Newly crowned F1 champ Verstappen’s next challenge: win the virtual Le Mans 24

What is the 24 Hours of Le Mans (24 Heures du Mans)?

The world’s oldest active endurance racing event, 24 Hours of Le Mans is won by the car that covers the greatest distance in 24 hours. The race — run on the iconic Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans, France — is also one of the most dangerous motorsport events: 22 drivers have lost their lives over 99 years and 83 spectators were killed in a single crash in 1955.

What is the virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans?

The inaugural virtual race was run in the summer of 2020, after the real-world annual race was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The event was watched by more than 14 million viewers. Last year, it grew to become a full-fledged digital championship series.

Next weekend’s event will be the second officially-sanctioned virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans race and will be broadcast live on YouTube, Twitch and Facebook.

How is the virtual race run?

The race uses the rFactor 2 simulation game and allows the competitors to drive either the LMP (Le Mans Prototype) or GTE (Grand Touring Endurance) cars on a virtually-recreated Circuit de la Sarthe. Racers can compete from their homes using driving simulators — a wheel and pedal setup is mandatory. Teams can customise their machines with liveries, leaving some areas free for the official partners.

Raffaele Marciello, the winner of the 2020 edition, uses a “quite expensive” setup from his days as Formula 1 testing driver, There are three monitors for better immersion, but it’s still “easy to get distracted by the outside world”.

“Your girlfriend passes by. You look above and there’s no car, only your house roof. Sometimes the doorbell or the phone goes,” Marciello told The Indian Express. “But it is also good training because you learn how to keep your focus for many hours at a time. When you’re in an actual car on the track, keeping focus is not a worry.”

According to the rules, a driver will not be able to race for more than 7 hours. The working day-night cycle of the rFactor 2 game means portions of the race will be run in the dark like the real-life counterpart. Vehicle damage is also set to 100 per cent, which means damage will affect the car visibly and how it drives. It can be repaired in the pitstop, but “very bad accidents and incidents could result in terminal damage e.g. wheels falling off”.

Is this Verstappen’s first foray into sim-racing?

The F1 world champion is also an avid sim-racer. Early on in 2020, when asked about the coronavirus-prompted limbo, and his off-season training, Verstappen told his official website: “Simulator racing is keeping me sharp. What else can you do at this moment, you have to stay inside. and it’s fun, I really enjoy sim racing anyway. Over the winter I did it a lot and I try to practice my skills and make it even better. That’s why I love doing it.”

Verstappen competed in the inaugural virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans that year with fellow gamer-F1 driver Lando Norris. They were leading for Team Redline when a frozen screen led to a collision with eventual winners Rebellion-Williams Esports.

This time around, Verstappen’s ‘Team Redline’ colleagues include Swedish IndyCar driver Felix Rosenqvist and sim racers Max Benecke and Atze Kerkhof.

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Who are the others in competition?

Spain’s reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou is in the field along with double Indianapolis 500 winner and former F1 racer Juan Pablo Montoya, Dutch two-times F1 esports champion Jarno Opmeer and an all-female W Series team.

Double Formula One world champion and two-times Le Mans winner Fernando Alonso is non-driving captain of the Alpine esports team.