This is it. We’ve officially made it to the start of the 2022-23 Le Mans Virtual Series. On Saturday (17th September 2022) 40 top teams made up of three top level drivers will start off the season strong, racing at the Bahrain International Circuit in the 8 Hours of Bahrain.
A total prize fund of US $250,000 is on the line for teams to grab their share of throughout the season.
Two classifications of cars, the LMP2 and the GTE quartet made up of the Aston Martin Vantage GTE, BMW M8 GTE, Ferrari 488 GTE and Porsche 911 RSR GTE, will compete simultaneously against the Oreca 07 LMP2 – the Prototype class, and the faster of the two classes.
Utilizing the rFactor 2 simulation platform by Studio 397 and Motorsport Games some of the top level talent that we will see in the opening round of the 2022-23 Le Mans Virtual Series include well-known real-world talent such as Alon Day, James Baldwin, Sérgio Sette Câmara and Dylan Pereira.
We’ll also see the likes of some of the best esports drivers around a multitude of different simulations, those drivers including Mitchell deJong, Diogo Pinto, Joshua Rogers and of course, Jeffrey Rietveld.
Speaking of Rietveld, he was able to take the the No. 1 Team Redline LMP entry to the top in qualifying for the LMP class. Kevin Siggy in the No. 71 BMW Team Redline BMW M8 GTE also secured a top spot in the GTE class, and sure enough, both drivers and teams are the returning champions from a season ago.
The Le Mans Virtual Series 8 Hours of Bahrain will start on Saturday, 17th September at 13:00 BST / 14:00 CEST / 05:00 PT / 08:00 ET.
There will be multiple ways to watch, but we hope you watch it with us here on the Traxion.GG YouTube, Facebook and Twitch channels. The 24 Heuers du Mans, FIA WEC and European Le Mans Series YouTube channels, plus on Facebook with the FIA WEC and the titular Le Mans Virtual will also have the event live.
TOP 10 STARTING LINEUP: LMP CLASS
| POS | CAR # | TEAM | DRIVER | TIME |
| 1 | 1 | Team Redline | Jeffrey Rietveld | 1:41.160 |
| 2 | 4 | Floyd Vanwall-Burst | Jernej Simončič | 1:41.379 |
| 3 | 8 | R8G ESPORTS | Marcell Csincsik | 1:41.462 |
| 4 | 2 | Team Redline | Diogo Pinto | 1:41.483 |
| 5 | 28 | YAS HEAT VELOCE | Marko Pejic | 1:41.518 |
| 6 | 23 | Porsche Coanda | Joshua Rogers | 1:41.552 |
| 7 | 36 | Alpine Esports | Tom Lartilleux | 1:41.595 |
| 8 | 53 | AMG Team Williams Esports | Nikodem Wisniewski | 1:41.634 |
| 9 | 444 | Nextview Vanwall-Burst | Dawid Mroczek | 1:41.635 |
| 10 | 63 | AMG Team Petronas Esports | Graham Carroll | 1:41.641 |
TOP 10 STARTING LINEUP: GTE CLASS
| POS | CAR # | TEAM | CAR (GTE) | DRIVER | TIME |
| 1 | 71 | BMW Team Redline | BMW M8 | Kevin Siggy | 1:53.216 |
| 2 | 77 | Proton Coanda Esports | Porsche 911 RSR | Dayne Warren | 1:53.317 |
| 3 | 11 | Project 1 by Dörr Esports | Porsche 911 RSR | Moritz Löhner | 1:53.376 |
| 4 | 888 | R8G ESPORTS | Ferrari 488 | Alexander Smolyar | 1:53.445 |
| 5 | 26 | SIM Maranello | Ferrari 488 | Christian Malghera | 1:53.451 |
| 6 | 99 | Oracle Red Bull Racing | Porsche 911 RSR | Yuri Kasdorp | 1:53.506 |
| 7 | 66 | SIMMSA Esports | Ferrari 488 | Patrick Schindler | 1:53.583 |
| 8 | 89 | BMW Team BS+COMPETITION | BMW M8 | Ibraheem Khan | 1:53.615 |
| 9 | 95 | Prodrive FYRA Esport | Aston Martin Vantage | Lasse Sørensen | 1:53.663 |
| 10 | 111 | P1 Esport | Porsche 911 RSR | Rasmus Busk | 1:53.773 |
40 teams (24 LMP, 16 GTE) with three drivers each will take part in the opening round of the series.
Le Mans Virtual Series 2022-23 Calendar
- Round 1 – 8 Hours of Bahrain, Bahrain – 17th September 2022
- Round 2 – 4 Hours of Monza, Italy – 8th October 2022
- Round 3 – 6 Hours of Spa, Belgium – 5th November 5 2022
- Round 4 – 500 Miles of Sebring, USA – 3rd December 2022
- Round 5 – 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual – 14th-15th January 2023
Full disclosure – Traxion.GG is part of Motorsport Games and the Motorsport Games family of brands. All Traxion.GG content is editorially removed from Motorsport Games video game development and created by a dedicated team. Traxion.GG is one of the official media partners of the Le Mans Virtual Series.
