What happened
iRacing will add a Gen 4 Cup winter championship in the regular season’s Fixed NiS time slots. The returning winter championship will take the four slots previously used by Open NiS, and both competitions will use fixed setups throughout the winter.
Both championships begin racing on Wednesday, November 11 at the 2009 version of Michigan International Speedway. Each opener will cover 100 laps, with 5 tire sets allocated for each race.
Details
The Gen 4 championship will offer the 2003 Chevrolet Monte Carlo and Ford Taurus. The returning 1987 championship keeps its existing selection of Buick LeSabre, Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Ford Thunderbird and Pontiac Grand Prix.
The new championship’s weekly races will run Wednesday at 4:00 p.m., Thursday at 9:00 p.m., Saturday at 5:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m., and Sunday at 9:00 p.m., all Eastern time. The returning championship’s weekly races will run Wednesday at 9:00 p.m., Thursday at 2:00 p.m., Friday at 9:00 p.m. and Sunday at 10:00 a.m., also Eastern time.
The new championship heads to legacy Phoenix for a 156-lap race on the 2008 layout in the 2nd round. The returning championship instead visits Richmond for 200 laps in its 2nd round, followed in December by Dover for 200 laps and the 2009 version of Pocono for 80 laps. Both championships finish in February at legacy Daytona, with a 200-lap race on each schedule.
The new championship will visit Las Vegas and Chicagoland in December, with each race scheduled for 134 laps. Both rounds will allocate 6 tire sets per driver for the race.