The driver line-up for the 2022 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual has been revealed, and it’s filled with Formula 1, GT, IndyCar and touring car stars racing alongside the best esports drivers in the world.
The leading racing esports event held its inaugural event in 2020, won by Louis Delétraz, Raffaele Marciello, Nikodem Wisniewski and Kuba Brzezinski, returned in 2021 with an expanded Series that included four rounds proceeding the 24-hour extravaganza.
50 cars will take to the grid at Circuit de la Sarthe, 29 in the LMP category and 21 in GTE. Each team has four drivers per car, with two from the world of motorsport and two from racing esports.
Heading the charge is 2021 Formula 1 World Champion Max Verstappen, fresh from the title showdown in Abu Dhabi. He joins Team Redline in car #123 alongside IndyCar racer and Spa round winner Felix Rosenqvist, VCO ProSIM Series winner Maximilian Benecke and Atze Kerkhof.
In the LMVS Guest Car car, father and son combination Juan Pablo and Sebastian Montoya take to the grid and are joined by Le Mans Virtual Cup victors Luca D’Amelio and Christopher Högfeldt.
The grid is filled by many high-profile motorsport drivers such as Formula E race winner Oliver Rowland, Porsche GT works driver Matt Campbell, Formula 2 race winner Sérgio Sette Câmara, NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Sage Karam, W Series racer Beitske Visse, WTCR race winner Néstor Girolami and 2021 Super TC2000 touring car champion and Sebring round winner Agustín Canapino.
2021 IndyCar Series champion Álex Palou will also be present, driving the #966 Team Fordzilla entry with Luke Browning, Nuno Pinto and Pablo López Padín.
The very best of racing esports is also represented, with 2020 British GT race winner and 2021 GT World Challenge Europe Esports Sprint Series victor James Baldwin entered in a Veloce Esports car alongside former BTCC racer Mike Epps, Isaac Gillissen and Eamonn Murphy.
Two-time F1 Esports Series Pro champion Jarno Opmeer will also be present, teaming up with Formula Pro Series champion Bono Huis, Mercedes-AMG DTM driver Daniel Juncadella and Ross Gunn for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports entry.
In GTE, the W Series will enter a team – the first time the series has ventured outside of its own single-seater championship – with a BMW M8 driven by Fabienne Wohlwend, Ayla Ågren, Emily Jones and Lyubov Ozeretskovskaya.
“Our entry into the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans virtual race reflects our long-term commitment to the world of esports and creating opportunities for the world’s best female talent in motorsport, both on and off track,” highlighted Catherine Bond Muir, Chief Executive Officer, W Series.
Former DTM champion Bruno Spengler will race for BMW Team BS+COMPETITION, while rally driver Sindre Furuseth joins Proton Competition – highlighting the diversity of talent included in this year’s running.
You can watch the race live on Traxion.GG’s YouTube, Facebook and Twitch channels from 5 am PT / 8 am ET / 1 pm GMT / 2 pm CET on Saturday, 15th January 2022 with qualifying the day before.
