Many of us have become accustomed to the world of virtual racing thanks to lockdown, but the prospect of Le Mans taking place in the digital world does seem significant. The lineup, at least, is immense: 200 drivers will compete in the daylong online event, including WEC regulars, five current F1 drivers, as well as drivers from F2, IndyCar and Formula E, and racers from the Esports world.
Big names include Fernando Alonso, Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen, as well as Brits Jenson Button, Lando Norris and Nick Tandy, to name but a few. The drivers will be split into 50 teams of four, with each driver completing a minimum of four and maximum of seven hours on track. Suffice to say this is no time-filler for bored racing drivers but a fully-fledged competition; all will be gunning for top honours. As other Esports races have shown, the most famous names don’t always come out on top, either…
As has been the case in recent years, the GTE class will be the most diverse-looking, mainly because it’s going to feature the Aston Martin Vantage, Porsche 911 RSR and Ferrari 488 racers, as well as Corvette’s last-gen C7.R. The LMP category, on the other hand, will exclusively feature Oreca LMP2 chassis cars, making it visually less spectacular – although with all cars identical in digital performance on the rFactor 2 game that’s hosting the event, the racing should be ultra-close.
Best of all, the whole race will be live streamed with commentary, so for those who were planning on keeping up with the real Le Mans action from home anyway, it should provide suitable filler for what’s been a year of high attrition, as far as racing calendars go. While Formula 1 and other major series are set to kick off for real without spectators in the coming weeks, the challenge of running a 24-hour sports car race with social distancing measures was obviously far too ominous to contend with. Real or not, as least we’ve got some racing to look forward to starting at 2pm UK time on Saturday...
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