A royal platter at the Virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans

The virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans are shaping up to be one of the major events in e-sports, across all disciplines. Teams and drivers have understood this. The lineup is impressive. After a gradual unveiling, on Saturday, the ACO revealed the full list of the fifty competing teams, divided between LMP2 and GTE. The standard is to have two drivers paired with two gamers.

WEC

The list of entrants already gives pride of place to participants in the actual 24 Hours of Le Mans, who even retain the same numbers and drivers. For example, Rebellion, which enters four cars, will have its classic numbers 1 and 3 plus its favorite number 13. (Let’s note the duos Deletraz/Marciello, Menezes/Senna).

Toyota is fielding two cars with the numbers 7 and 8 (Conway/Kobayashi and Buemi/Hartley), the reigning ELMS champions Idec Sport are entering a car driven by Richard Bradley and Paul-Loup Chatin. Signatech Alpine is entrusting a car to Thomas Laurent and André Negrao, and Cool Racing is fielding a car for Nicolas Lapierre and Antonin Borga.

In the GT category, the four manufacturers usually present at Le Mans are participating. Ferrari enters three cars (Nielsen, Molina…). Porsche has four cars (Tandy, Pilet…), Aston Martin has three cars (Thiim/Westbrook, Lynn/Eastwood, Turner/Gunn) and Corvette has two (J.Taylor/Catsburg and Milner/Magnussen).

The “guests” from other disciplines will also have top-notch crews.

Formula 1

Five current Formula 1 drivers will be participating. Max Verstappen and Lando Norris will team up in the Oreca 07 of Team Redline. Charles Leclerc and Antonio Giovinazzi will share a Ferrari from the AF Corse team. Pierre Gasly will form a strong French duo with Jean-Eric Vergne, the double Formula E world champion, in the Oreca 07 of Veloce E-sports team, of which the former Toro Rosso driver is a co-founder.

Formula E

Vergne will not be the only top driver from Formula E to be present. His teammate from the Tcheetah team, Antonio Felix Da Costa, will share an Oreca from Jota Team Redline with Felix Rosenqvist. Stoffel Vandoorne (Mercedes) will be partnered with Norman Nato in an Oreca from Veloce E-sport. Finally, Andre Lotterer and Neel Jani, teammates at Porsche in Formula E, will also be at the virtual Le Mans in a Porsche 911 RSR.

Former glories

Among the other participants, we note the presence of Fernando Alonso and Rubens Barrichello, teammates in an Oreca from their own team FA/RB Allinsports. The father and son Panis will drive a car under their name. Nelson Piquet Jr. will be part of the Argentine Toyota team. Jenson Button joins Team Rocket Zansho.

Great team names

Two renowned teams will also be part of the event. The Penske team, a star of Indycar and present in IMSA endurance racing, will field a car with 100% real drivers: Juan-Pablo Montoya, Simon Pagenaud, Dane Cameron, and Ricky Taylor.

A key player in the GT scene, Team WRT will field a car driven by Dries Vanthoor and Kevin Van der Linde.

The complete list

How is the race organized?

The Virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans aims to be the most faithful replica possible of the real 24-hour race. It will take place on the “Rfactor 2” game on June 13th and 14th, 2020. 50 cars (30 LMP2 and 20 GT) will race with four drivers, with a maximum of two professional gamers.

The racing conditions will be closer to reality. The weather may change, night will fall, accidents will require repairs in the pits, tire management will be crucial, and a race direction will ensure the respect of the rules, which will avoid controversies from previous races where the level of involvement of pilots/players could vary.

The organizers also want to ensure optimal television coverage. Commentators and pit reporters will be live from a television studio in Paris. This unique race will be freely broadcast on multiple audiovisual platforms worldwide.

The stage is set. All that’s left is to take the floor!