While much of the western world is winding down for the festive period, there’s no let up in the Gran Turismo Sport Daily Races, which continue on their weekly cycle and bring a new set of races for the next seven days.
The new set of three races gives some less commonly seen cars and circuits a chance to make an appearance, along with a combination that’s right out of the FIA Online Championship playbook for some familiar fun.
Race A this week is a wholly British affair. You’ll be driving an Aston Martin around Goodwood, which is about as British as it gets without of a cup of tea and persistent rain.
The car for the week is the Aston Martin V8 Vantage S, the last car in the Aston Martin range to use the V8 that the brand shared with Jaguar before switching to AMG-sourced engines. This five-lap race of the Goodwood Motor Circuit, on Sports Medium tires, is a pretty good way to send it off.
With no thought for virtual carbon emissions, you’ll be jetting across to the opposite side of the planet for Race B, which takes you to Australia’s Mount Panorama — also known as Bathurst.
It’s not quite a V8 Supercar race, or GT3 class endurance event, as you’ll be driving the road car-derived Gr.4 vehicles. These are essentially production models stripped back to basics, with a handful of upgraded components to survive the punishing environment of the race track — except for the Megane V6, which is a race car in wolf-shaped sheep’s clothing.
As usual we’d expect the front-wheel drive cars to be top of the tree when it comes to lap times this week and, as it’s a three-lap sprint with no tire wear at all, they’ll likely have the best race pace too.
Race C has another outing for the Gr.2 cars — six vehicles from Japan’s Super GT series, consisting of one each from Honda, Lexus, and Nissan for each of the 2008 and 2016 seasons. However it’s the circuit that’s the unusual factor this week.
Circuit de Sainte-Croix is making only its seventh appearance ever in the Daily Races, only nine weeks after its last; the circuit usual only pops up every October for some fresh air.
You’ll have six laps of the reverse version of the C layout, and in that time you must use both the Racing Medium and Racing Soft for a minimum of one racing lap each. Pitting on the last lap or, if you’re starting far enough back, before you reach the line on the first lap, won’t count.
Those that don’t follow this direction — and there’s always a few of them — will face a one-minute penalty added to their time after the race.
The three races will run through to Monday December 27, when another set will replace them.
Race A
- Track: Goodwood Motor Circuit, 5 laps
- Car: Aston Martin V8 Vantage S ’15 – Provided Car
- Tires: Sports Medium
- Start Type: Grid Start
- Fuel use: Off
- Tire use: Off
Race B
- Track: Mount Panorama, 3 laps
- Car: Gr.4 – Garage Car
- Tires: Racing Medium
- Start Type: Rolling Start
- Fuel use: Off
- Tire use: Off
Race C
- Track: Circuit de Sainte-Croix C II, 6 laps
- Car: Gr.2 – Garage Car
- Tires: Racing Soft*, Racing Medium*
- Start Type: Rolling Start
- Fuel use: 2x
- Tire use: 5x
*denotes mandatory tire
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