iRacing Rallycross All-Star Invitational presented by Yokohama Race Preview: Brands Hatch
After more than a dozen thrilling invitational battles last year, the iRacing Rallycross All-Star Invitational presented by Yokohama returns for four rounds this spring, kicking off with Tuesday’s visit to Brands Hatch. This year’s iRX All-Star rounds will highlight some of iRacing’s newest rallycross content, providing viewers with back-to-back races for both real-world pros and some of the fastest sim racers in the world.
The real-world drivers on the grid will once again include a diverse slate of both rallycross’ biggest names and crossover drivers from other major series. Names like Scott Speed, Kevin Hansen, Andreas Bakkerud, Chris Atkinson, and Conner Martell that dominate the sport in the real world will once again welcome crossover stars like IndyCar’s Conor Daly, Ed Carpenter, and James Hinchcliffe, dirt oval standouts Kevin Swindell and Mike McKinney, stage rally veterans Kristian Sohlberg and Brandon Semenuk, NHRA champion Ron Capps, Nitro Circus daredevils Blake “Bilko” Williams and Jim DeChamp, and more.
On the sim racer side, 16 of the drivers from last year’s iRacing Rallycross World Championship presented by Yokohama either automatically qualified by World Championship performance, or earned their way in through a special Time Attack session. Defending iRX World Champion Yohann Harth leads the automatic qualifiers, but he added a 54.468 second lap in the Time Attack, good for second overall, for good measure. The fastest Time Attack lap went to Matt Adams with a time of 54.438 seconds.
iRacing’s Brands Hatch rallycross layout, one of three new courses released in the past two builds, will host both divisions this week. The design is a mix of the real-world Brands Hatch layout used in the Rallycross Grand Prix in the 1980s and 1990s, and new elements designed by iRacing to give the track a modern feel. Tuesday will be the first major iRacing-sanctioned event on the course before it makes its official iRX World Championship debut later this year.
For drivers looking to join the All-Star Invitational in future weeks, more Time Attack sessions are on the way from Tuesday-Friday GMT prior to each race week. The sim racer events continue with visits to Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on May 4, Atlanta Motor Speedway on May 11, and Charlotte Motor Speedway on June 1. The real-world pros will head to Daytona International Speedway and Sonoma Raceway for the May events before rejoining the sim pros in Charlotte for the finale.
iRacing Rallycross All-Star Invitational presented by Yokohama action from Brands Hatch kicks off on Tuesday at 5PM ET/2PM PT on iRacing, Nitro Circus, and Roadshow by CNET social media channels. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.
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