On 24th September, tune in for a single broadcast with two events on display. The Le Mans Virtual Series kicks off their 2021-22 season with qualifying for the first race of the season at Monza. After that, the first race of the Le Mans Virtual Cup will take place, also at Monza, with the Top 30 qualifiers from open qualifying taking part.
The Autodromo Nazionale di Monza is 5.793-kilometers or 3.6-miles in length. There are 11 corners, many with their own specific names like Rettifilo, Lesmo or Ascari. The current layout has been in use since 2000 but the track has been around since 1922.
38 teams, 21 LMP2’s and 17 LMGTE machines will go head to head for their starting positions in the 4 Hours of Monza, Italy. The driver line-up for Monza was revealed earlier in the week and will feature three drivers per team. Louis Deletraz, Sérgio Sette Câmara, Beitske Visser, Will Stevens, Timmy Hansen and Néstor “Bebu” Girolami will take part among others.
With the Le Mans Virtual Cup, the series is open for anyone on rFactor 2 with the required content to attempt to qualify for each race through the competition system. The first three races of the series are set by the open qualification period to set the splits.
The Top 30 in the points will have their chance to compete in the Le Mans finale in December, and from there, the top-two finishers will be invited to participate in the Le Mans Virtual Series main event in January next year.
John Munro tried his hand in qualifying for the Cup, and while his time wasn’t able to make the Top 30, he put together a video about how to go about attempting to qualify during these first three rounds.
The Le Mans Virtual Series qualifying starts at 6 pm BST (7 pm CEST, 1:00 pm ET) today. There will be 20 minutes for the GTE class and 20 minutes for those in LMP2. After that, the first race of the top-split Le Mans Virtual Cup, set for 45 minutes, follows shortly after.
All of the action will be live on the Traxion.GG YouTube, Facebook and Twitch channels.
The main race itself will take place on Saturday 25th September, with the four-hour race starting at 12.30 pm BST (1.30 pm CEST, 7.30 am ET) and can be watched on the channels listed in the image below.
LE MANS VIRTUAL SERIES 2021/22 CALENDAR
- Round 1 – 4 Hours of Monza, Italy – 25th September 2021 (Qualifying 24th September)
- Round 2 – 6 Hours of Spa, Belgium – 16th October 2021 (Qualifying 15th October)
- Round 3 – 8 Hours of Nürburgring Nordschleife, Germany – 13th November 2021 (Qualifying 12th November)
- Round 4 – 6 Hours of Sebring, USA – 18th December 2021 (Qualifying 17th December)
- Round 5 – 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual – 15th/16th January 2022
2021 LE MANS VIRTUAL CUP SCHEDULE
All Le Mans Virtual Cup races last for 45 minutes.
- Round 1 – Monza, Italy – 24th September 2021 (qualifying open 3rd-12th September)
- Round 2 – Spa, Belgium – 15th October 2021 (qualifying open 26th September-5th October)
- Round 3 – Nürburgring Nordschleife, Germany – 12th November 2021 (qualifying open 17th-26th October)
- Round 4 – Le Mans Finale 17th December 2021 (the top 30 from the Le Mans Virtual Cup championship advances to Split 1)
- 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual – 15th/16th January 2022 (top two in the Le Mans Virtual Cup will be entered)