iRacing released a heavily reworked tyre model for the GTP cars in the 2025 Season 2, and our resident top split 9k iRating pro Markus Søholm put together a guide to help out all players who may be struggling ahead of this weekend's Sebring 12 Hour Special Event.
When iRacing's GTP tyre model was updated in the in the 2025 Season 1 build, the cars became way too fast compared to how they are in reality. The developers set to work correcting this and have now brought the cars a lot closer to the way they behave in real life.
But just because it is more authentic it does not mean it is easier - quite the contrary. With the Sebring 12 Hour iRacing Special Event taking place this weekend, it is perhaps inevitable that many of those driving the cars for the first time will be caught out by how snappy they are.
With all that in mind, we turned to our resident iRacing pro Markus Søholm, who finished P2 in the primetime top split of the iRacing Daytona 24 back in January. He is on hand to provide you with tips to ensure as easy a time of it as possible in the prototypes this weekend.
Tyre Temperature
When leaving the pits for an outlap, Markus suggests to take care which seems easy enough, right? But it is not enough to just be careful, leaning on the tyres even when braking can be a recipe for disaster. Even going around a flat out kink can be precarious.It may be tempting to do a burnout coming out of the pits, but this results in an imbalance with the front tyres being too cold, plus the rear tyres overheating which can also result in spins. Weaving may seem like it could help, but it seems to not be making much of a difference and is hardly worth the effort.
All weaving can do is wear the tyre out quicker and that may work out for the worse in the long run. The best thing to do is hold back, gently apply steering, throttle and brakes, no unnecessary snaps or sudden movements. If the car's traction control lights are flashing even long after exiting a corner, do not be afraid to lift slightly. This is how GTP drivers do their warm-ups in real life of course.
It will not be uncommon for a GT3 to have better traction in the corners in this phase, so if a GT3 ends up trying to pass, let it happen. Just make sure to not have given them a reason to go for a very overzealous divebomb, with how often GTP drivers just throw their car down the inside from very far back, the tables could turn here so make no enemies.
After your first lap out of the pits, do not think it is over as the car will still require gradual inputs so build confidence slowly. Eventually, the tyres will be up to temperature and it will be business as usual.
Grip, Wear and Track Temp
As many will have noticed, it is no longer possible to take corners at F1-style speeds in these cars. The update has made them feel a lot heavier: Sebring's T1 is a good example of feeling the car's weight dragging it to the outside of the corner, thus making it feel a lot more different across a stint.Whilst in the previous build, these cars could be thrown around and would still grip, now they really need the driver to be smooth, even more than before. Minimising lock-ups and being gradually flowing with the steering will work wonders over a stint. Maybe you can then afford to double stint tyres.
Here is the expected temperature for the Sebring 12 hour. Image: iRacing UI
The track temperature will be expectedly hot throughout the 12 Hour, and if you are wanting to avoid having to go through that dreaded warm up phase, it may be worth following the real life drivers by only changing tyres at every other stop. Make sure to run a full stint during practice to see how worn they are in the black box after pulling into your pit slot.
Make a note of the track temperature, and if it is rather high, expect the tyres to be more worn when it is hot. But after the sun sets (which will be blinding at parts of the track), it may be possible to run another stint on the tyres if that has not been possible up until that point. But as Markus claims, it may not be feasible to double stint the tyres all the way through.
As the tyre wear is so high on the abrasive concrete, it will take a special driver to go through a stint at a decent pace and still have enough when they pit to do another. Keep in mind that it is not possible to know what the tyre wear rate figure is in the black box until after pulling in to the pit slot, so try doing a full stint beforehand in warm conditions.
Qualifying Strategy and Start
With how iRacing officials work, there is a single session of eight minutes and only two timed laps plus the out lap. Of course, being relatively careful on the out lap is key but with how the tyres are, it is not worth pushing for that first push lap. Put the car into No Deploy on the battery for the out lap and first push lap, carefully build up temperature, and there will only be one real push lap.Remember, just because there has been two build up laps does not mean that the car is in the optimal range. Push of course but do not over exert. It may be tempting to go for a banzai lap but it is likely that if you just get one valid fast lap on the board, there will not be many people starting ahead of you, whether that is due to them picking up an invalidation or that they have used up all their deployment on their first sub-optimal push lap.
Since tyre wear does not play a factor in qualifying, feel free to do some weaving - providing the temperature is not scorching, which it could end up being if the temperature graphic is to be believed. Plus if you do end up weaving, you are on your own so you are in no danger of hitting another driver, which is an additional bonus.
Of course at the start, take great care on the first lap and keep an eye out for people who push too early. Remember, it is a marathon and not a sprint, one that will last 12 hours. This applies even for the 45 minute sprints that are held throughout the week. Feel free to do some practice in one of those races before your 12 hour effort.
The first timeslot for the event goes up at 22:00 UTC on Friday 21st, with the rest doing so on Saturday 22nd at 7:00, 12:00 and 16:00 UTC.
Are you planning on tackling the iRacing Sebring 12 hour? Let us know in the comments below and join the discussion in our iRacing forum!
