Weekly Digest: August Week 1

Ivan Taranov
2 days ago
3 min read

Payton May: From GT7 to iRacing, and Already Knocking on the Door

Some transitions look easy from the outside. This isn’t one of them. Moving from Gran Turismo 7 to iRacing is a shock to the system. What feels natural in GT7 suddenly isn’t enough. The cars in iRacing demand precision. Every input matters. Steering, throttle, braking - everything has to be cleaner, sharper. One small mistake? That’s often all it takes. And that’s exactly the challenge Payton May took on. One of the fastest GT7 drivers stepping into a completely different world.

Foxxteca GT3: Deep End Immediately

No easing into it either. Payton’s first serious test came in the Foxxteca GT3 Championship. A high-level iRacing series with a prize pool close to $7,000, attracting strong, experienced competition across the grid. This isn’t where you learn slowly. This is where you either adapt… or get left behind.

The first five rounds? Not easy. There were flashes of speed, no doubt. Moments where the pace was clearly there. But also incidents, setbacks, racing chaos. Some his fault, some not. Either way, the results didn’t reflect the potential. But that’s part of the process.

Round 6. Sebring. August 5th.

This is where things changed. Starting P25 in a 30+ car field, Payton kept it together. No overdriving. No unnecessary risks. Just clean, controlled racing, exactly what iRacing demands. Lap by lap, positions started coming. And by the end? P4: career best in iRacing. In that field. In that championship. After just a couple of months in the sim.

Now there’s only one thing missing: the coveted podium. Because in a series like this, that’s where the real rewards begin. Literally. And with the way this trajectory is going, it’s not a question of if. It’s a question of when.

ARL Touring Car Britain – Knockhill: Small Track, Big Hits

Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Knockhill.

Knockhill who?

Knockhill… where your race can be over before Lap 1 is.

Shortest track on the calendar. Northernmost stop. No room, no mercy, no time to recover. And as expected, this round delivered wheel-to-wheel battles, comebacks, and some serious points.

Pro Class

Charlie Devlin – P5, P2, P1

Another round, another statement. Charlie just keeps delivering. Smart driving, staying out of trouble when it mattered, and striking when the opportunity came. Top scorer of the event again, now climbing into the top 3 overall and in Pro class. This is championship form.

Reece Wills – P8, DNF, P8

A tough one. Pace wasn’t the issue, but Knockhill doesn’t forgive. The DNF hurts, especially in a points-heavy format like this. Still, two P8 finishes keep something on the board, but this was yet another a weekend of “what could have been” for Reece.

Pro-Am Class

Ryan Stringer – P5, P6, P4

Quietly effective, despite being taken out on lap 1 of the first race. Awesome come back drive. No headlines, no drama, just consistent results across all three races despite all odds. And that’s exactly what pays off here. Ryan climbs to P5 in the standings, putting himself right in the mix moving forward.

Am Class

Alex Strobel – P6, P2, P1

That’s how you respond. From a steady start to outright control by Race 3. Alex now leads the championship by 2 points, and more importantly, looks like the man to beat. It is also comforting to see that team members finally start working as a real team - if you wanna see what team play is, watch how Ryan and Alex worked together throughout the meeting.

Stanley Rolfe – P4, P3, P3

Super solid. Always there, always collecting. No mistakes, no wasted races. Exactly the kind of consistency that builds strong championship positions.

Lucas Chadderton – P10, P8, DNF

A tougher round after recent highs. Still fighting, still learning, but Knockhill bites, and this time it bit Lucas too. The pace is there, now it’s about putting full rounds together.

The Bigger Picture

Scorpio eSports strengthens its grip on P2 in the team standings with 1629 points. The leaders, JC Academy Gold, sit on 1950.

Here’s the interesting part:

– They have 1 win,

– We have 4.

That tells you everything. We’re fast. Very fast. Now it’s about being consistent. And help is coming. From next round, Tim Friis Larsen returns, adding even more firepower alongside Charlie Devlin in the Pro class.

Short track. Big lessons. And a clear direction forward.