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The 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual was an esports 24-hour automobile endurance race for Le Mans Prototype (LMP) and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance (LMGTE) vehicles held on a simulated version of the Circuit de la Sarthe from 13 to 14 June 2020. The Automobile Club de l'Ouest, the FIA World Endurance Championship and Motorsport Games organised the race as a placeholder for the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans that was postponed from June to September as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in France. It was hosted on the rFactor 2 gaming platform and operated from Paris' Studio Gabriel. The race featured 50 teams of four drivers each sharing one car. The entry list was divided into two categories of vehicles: LMP and GTE. There were 30 teams in the LMP class and 20 in the GTE category.
An Oreca 07 car shared by Tom Dillmann, Esteban Guerrieri, Jernej Simončič, Jesper Pedersen for the ByKolles – Burst Esports team qualified on pole position after Simončič set the quickest qualifying lap. The team led the first six laps until it served a drive-through penalty in the pit lane because of a jump start by Dillmann. E-Team WRT's Fabrice Cornelis, Arne Schoonvliet, Kelvin van der Linde and Dries Vanthoor held the lead before van der Linde lost his internet connection. The Veloce Esports 2, 2 Seas Motorsport, Team Redline and Rebellion Williams Esports entries shared the lead until hour ten. Rebellion Williams Esports' No. 1 and 13 cars exchanged first position through pit stop rotation until ByKolles returned to battle for the win. Rebellion's No. 1 car of Jakub Brzezinski, Louis Delétraz, Raffaele Marciello and Nikodem Wisniewski conserved enough fuel to win by 17.781 seconds over ByKolles in second. Rebellion's No. 13 crew of Jack Aitken, Agustín Canapino, Marc Gassner and Michael Romanidis were third.
The Porsche Esports Team of Ayhancan Güven, Tommy Østgaard. Joshua Rogers and Nick Tandy qualified on pole position in the GTE category after Rogers set qualifying's fastest class lap. Loek Hartrog took the category lead for the Dempsey-Proton Racing team by passing Tandy at the start and maintained it until the R8G Esports crew of Mathias Beche, Erhan Jajovski. Daniel Juncadella and Risto Kappet moved into the position. R8G exchanged the class lead between Porsche before the latter crew took first position and maintained it for 261 consecutive laps to win in GTE. Aston Martin Racing's Manuel Biancolilla, Lasse Sørensen, Nicki Thiim and Richard Westbrook finished one lap behind in second and R8G was third following two accidents involving the crew during the event. The race was broadcast worldwide online and on television. It was watched by a worldwide audience of 14.2 million television viewers and 8.6 million online views.
Background
The 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans was postponed from its scheduled dates of 13 and 14 June to 19 and 20 September as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in France.[1] In place of the postponed race, the automotive group the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and Motorsport Games elected to organise a simulation event called the 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual rendering the 13.626 km (8.467 mi) Circuit de la Sarthe on the rFactor 2 gaming platform on the original dates.[2][3] The event received support from developers Studio 397;[4] its sponsor was the Saudi Arabian Federation for Electronic and Intellectual Sports initiative.[5]
Rules
Each team had four drivers in their lineup. They were required to sign at least two professional drivers holding an international Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) or equivalent racing licence with the last two being either sim racers or professional competitors.[6] Each driver was limited to a minimum of four hours race time and could do no more than seven;[1] they were not allowed to drive for more than three hours in a five-hour period otherwise race officials could impose a penalty on the squad if appropriate. No driver could race more than one car. Pit stops for fuel, tyres and driver switches were mandatory. Drivers had to participate in at least one of three test races for game, rules and procedure acclimatisation and set a minimum of ten laps in either a test session or test race.[6] Drivers competed remotely from various locations around the world.[7]