2022 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual LMP entry list
| No | LMP | CAR | DRIVER 1 | DRIVER 2 | DRIVER 3 | DRIVER 4 |
| 1 | Rebellion GPX Esports | Oreca 07 LMP | Louis Deletraz (PRO) | Agustin Canapino (PRO)* | Kuba Brzezinski | Nikodem Wisniewski |
| 2 | Rocket Simsport | Oreca 07 LMP | Alex Buncombe (PRO) | Marc Gassner (PRO)* | Devin Braune | Jan Von der Heyde |
| 4 | Floyd ByKolles-Burst | Oreca 07 LMP | Tom Dillmann (PRO) | Bent Viscaal (PRO) | Jesper Pedersen | Jernej Simončič |
| 5 | Williams Esports | Oreca 07 LMP | TBA | TBA | Petar Brljak | Michael Romanidis |
| 8 | R8G ESPORTS | Oreca 07 LMP | Mathias Beche (PRO) | Scott Andrews (PRO)* | Erhan Jajovski | Isaac Price |
| 10 | MAHLE RACING TEAM | Oreca 07 LMP | Beitske Visser (PRO) | Philippe Denes (PRO) | Michele D’Alessandro | Muhammed Patel |
| 11 | Red Bull Racing Esports | Oreca 07 LMP | Cooper Webster (PRO)* | Norbert Kiss (PRO)* | Frederik Rasmussen | Dennis Jordan |
| 14 | Race Clutch Alpine | Oreca 07 LMP | Nikodem Wierzbicki (PRO) | Paul-Adrien Pallot (PRO) | Rory MacDuff | Tom Lartilleux |
| 15 | Alpine Esports | Oreca 07 LMP | Romain Boeckler (PRO) | Antoine Doquin (PRO)* | Eneric André | Peter Zuba |
| 16 | Pescarolo E-sport | Oreca 07 LMP | Bruce Jouanny (PRO) | Adrien Tambay (PRO) | Thomas Imbourg | Quentin Vialatte |
| 18 | R8G ESPORTS | Oreca 07 LMP | Arthur Rougier (PRO) | Job Van Uitert (PRO) | Thibault Cazaubon | Risto Kappet |
| 21 | SEM9 Flash Axle | Oreca 07 LMP | Naquib Azlan (PRO) | Inigo Anton (PRO) | Josh Purwien | Ar Muhammad Aleef |
| 22 | GPX Rebellion Esports | Oreca 07 LMP | Néstor Girolami (PRO)* | Yifei Ye (PRO) | Jiri Toman | Marcell Csincsik |
| 24 | LMVS Guest Car | Oreca 07 LMP | Juan Pablo Montoya (PRO) | Sebastian Montoya (PRO) | Luca D’Amelio | Christopher Högfeldt |
| 28 | Veloce Esports | Oreca 07 LMP | James Baldwin (PRO) | Mike Epps (PRO) | Isaac Gillissen | Eamonn Murphy |
| 29 | Mexico Racing Team | Oreca 07 LMP | Memo Rojas (PRO) | Benito Guerra (PRO) | Alberto Gironella | Alex De Alba |
| 30 | Duqueine/PRiMA Esports | Oreca 07 LMP | Gabriel Aubry (PRO) | Léo Boulay (PRO) | Maxime Delpech | Arnaud Lacombe |
| 31 | Team WRT SIMTAG Esports | Oreca 07 LMP | Franco Colapinto (PRO) | Ryuichiro Tomita (PRO) | Fabrice Cornelis | Benjamin Gielczynski* |
| 36 | Alpine Esports | Oreca 07 LMP | Sacha Lehmann (PRO) | Victor Martins (PRO) | Olli Pahkala | Patrik Sipos |
| 38 | JOTA | Oreca 07 LMP | Jordan Albert (PRO)* | Mika Hakimi (PRO) | Ibraheem Khan | Ferris Stanley |
| 39 | GRAFF by ProSimu | Oreca 07 LMP | Vincent Capillaire (PRO) | Maxime Robin (PRO) | Maxime Brient | Yohann Harth |
| 44 | ARC Bratislava | Oreca 07 LMP | Mato Homola (PRO) | Dávid Nemček (PRO) | Dennis Zeťák | Jakub Štofko |
| 49 | YAS HEAT | Oreca 07 LMP | Will Tregurtha (PRO) | Sandy Mitchell (PRO)* | Marko Pejic | Balázs Remenyik |
| 65 | Panis Racing | Oreca 07 LMP | Nico Varrone (PRO) | Gabriele Minì (PRO)* | Alessandro Ottaviani | Gustavo Ariel |
| 67 | Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports | Oreca 07 LMP | Dani Juncadella (PRO) | Ross Gunn (PRO) | Bono Huis | Jarno Opmeer |
| 70 | Realteam Hydrogen Redline | Oreca 07 LMP | Felipe Drugovich (PRO)* | Oliver Rowland (PRO)* | Jeffrey Rietveld | Michal Smidl |
