Virtual 24-hour Le Mans race
Due to the corona virus pandemic , the 88th edition of the Le Mans 24-hour race had to be postponed to September 19 and 20, 2020. As a replacement for the real race, the ACO, in cooperation with Motorsport Network, organized the virtual 24-hour Le Mans race on the original date (June 13/14, 2020) . The rFactor 2 platform was used .
Vehicles from the LMP2 and LMGT Pro classes competed. Each vehicle was piloted by four racing drivers who took turns taking turns over a period of 24 hours. At least two of the four drivers on a team had to be professional racing drivers, the remaining drivers were allowed to be professional sim racers . Among the 200 racing drivers who competed for 50 teams in the two categories were many famous drivers from Formula 1 and other racing series, among others. a. Fernando Alonso , Jenson Button , Felipe Massa , Rubens Barrichello , Juan Pablo Montoya , André Lotterer and Charles Leclerc . The race started on June 13, 2020 at 3:00 p.m. and ended at the same time on the following day.
Race report
The LMP2 class vehicle with the number # 4, driven by Tom Dillmann , Esteban Guerrieri , Jernej Simončič and Jesper Pedersen, from the ByKolles Burst team qualified on pole position with a lap time of 3: 23.380 minutes . The fastest among the cars in the GT class in qualifying was the Porsche 911 RSR from the works team with the number # 93, driven by Nick Tandy , Ayhancan Güven , Joshua Rogers and Tommy Østgaard.
The race ended with the overall victory of Louis Deletraz and Raffaele Marciello with the two sim racers Nikodem Wisniewski and Kuba Brzezinski for Rebellion Racing . The GT category was won by the number # 93 Porsche 911 RSR from the works team, which was driven by Nick Tandy, Ayhancan Güven, Joshua Rogers and Tommy Østgaard. During the race there were some technical problems such as: B. so-called glitches , that is, signal dropouts in individual vehicles that also led to accidents. In addition, the race had to be neutralized twice for half an hour each time due to server problems. In these neutralized racing phases, the vehicles that had meanwhile been reported as failed were replaced by the FA / RB team, which u. a. was driven by Fernando Alonso and Rubens Barrichello , as well as that of the Redline team, which was even in the lead in the meantime and which u. a. Max Verstappen and Lando Norris drove, re-entered the race. They finished 17th and 25th in the overall ranking. Team Penske's vehicle came 27th among the 30 LMP2 vehicles, also due to the fact that Simon Pagenaud , one of the team's drivers, had to change his simulator set (racing seat, steering wheel and pedals) during the race, there his steering wheel had a technical problem.
Formula 1 racing driver Charles Leclerc said in an interview, despite the unfortunate race for him (46th overall), that he wanted to take part in the real Le Mans 24-hour race in the future. Even Pierre Gasly , also Formula 1 drivers, announced its intention to launch sometime in the real race.
Results
Overall result
LMP2: Top 10
| position | No. | driver |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | #1 |
 L. Deletraz / R. Marciello / N. Wisniewski / K. Brzezinski 
|
| 2 | # 4 |
 T. Dillmann / E. Guerrieri / J. Simončič / J. Pedersen  
|
| 3 | # 13 |
A. Canapino / J. Aitken / A. Arana / M. Romanidis  
|
| 4th | # 33 |
 I. Bin Abdulla Al-Khalifa / O. Rowland / R. MacDuff / D. Braune  
|
| 5 | # 24 |
J.-E. Vergne / P. Gasly / J. Opmeer / I. Gillissen 
|
| 6th | # 3 |
A. Rougier / I. Price / J. Keithley / Y. Ye 
|
| 7th | # 30 |
 D. Vanthoor / K. van der Linde / F. Cornelis / A. Schoonvliet
|
| 8th | # 46 |
L. ten Voerde / G. van der Garde / A. Siebel / D. Jordan
|
| 9 | # 23 |
J. Button / A. Buncombe / J. von der Heyde / M. Richards
|
| 10 | # 17 |
P.-L. Chatin / R. Bradley / F. Colapinto / M. Hoyer
|
LMGT-Pro: Top 10
| Position (total) | No. | driver |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (29) | # 93 |
N. Tandy / A. Güven / J. Rogers / T. Østgaard  
|
| 2 (30) | # 95 |
N. Thiim / R. Westbrook / L. Sørensen / M. Biancolilla
|
| 3 (31) | # 80 |
D. Juncadella / M. Beche / E. Jajovski / R. Kappet  
|
| 4 (32) | # 64 |
T. Milner / J. Magnussen / D. Lind / A. Terzic
|
| 5 (33) | # 88 |
R. Pera / L. Hartog / M. Francesconi / K. van Dooren
|
| 6 (34) | # 63 |
J. Taylor / N. Catsburg / A. Voss / L. Heinrich
|
| 7 (35) | # 71 |
M. Molina / F. Leo / A. Laurito / J. Zwiers
|
| 8 (36) | # 54 |
 F. Massa / G. Fisichella / F. Castellacci / T. Mella
|
| 9 (37) | # 57 |
 D. Pereira / D. Olsen / T. Neuendorf / Z. Siara
|
| 10 (38) | # 98 |
D. Turner / R. Gunn / J. Adam / G. de Fuoco |
Individual evidence
- ↑ 24h Le Mans 2020 will be postponed to September. Retrieved June 22, 2020 .
- ↑ a b Live ticker 24h Le Mans virtual: Victories for Rebellion / Williams and Porsche. Retrieved June 22, 2020 .
- ↑ 24h Le Mans virtual: digital race with real challenges. Retrieved June 22, 2020 .
- ↑ Virtual 24h of Le Mans: Pole position for ByKolles - SPEEDWEEK. Retrieved June 22, 2020 .
- ↑ 24h Le Mans virtual: Victories for Rebellion and Porsche - bad luck for F1 stars. Retrieved June 22, 2020 .
- ↑ After the virtual 24 hours of Le Mans: Now Leclerc wants to get into the real race! Retrieved June 24, 2020 .
- ↑ After a virtual race: Gasly wants to drive a real 24 Hours of Le Mans. Retrieved June 30, 2020 .
- ↑ 24H Le Mans virtual provisional team entry list , Automobile Club de l'Ouest . June 11, 2020.
- ↑ Bsimracing Race Hour 24 , Bsimracing. June 14, 2020.