On Tuesday, over 170 drivers were named for the 38 teams competing in the 2021-22 Le Mans Virtual Series season. The official roster lists 173 drivers with five drivers still to be named for a total of 178.
You might see many familiar names across all forms of motorsports and esports on the final list. Each team includes at least two FIA-graded drivers or of equivalent standard, and the remaining seats will be filled by some of the best sim drivers from multiple disciplines of virtual racing.
Forms of motorsports that are represented in the field include Formula 1, WEC, IndyCar, IMSA, Formula 2 and 3, Formula E and Extreme E and GT World Challenge, among others. Familiar names on the list include 2009 F1 Champion Jenson Button, NTT IndyCar Series drivers Alex Palou and Felix Rosenqvist, Beitske Visser from the W Series and the WEC, and many more drivers from all over the map.
Plenty of sim racing talents inhabit the roster, including Michi Hoyer, Bono Huis, Jan von der Heyde, Joshua Rogers and Kevin Siggy. With so many teams and so many drivers, there were a few guidelines that needed to be followed to get their final roster.
From the press release:
- Teams must submit a full-season roster of 4 or 5 drivers.
- A minimum of 2 drivers must be FIA graded (or its equivalent).
- The remaining drivers are sim drivers.
- For each of the first 4 online rounds, teams will nominate 3 drivers from their full season roster 7 days before each race. Of these, one must be an FIA-graded driver (or its equivalent).
- For the 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual finale – scheduled to be held January 15th and 16th, 2022 in Birmingham, UK at the 2022 Autosport International motorsport show – line-ups will increase to 4 drivers per entry with a minimum of 2 FIA-graded drivers (or its equivalent). An additional 20 entries are expected for the live, televised event, with some of the most well-known motorsport names in the world due to appear.
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