Phew! Have you recovered yet? We almost have!
Last weekend witnessed perhaps the biggest event in sim racing history, as a grid packed full of LMP and GTE talent was unleashed onto the Circuit de la Sarthe for the second edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual using rFactor 2. We have the full replay of the event available now so you can relive all your favourite moments and interviews from the epic broadcast. Naturally, being a 24-hour race, we’ve had to split it into two parts – scroll down to see part two.
With the teams battling for a share of a $250,000 prize pool as part of the overall Le Mans Virtual Series championship, there was a lot on the line – and that’s before you even consider Formula One World Champion Max Verstappen’s participation.
And guess what? He really wanted to win!
There was drama even before the race got underway, when Verstappen was beaten to pole position by the #70 Realteam Hydrogen Redline car of Jeffrey Rietveld – by a mere 0.02s – and the frustration showed.
However, on race day, Verstappen snatched the lead on lap one and immediately gapped the field – so often a hallmark of his 2021 Formula One season. But it wasn’t to be for the 24-year-old Dutchman, as he carried too much speed through the Ford Chicane while negotiating traffic and hit the wall, losing two wheels in the process.
After 24 hours of green flag running, it was the pole sitting Team Redline car of Felipe Drugovich, Oliver Rowland, Jeffrey Rietveld and Michal Smidl that took the laurels in LMP, while the sister car of Rudy van Buren, Lorenzo Colombo, Enzo Bonito and Kevin Siggy took the GTE spoils.
There were some awesome feel-good moments too: witness the final lap where 16-year-old Iñigo Anton in the #21 SEM9 Flash Axle car held off the rapidly closing Yas Heat entry to clinch fourth position, cuing delighted screams from his team-mates and team boss, ex-Formula One driver Alex Yoong.
Rudy Van Buren also had hardware failure mid-race, so drove three hours to use team-mate Kevin Siggy’s rig to complete his stints, proving pivotal to the #71 BMW Team Redline entry’s race and championship hopes.
With a top-quality broadcast featuring some famous faces, it’s well worth checking out again.
We can’t wait for next year!
24 HOURS OF LE MANS VIRTUAL LMP RESULTS
- 70 Realteam Hydrogen Redline | Felipe Drugovich, Oliver Rowland, Jeffrey Rietveld, Michal Smidl – 407 laps
- 1 Rebellion GPX Esports | Louis Delétraz, Agustin Canapino, Kuba Brzezinski, Nikodem Wisniewski
- 4 Floyd ByKolles-Burst | Tom Dillmann, Bent Viscaal, Jesper Pedersen, Jernej Simončič
- 21 SEM9 Flash Axle | Naquib Azlan, Inigo Anton, Josh Purwien, Ar Muhammad Aleef
- 49 YAS HEAT | Will Tregurtha, Sandy Mitchell, Marko Pejic, Balázs Remenyik
24 HOURS OF LE MANS VIRTUAL GTE RESULTS
- 71 BMW Team Redline | Rudy van Buren, Lorenzo Colombo, Enzo Bonito, Kevin Siggy – 367 laps
- 91 Porsche Esports Team | Mitchell deJong, Laurin Heinrich, Mack Bakkum, Martin Krönke
- 77 Proton Competition | Loek Hartog, Matt Campbell, Kevin van Dooren, Jeremy Bouteloup
- 51 FDA Esports Team | Nicklas Nielsen, David Perel, Jordy Zwiers, Kasper Stoltze
- 89 BMW Team BS+COMPETITION | Bruno Spengler, Robby Foley, Alen Terzic, Joonas Raivio