FIA WEC race director Eduardo Freitas officiated the event. Each driver was required to know the sporting regulations and attend a compulsory video briefing the day before the event.[6] Race organisers nominated one or more drivers of the LMPH2G hydrogen safety car deployable at the race director's digression and participants would be told via voice chat.[6][8] Racing flags were used to inform drivers with blue flags telling them of a slower car and yellow flags to indicate an incident somewhere on the circuit. Race control could impose a full course yellow flag ordering competitors to slow to 60 km/h (37 mph) to enable circuit repairs or the clearing of an incident. Non-appealable penalties ranged from a drive-through penalty to disqualification. Any team disconnecting from the server would be penalised five minutes or six minutes if they needed to switch drivers.[6]
Entry list and reserves
The Le Mans Prototype (LMP) and Grand Touring Endurance (GTE) classes were the two types of car used for the race. Every LMP class squad fielded an Oreca 07 car and GTE teams could select between the Aston Martin Vantage, the Chevrolet Corvette C7.R, the Ferrari 488 GTE and the Porsche 911 RSR.[6] Car numbers in LMP ranged from 1 to 50 and between 51 and 99 in the GTE class.[9] GTE cars were subject to a balance of performance by rFactor 2's developers to ensure better parity within the class.[6] Michelin was the race's control tyre supplier.[6][9]
The 50-car, 200 driver field was decided by a committee of esports and motor racing representatives to join "the best of racing teams and esports squads".[9] Race organisers lowered the entry list limit from 62 to 50 cars because they wanted a stable and unstrained server.[9] The entry list was released on 23 May 2020. Organisers received 85 entry requests between the event's launch and the day of the entry list's publication for 30 LMP and 20 GTE entries. In addition to the entries given for the race, ten teams were placed on a reserve list to replace any withdrawn invitations.[10]
Teams came from series like FIA WEC, IMSA and esports.[10] There were real-life racing drivers from the European Le Mans Series (such as Paul-Loup Chatin and Katherine Legge), Formula One (including Max Verstappen and Lando Norris), FIA Formula 2 Championship (like Jack Aitken and Louis Delétraz), Formula E (such as Jean-Éric Vergne and António Félix da Costa),[11] IMSA (like Nick Tandy and Juan Pablo Montoya),[12] IndyCar Series (such as Tony Kanaan and Simon Pagenaud),[9] and the FIA WEC (including Gustavo Menezes and André Negrão) on the entry list.[11]
Broadcasting
The race was broadcast live from Paris' Studio Gabriel on social media platforms and on various television channels in 58 different countries.[13][14][15] It was broadcast across Europe and the Asia-Pacific on Eurosport and across Africa on SuperSport. In Europe, coverage was carried by RTBF in Belgium; TV 2 in Denmark; RTL GP in the Netherlands and ViaPlay in Scandinavia. ESPN broadcast the race throughout the United States as well as Australia, Brazil, the Caribbean, the Pacific Islands and Spanish-speaking Latin America. Discovery Velocity carried coverage in Canada; Sky Sport in New Zealand; Sony Entertainment Television in India and J Sports in Japan.[14] The commentary crew consisted of Ben Constanduros and Martin Haven, with expert analysis by Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish and two esports commentators of Lewis McGlade and Chris McCarthy.[14] The 25-hour broadcast had a television audience of 14.2 million and an online viewership of 8.6 million.[15][16]
Qualifying
