The inaugural eNASCAR International iRacing Series season, featuring drivers from the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, NASCAR PEAK Mexico Series, NASCAR Pinty’s Series, and NASCAR Drive for Diversity, draws to a close tonight at 7PM ET. After Simon Pilate and Agustin Canapino split the first two rounds of the three-race series, tonight’s visit to the Daytona International Speedway Road Course will either serve as the rubber match between them, or one more opportunity for someone else to find their way into the winner’s circle.
The conversion of Daytona’s iconic road course for NASCAR use has been a recent revelation for the sport’s top national series. Initially added to the 2020 NASCAR schedule in place of Watkins Glen due to COVID-19 restrictions, and slightly modified from the layout used by the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the Daytona road course immediately proved a popular enough addition to earn more usage in 2021 across the board for the NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity Series, and Camping World Truck Series.
In the virtual world, it’ll prove an interesting final venue for what has been one of the more unique sim racing series for real-world pros. Dominant performances by Pilate and Canapino were the story of the past two weeks, as each led every lap but a small handful during their respective pit cycles. However, only Pilate and Victor Barrales Jr. have cracked the top five in both races thus far, as Canapino missed the opener.
After running 70 laps on the Brands Hatch Indy layout to open the season and 25 at Circuit of the Americas last week, tonight’s visit to Daytona is scheduled for 30 laps. That’ll make it the longest race on the calendar at a total of 106.8 miles, about 20 miles longer than each of the previous events. It’s also a little more than half of the 52 laps that the real-world Xfinity Series, whose virtual vehicle counterparts are used in these events, ran on the track this February.
Tonight’s eNASCAR International iRacing Series broadcast from the Daytona International Speedway Road Course will air at 6PM ET at eNASCAR.com/live. World feed broadcasts in multiple other languages will also be available. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.
