Brendan Iribe attempts the unbelievable: US driver races IMSA and GTWC on the same weekend – He has title chances in both
10-hour race, flyer, 3-hour race: Brendan Iribe is attempting one of the most ambitious motorsport projects in recent memory: The co-founder of Oculus VR will compete in two races that are 7,300 kilometres apart. In both cases, he will be fighting for titles in his class.
On Saturday, he will drive the Petit Le Mans, the season finale of the IMSA Sportscar Championship, at Road Atlanta. At the time of the article’s initial publication, he has completed the necessary two and a half hours of driving at a stretch. Now it’s time to shower and head to the airport. He shares the McLaren 720S GT3 with Jordan Pepper and Sebastian Priaulx.
Then it’s off to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The season finale of the GT World Challenge (GTWC) Europe will take place there. Iribe will also be driving a McLaren 720S GT3, which he shares with Ollie Millroy and Frederik Schandorff. Millroy is actually his regular IMSA teammate as well, but the Brit is concentrating on GTWC this weekend and will therefore be represented by “Seb” Priaulx.
Iribe admits that this scenario was not originally on his mind. “Our goal has actually been to lead only one of the two championships,” he tells ‘Sportscar365’. “I don’t think we had considered what it would mean if we were to lead both championships at the end of the season when the dates clash. So we have to make the best of it now. “
The itinerary is set: drive two and a half hours on Road Atlanta, then fly from Hartsfield-Jackson Airport to Barcelona. “I will arrive between 6 and 7 o’clock. The [GTWC] qualifying starts at 9am.” In GTWC, the lap average of all three drivers on the car counts in qualifying.
“The biggest challenge will be that I have no practice at all in Barcelona,” the 43-year-old continued. “That makes a big difference. After ten to 20 laps you are in the flow. That’s true here and for Barcelona. I just can’t make any mistakes and have to do what they taught me.”
In IMSA, Iribe is fighting to win the Endurance Cup, which consists of the 24 Hours of Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring, the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen and the Petit Le Mans. In the more prestigious overall standings, he has no chance of winning the title because he has missed several IMSA rounds.
In GTWC, he is also fighting for the Endurance title in the Gold Cup. Unlike in IMSA, this is the more prestigious classification, as the overall classification (in which there is no Gold Cup anyway) consisting of Sprint and Endurance Cup is only held by a few teams. Brendan Iribe also races in the World Endurance Championship (WEC), where he plays no role in the GTE Am title, however.
