Everything You Need to Know About the Indy 500 iRacing Special Event

After a spectacular Indy 500 last weekend, now it is the turn of the iRacing community to bring the action in this weekend's eagerly anticipated return of the Special Event to the service.

With a year away due to licencing issues, the Indianapolis 500 iRacing Special Event is back with a bit of a different structure compared to the last time. With the deal made at the eleventh hour to revive the event, they had to fit it around the already confirmed Nürburgring 24 Hours and Coke 600 events.

Whereas in past years where they would run the Fixed setup event on the second weekend of May and the Open setup event the following week preceding the real life race, both the Fixed and Open setup events are condensed into this weekend.


So if you are preparing an assault on the greatest spectacle in sim racing, here is all you need to know about the Indianapolis 500 Special Event on iRacing.

Unattached Qualifying​

First and foremost, what do you need to compete in the event? The content for starters, including the Dallara IR18 IndyCar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. You will also need to have a minimum of a Class D Oval licence and a safety rating of 4.0. With how notoriously difficult it is to gain SR in ovals, it may be a bit difficult to get the high enough licence class in such little time if you have not already got it.

Assuming you already have the minimum entry requirements, let this be your reminder: there will be no qualifying in any of the race servers. You will have to qualify in an independent session throughout the week. From 28-31 May, there will be sessions every hour for competitors to attempt their four lap average assault on the Brickyard, and you can have multiple runs if you so desire.


For the Fixed setup event, all sessions will begin on the hour whilst the Open setup event's sessions will be at half past the hour. To ensure as level a playing field as possible, the conditions will remain static for qualifying. Ultimately, you will not know your starting position for the most part until sign ups open for the races.

Unlike other special events, your oval iRating does not determine which split you will be placed in. Instead, your qualifying effort is what counts - think of it like an enormous leaderboard that gets split into a new group every 33 entries. Those who did not set a qualifying speed will be grouped by iRating instead.

Race Timeslots​

There will be four time slots each for the Fixed and Open setup races from 1-2 June. The weather conditions will vary from race to race session, but do not fret: there will be no rain. Partly because the Dallara IR18 IndyCar on iRacing is not Tempest-compatible, but mostly because oval racing does not take place in the rain - as evidenced by last Sunday's race, which was delayed by about four hours because of the rain.

The timeslots for all events are as follows using Coordinated Universal Time (UTC):

Fixed Setup​

• 1 June - 5:00
• 1 June - 9:00
• 1 June - 21:00
• 2 June - 17:00

Open Setup​

• 1 June - 1:00
• 1 June - 13:00
• 1 June - 17:00
• 2 June - 13:00

As always, there will be a broadcast of the top split in one of the 17:00 timeslots for the Open setup race on 1 June and the Fixed setup race on 2 June. So chances are if you have set a fast enough time then you may feature on iRacing's own broadcast.

Best of luck if you intend to do the Indy 500 iRacing Special Event this weekend! Just remember, no going four wide like the real life drivers were trying to do at the weekend. Also, here is a guide on our YouTube channel by our own @Emily Jones.


Will you be attempting the Indy 500 on iRacing this weekend? Let us know your choices on Twitter @OverTake_gg or in the comments below!