas Pendergrass (USA) & Keegan Sutton-Baker (AUS), also hoped for a good start to the season. However, early dramas would also plague this car, with Finsac being hit hard by a lapped car in the opening stages.
Unfortunately, even after repairs and trying to get the car back on track, the incident would result in a DNF for the team, clocking just 54 laps in the race.
It was a dissappointing result for the team, but a situation that was completely out of their control.
Rev It Up Racing eSports Team A – GT3 – 5th
Rev It Up Racing eSports Team B – GT3 – 15th / DNF
The team now prepares for the 24 Hours Nurburgring, arguably the most challenging race of the entire year.
