I want you to picture this: you’re alone, it’s 10 PM, your room lit only by the glow of your monitor, hands sweaty on the wheel, heart pounding, and the timer says… there’s still an hour left in the race.
That was my first endurance race in iRacing. Two hours. In a GT3. I’d never done more than a 25-minute sprint race. I thought, “How hard could it be?” Spoiler: a lot harder than I expected.
I asked what to expect in an IMSA endurance race. The advice came pouring in: “Practice pit entries,” “Don’t take tires on a splash and dash,” “Watch out for LMP2s—they’re aggressive,” “Fuel save if you can,” “The last hour is the Spooky Hour.” I thought they were exaggerating. They weren’t.
During practice, I quickly realized this wasn’t a race of speed. It was a race of patience. Of consistency. Someone said not to fight for positions early on because a lot of drivers take themselves out. They were right. Within the first 30 minutes, I saw at least five cars bouncing off walls like ping-pong balls. And there I was, taking each corner like I had all the time in the world.
Then the fatigue hit. My mind started to wander. Mistakes crept in. The car began to feel different. Of course—it was lighter on fuel, tires were wearing, the track was evolving. It felt like everything was working against me. That’s when I remembered another piece of advice: “Identify the two sketchiest corners on the track and give them margin every time.” I did. And I stayed in the race.
The pit stop was a circus. I forgot to uncheck tire changes on my second stop. Lost 40 seconds. Totally unnecessary. And as I watched the cars fly by on the straight, I seriously considered quitting. But I didn’t. Because I remembered something else: “Forget about position—let the race come to you.”
And it did. One by one, other drivers’ mistakes brought me back into the fight. An LMP2 overshot the traffic. Another GT3 braked too late. And there I was, 10 minutes to go, running in P5 after starting in P17. I didn’t win. But I finished. In one piece. Smiling.
The lesson is simple: in endurance racing, like in life, the fastest don’t always win. Sometimes, it’s the ones who just refuse to give up. The ones who understand that every lap is a chance to learn, not to impress.
So if you’re thinking of doing your first endurance race, here’s my advice: don’t go to race. Go to learn. Go to endure. And most of all, go to enjoy it.
Because at the end of the day, that’s what makes it all worth it.
- Remember, you can join iRacing clicking here.
Happy Racing!
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That’s very good advice. Next thing you will be doing 4 hour Nurburgring Endurance Championship races, solo. It gets to be a real mind game and you can get a sore butt after 3 1/2 hours. It gets hard to keep your head in the game and not let your mind wander. It’s very satisfying to get to the finish after 4 hours
I believe that you can now do the 3 hour GT3 races solo these days. It used to be a team race only.
I firmly believe that to tick the endurance driver box & to be prepared for the long endurance team races, you need to prove to yourself in practice, that you can get through a stint or double/triple stint. Practice those pit entries and learn the car feel throughout the whole run.