For the first time this season, drivers are getting their Pro Series preparations underway at a venue they’ve tackled already in the recent past.

Week 10 of the Inaugural iRacing Supercars Series saw the first racing in the Gen3 Chassis at the Red Bull Ring. On that occasion, Brodie Kostecki took pole position with Jarrad Filsell starting alongside. Look out for the Lobs Esports crew to fire back after a weaker qualifying session from Race 1.

Its prolonged flowing corners combined with the track width create a unique opportunity to not just overtake, but bang doors all the way to the edge of the track! While there may be an array of opportunities to throw switchbacks, there are equally as many chances to cover them off mid corner. Mix in the never-ending straights that span nigh-on two thirds of the lap, and you have a recipe for one of the most exciting nights of the season.

What went down last year?

Well, the Red Bull Ring marked the quarter way mark of that season, and was also the point where the title race started to become a lot clearer. Robbie Gibbs was still leading the pack after 2024’s ‘big one’ at Sebring, but we had an excellent fight already brewing.

Here in 2025, Filsell continues to be a force to be reckoned with as he stands at the top of the championship order. Lobs’ race pace looked dangerously strong at Sebring, and with their recent history at the Red Bull Ring, they are tough to look past.

The big question mark for me thus far is that James Scott had the weakest race pace of the front runners toward the back end of the stint. Being on pole and out front early gave him a safety blanket with free air. He took pole and the race win last year, but that was with Filsell’s worst Qualifying of the season; I don’t expect lightning to strike twice there.

So what am I expecting come the end of Qualifying and the drop of the Green Flag? 

As one of the shorter laps of the season and large portions of the track spent under full throttle, the margin between the cars and teams tends to close up. Add in the fact the Gen3 has a fixed wing angle, and everyone will be on the same downforce with similar drag profiles. 

All this adds up to what I would expect to be the closest qualifying and race pace of the year. Sandown is the only other track to provide this sort of ‘closeness’, but with the added bumps and focus on traction the cars can spread themselves out a touch.

This venue tends to see drivers like Ric Kuznetsov (9INE5IVE), Jake Moloney (TTR), Andrew Gilliam (Lobs) pop their names up the running order and look to bank their largest points totals of the season. 

Race strategy is going to be of utmost importance in Austria, most notably fuel burn. Once again, it's going to be a split strategy race. With the critical lap number also marking the halfway point of the race on lap 26, we’re going to see a lot of drivers trimming the car out and running lean to have some ‘punch’ in the middle stint.

No one will fill the car at the first stop; if you do, you will be sitting still waiting on tyres for too long. That is unless we get a Safety Car after lap 20…

On that note, the chances of a Safety Car are minimal. Enormous track widths, large run-offs and the ability to get away from the action generally lead to the BMW M4 sitting in pit lane all night. Maybe the Safety Car driver will wander off for a famous Austrian feed!

If you’re down the order and looking for a slice of luck, I would absolutely goal hang or dive in around lap 5 to open up the strategy calls that come with getting a touch lucky.

Tow and fuel saving are going to be big as well. Last year, the top two broke away whilst nobody wanted to lead the remainder of the field. This year, it's going to be more divebombs and momentum-breaking as everyone wants to sit about 3rd in the queue. Close enough to the front to go for it when you need to, but not at the front in the brunt of the air!

Predictions

Did I miss someone? Do you think someone else deserves to be further up the pecking order?

Is chaos and calamity finally going to strike?

Be there on Wednesday @ 7.45pm AEDT for the 2nd race of the 2025 Logitech G V8PRO Invitational.