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F1's Verstappen and Indycar stars flock to virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans

Max Verstappen and Romain Grosjean among the participants

Marco Wutz

F1's Verstappen and Indycar stars flock to virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans
F1's Verstappen and Indycar stars flock to virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans /

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is one of the most legendary racing events in history, and for some years now a virtual edition of the marathon on four wheels is also happening regularly. However, not only professional sim-racers are participating in the competition – many top racers from series all over the world jump into their simulators to get a crack at Le Mans.

The next virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans is scheduled to take place on January 14 to 15, 2023, and the list of participants could hardly be more star-studded.

Reigning Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen, no stranger to the virtual grid, will once again take part under the flag of Team Redline, an esports team he’s long been part of. He’ll steer car #1 alongside GB3 champion Luke Browning, former virtual Le Mans winner Jeffrey Rietveld, and Diogo Pinto. Last year, Verstappen was on course to win the entire competition before an overly aggressive overtake sent him wide, damaging his car to end the run prematurely.

Another Team Redline entry, car #2, is led by Reigning Formula 2 champion Felipe Drugovich, who has Indycar race winner Felix Rosenqvist, Luke Bennet, and Chris Lulham by his side.

Former F1 driver Romain Grosjean, who now competes in Indycar, will also take part in the event, representing R8G, his very own team.

Other notable entries include Formula 3 champion Victor Martins, W Series driver Beitske Visser, and three-time World Touring Car champion Andy Priaulx, who competes alongside his Porsche Carrera Cup North America winning son.

You can catch the virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans on YouTube. Qualifying kicks off the action on January 13, 2023, at 6pm GMT / 7pm CET / 1pm EST / 10am PT.

The series uses the rFactor2 platform, a highly realistic simulation available on PC via Steam.

Published
Marco Wutz
MARCO WUTZ

Marco Wutz is a writer from Parkstetten, Germany. He has a degree in Ancient History and a particular love for real-time and turn-based strategy games like StarCraft, Age of Empires, Total War, Age of Wonders, Crusader Kings, and Civilization as well as a soft spot for Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. He began covering StarCraft 2 as a writer in 2011 for the largest German community around the game and hosted a live tournament on a stage at gamescom 2014 before he went on to work for Bonjwa, one of the country's biggest Twitch channels. He branched out to write in English in 2015 by joining tl.net, the global center of the StarCraft scene run by Team Liquid, which was nominated as the Best Coverage Website of the Year at the Esports Industry Awards in 2017. He worked as a translator on The Crusader Stands Watch, a biography in memory of Dennis "INTERNETHULK" Hawelka, and provided live coverage of many StarCraft 2 events on the social channels of tl.net as well as DreamHack, the world's largest gaming festival. From there, he transitioned into writing about the games industry in general after his graduation, joining GLHF, a content agency specializing in video games coverage for media partners across the globe, in 2021. He has also written for NGL.ONE, kicker, ComputerBild, USA Today's ForTheWin, The Sun, Men's Journal, and Parade. Email: marco.wutz@glhf.gg

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