The Le Mans Virtual Series reaches the business end of the season now, with the penultimate round from Sebring International Raceway. Using rFactor 2, the endurance championship has brought some of the biggest and best names in the world of sim racing and real motorsport together to duke it out over five intense races.
So far this season we’ve enjoyed trips to historic racing venues such as Monza, Spa-Francorchamps and the revered Nordschleife, and now it’s time for a slightly different challenge; 500 miles of gruelling action on the bumpy Floridian airfield course.
The #22 GPX Rebellion Williams of David Pittard, Jiri Toman and Marcell Csincsik set the quickest lap in the 40-minute qualifying session but had its fastest lap time deleted due to a track limit infraction. This means the #8 R8G Esports entry of Gordon Mutch, Isaac Price and Erhan Jajovski will lead away the 500 Miles of Sebring field ahead of the #22, which still set a clean lap good enough for second.
The championship-leading #123 Team Redline entry will start fourth. In GTE, the #71 Team BMW Team Redline entry of Rudy van Buren, Kevin Siggy and Enzo Bonito will start from pole position, just one-tenth of a second ahead of the two Porsche Esports Team entries – the #92 ahead of the #91.
500 Miles of Sebring, LMP CLASS – TOP 5 QUALIFIERS
- 8 | R8G Esports | 1:43.776
- 22 | GPX Rebellion Williams | +0.042
- 70 | Realteam Hydrogen Redline | +0.070
- 123 | Team Redline | +0.159
- 4 | Floyd ByKolles-Burst | +0.167
8 HOURS OF NÜRBURGRING, GTE CLASS – TOP 5 QUALIFIERS
- 71 | BMW Team Redline | BMW M8 | 1:56.197
- 92 | Porsche Esports Team | Porsche 911 RSR | +0.105
- 91 | Porsche Esports Team | Porsche 911 RSR | +0.239 sec
- 88 | Proton Competition | Porsche 911 RSR | +0.516 sec
- 51 | FDA Esports Team | Ferrari 488 GTE | +0.521 sec
With 133 drivers across 38 GTE and LMP cars, we’re sure to be in for an action-packed race, and teams will be looking for a positive result to help set themselves up for the big one; the 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual.
With sim superstars like Bono Huis, Jernej Simončič and Isaac Price up against professional drivers such as Felix Rosenqvist, Dani Juncadella and Bruno Spengler, we’re sure to see some top-quality racing action – no more so than when the LMP cars start lapping the GTE field!
“Trying to find a quick setup that copes with the bumps and kerbs has been a challenge, but with it being such a tight track traffic management will probably be the main issue for everyone,” said Rocket Simsport’s Alex Buncombe, who will share the #2 LMP car with Matt Richards and Jan Von der Heyde.
The live broadcast begins at 1230 GMT/1330 CET/0730 EDT, and you can follow all the action on our YouTube, Facebook and Twitch channels.
If you’d like the chance to win a brand new Thrustmaster T248 sim racing wheel, tune in to the Twitch stream! We’ll be asking questions via SportBuff throughout the broadcast, and the person with the most points wins. Simply watch via Twitch and the questions will appear on the stream.
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
