It’s December: nearly time to ring-in the New Year and 2016 Season 1. But before you break out those noise-makers, silly hats and the bubbly, there’s the little matter of Week 13. Yes, Week 13 is nearly upon us and even as the IndyCar Winter Series continues apace with the Dallara DW12 at Spa-Francorchamps, iRacers can take their pick from an unprecedented variety of official and unofficial series from December 8-14.

The official series offer a final chance for iRacers from Rookie to Class B to climb to the next rung on the license ladder in time for 2016 Season 1; not to mention an opportunity for iRacers of all stripes and license levels to enjoy some iRating- and Safety Rating-free sim racing.

iRacers can advance to the next license level in several official road and oval series. The 13th Week Street Stock series features 30 lap races on Charlotte’s Legends track as well as Lanier, Oxford Plains, South Boston and Thompson International Speedway while the 13th Week Mazda Cup consists of 20 lap races in the Mazda MX-5 at Charlotte (road), Lime Rock, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Okayama (short and long) and Summit Point Raceway (full course and Jefferson reverse).

Street Stocks and MX-5 not your cups of tea? Not to worry. The 13th Week iAnalyze Truck Series will see the Chevrolet Silverados and Toyota Tundras running a different track each day of the week (Daytona 2011, Daytona 2007, Charlotte and Phoenix 2008) the 13th Week iAnalyze Ruf Cup – Fixed has the Ruf C-spec racing seven different road courses (Summit Point, Okayama, Lime Rock, Laguna Seca, Summit Point Jefferson, Charlotte and Okayama short) in as many days.

And speaking of “ringing-in” the new year, as you may have heard, iRacing will be releasing both the Nürburgring’s Nordschleife and GP-Strecke in the new build. So to help everyone learn their Flugplatz from their Pflanzgarden, once the new build is released we’ll be running the Nordschleife Tourist Hot Lap Competition once the new build is released. A solo, single lap qualifying for GT3 cars using the Nordschleife’s “Tourist Configuration,” you might call the Hot Lap Competition a Week 13+ Series as it is slated to run for six weeks, with 20 minute sessions starting every 10 minutes.

Safety Ratings and iRatings are in effect in all of these official series, offering competitors the opportunity to boost their license ratings before promotions for Season 1 are finalized at week’s end. Likewise, rookies who have yet to complete the category-specific minimum participation requirements for graduation to a D license (two official races or four time trials in each category) can do so.

The week’s unofficial competition features the Carburetor Cup at Talladega Superspeedway with the Gen6 Chevy SS, Ford Fusion and Toyota Camry, along with the Pick-Up Cup for the Silverado and Tundra at Phoenix International Raceway circa 2008, while road racers can tackle Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca with the 2011 Dallara in the Dallara Dash.

And that’s just for openers. Also on tap are the 13th Week Figure 8 with the VW Jetta TDi and Pontiac Solstice on the Figure 8 layout at Irwindale Speedway and, once the new build is out, the 13th Week Rumble in the Pines, featuring the Super Late Models in 40 lappers on our latest short track – Southern National Motorsport Park.

Last but surely not least, those hankering for the ultimate challenge will get their wish when the new build is released with the 13th Week iRacing McLaren F1 Winter Sprint. As the name suggests, the series will feature sim racing’s highest tech car in the form of the McLaren MP4-30 on the Nürburgring’s GP-Strecke.