Previewing Opening Night at Daytona for GTPRO Series

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.

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.

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 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!