| 123 | Team Redline | Oreca 07 LMP | Felix Rosenqvist (PRO) | Max Verstappen (PRO* | Maximilian Benecke* | Atze Kerkhof |
| 444 | Alpha Ind. ByKolles-Burst | Oreca 07 LMP | Sergio Sette Camara (PRO)* | Lucas Ditlev Daugaard (PRO)* | Michi Hoyer | Dawid Mroczek |
| 966 | Team Fordzilla | Oreca 07 LMP | Alex Palou (PRO) | Luke Browning (PRO) | Nuno Pinto | Pablo López Padín |
2022 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual GTE entry list
| No. | GTE | CAR | DRIVER 1 | DRIVER 2 | DRIVER 3 | DRIVER 4 |
| 25 | Absolute Inspeed Racing | Porsche 911 RSR GTE | Johnathan Hoggard (PRO) | Daniel Cao (PRO) | Xiayufei Li | Yanzhe Li |
| 45 | W Series | BMW M8 GTE | Fabienne Wohlwend (PRO) | Ayla Ågren (PRO) | Emily Jones | Lyubov Ozeretskovskaya |
| 51 | FDA Esports Team | Ferrari 488 GTE | Nicklas Nielsen (PRO) | David Perel (PRO) | Jordy Zwiers | Kasper Stoltze |
| 55 | BMW Team GB | BMW M8 GTE | Sami-Matti Trogen (PRO) | Sindre Setsaas (PRO)* | Martin Stefanko | Jack Keithley |
| 56 | Team Project 1 x BPM | Porsche 911 RSR GTE | Riccardo Pera (PRO) | TBA | Bram Beelen | Tim Neuendorf |
| 57 | Team Project 1 x BPM | Porsche 911 RSR GTE | TBA | Nicolas Hillebrand (PRO) | Zbigniew Siara | Peyo Peev |
| 61 | SEM9 Axle | Porsche 911 RSR GTE | Alister Yoong (PRO) | Avila Bahar (PRO)* | Nabil Azlan | Davide Arduini* |
| 63 | Satellite Racing | Corvette C8.R | Gabby Chaves (PRO) | James French (PRO) | Henri Sinik | Jimi Nisula |
| 66 | SIMMSA Esports | Ferrari 488 GTE | Gustas Grinbergas (PRO) | Ramez Azzam (PRO) | Armin Binder | Sebastian Wunsch |
| 71 | BMW Team Redline | BMW M8 GTE | Rudy van Buren (PRO) | Lorenzo Colombo (PRO) | Enzo Bonito | Kevin Siggy |
| 77 | Proton Competition | Porsche 911 RSR GTE | Loek Hartog (PRO) | Matt Campbell (PRO) | Kevin van Dooren | Jeremy Bouteloup |
| 84 | Prodrive E Sports | Aston Martin Vantage GTE | David Pittard (PRO) | Tom Canning (PRO) | Logan Hannah (PRO) | Lasse Soresen (PRO) |
| 86 | GR Wolves Racing | Porsche 911 RSR GTE | Nick Foster (PRO) | Bart Hortsen (PRO)* | Adam Maguire | Liam de Waal |
| 87 | GR Wolves Racing | Porsche 911 RSR GTE | Ben Barker (PRO) | Ryan Cullen (PRO)* | Philipp Puschke | Turkka Hakkinnen |
| 88 | Proton Competition | Porsche 911 RSR GTE | Dylan Pereira (PRO) | Sindre Furuseth (PRO) | Charlie Collins | Dayne Warren |
| 89 | BMW Team BS+COMPETITION | BMW M8 GTE | Bruno Spengler (PRO) | Robby Foley (PRO)* | Alen Terzic | Joonas Raivio |
| 91 | Porsche Esports Team | Porsche 911 RSR GTE | Mitchell deJong (PRO) | Laurin Heinrich (PRO)* | Mack Bakkum | Martin Krönke |
| 92 | Porsche Esports Team | Porsche 911 RSR GTE | Ayhancan Güven (PRO) | Sage Karam (PRO)* | Joshua Rogers | Tommy Østgaard |
| 111 | Red Bull Racing Esports | Corvette C8.R | Dennis Lind (PRO) | Yuri Kasdorp | Nestor Garcia | Sebastian Job |
| 777 | D’Station Racing | Aston Martin Vantage GTE | João Paulo de Oliveira (PRO) | Hideto Yasuoka (PRO)* | Yusuke Tomibayashi | Toshiya Nojima |
| 888 | TESLA R8G Esports | BMW M8 GTE | Elliott Vayron (PRO)* | Alex Smolyar (PRO)* | Timotej Andonovski | Martin Hemmingsen |
*Approved substitute drivers not on full-season roster
Image credit: W Series