All LMP and GTE teams partook in two separate 20-minute qualifying sessions on the evening of 12 June. The GTE class session was held first before LMP qualifying. The team with the fastest lap time in their category qualified on pole position with the slowest at the back of the order. Only one participant per car was allowed to qualify, although teams were permitted to switch drivers if required.[6] Most teams had their sim drivers qualify their cars with six professional competitors doing so.[17]
Sim driver Jernej Simončič driving the No. 4 ByKolles Burst Esport car set the initial pace with a 3 minutes, 23.683 seconds' time before improving by three-tenths of a second late on to a 3 minutes, 23.380 seconds and qualify his team on pole position in the LMP category.[18] The team was joined on the LMP category grid's front row by E-Team WRT's No. 30 entry of Arne Schoonvliet, whose best lap recorded late in qualifying was two-tenths of a second slower than Simončič. Schoonvliet demoted Devin Braune's No. 33 2 Seas Motorsport car to third.[17][19] The fastest of the four Rebellion Williams Esport entries was the fourth-placed No. 3 car of Jack Keithley, who was Simončič's closest challenger at the session's mid-point before losing time in the final third of the lap.[18][20] The No. 20 Team Redline entry of team director Atze Kerkhof qualified fifth.[19][20] Stoffel Vandoorne was the highest-qualifying professional driver in sixth for Veloce Esports' No. 16 squad.[17] Sim drivers occupied seventh and eighth with Kevin Siggy's No. 38 Jota Team Redline entry ahead of Nikodem Wisniewski's No. 1 Rebellion Williams Esport car. Jota's sister No. 37 vehicle of Aleksi Uusi-Jaakkola was ninth with James Baldwin's No. 18 Veloce Esports car tenth.[17][21]
Porsche led in GTE with four cars at the top of the category field.[21] Joshua Rogers, the Porsche Esports Supercup championship winner, set the session's fastest lap of 3 minutes, 46.550 seconds to put the No. 93 Porsche Esports Team entry on pole position.[17][18] His teammate Mitchell Dejong briefly occupied pole position in the final moments of qualifying for the sister No. 91 Porsche team before falling 0.632 seconds behind Rogers to second despite crossing the start/finish line in time enabling him to set another timed lap.[17] Kevin van Dooren qualified the No. 88 Dempsey-Proton Racing car third in the final seconds of qualifying.[19] Jeremy Boutelop driving the No. 93 entry took fourth to be the third driver representing the Porsche Esport Team in the first four positions. Lasse Sørensen of the No. 95 Aston Martin Racing squad was the highest-placed non-Porsche driver in fifth position.[17][21] Rounding out the top ten starters were the sixth-placed David Williams for the No. 80 R8G Esports Team, Porsche Esport Team's No. 94 entry of Erhan Jajovski in seventh, Nicky Catsburg's No. 63 Corvette Racing car in eighth, Enzo Bonito's No. 52 Ferrari - AF Corse vehicle in ninth and the tenth-placed No. 57 Team Project 1 entry of Zbigniew Siara.[22]
Qualifying results
Pole position winners in each of the two classes are indicated in bold.
| Pos | Class | No. | Team | Car | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LMP | 04 | ByKolles – Burst eSport | Oreca 07 | 3:23.380 | — |
| 2 | LMP | 30 | E-Team WRT | Oreca 07 | 3:23.603 | +0.223 |
| 3 | LMP | 33 | 2 Seas Motorsport | Oreca 07 | 3:23.800 | +0.420 |
| 4 | LMP | 03 | Rebellion Williams Esports | Oreca 07 | 3:23.905 | +0.525 |
| 5 | LMP | 20 | Team Redline | Oreca 07 | 3:23.971 | +0.591 |
| 6 | LMP | 16 | Veloce eSports 2 | Oreca 07 | 3:23.973 | +0.593 |
| 7 | LMP | 38 | Jota Team Redline | Oreca 07 | 3:24.027 | +0.647 |
| 8 | LMP | 01 | Rebellion Williams Esports | Oreca 07 | 3:24.089 | +0.709 |
| 9 | LMP | 37 | Jota Team Redline | Oreca 07 | 3:24.154 | +0.774 |
| 10 | LMP | 18 | Veloce Esports 3 | Oreca 07 | 3:24.186 | +0.806 |
| 11 | LMP | 09 | Panis Racing Triple A | Oreca 07 | 3:24.313 | +0.933 |
| 12 | LMP | 46 | TDS E Racing Motul | Oreca 07 | 3:24.326 | +0.946 |
| 13 | LMP | 14 | FA/RB Allinsports | Oreca 07 | 3:24.357 | +0.977 |
| 14 | LMP | 13 | Rebellion Williams Esports | Oreca 07 | 3:24.399 | +1.019 |
| 15 | LMP | 15 | Multimatic Zansho | Oreca 07 | 3:24.636 | +1.256 |
| 16 | LMP | 17 | IDEC Sport Racing | Oreca 07 | 3:24.696 | +1.316 |
| 17 | LMP | 08 | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Oreca 07 | 3:24.755 | +1.375 |
| 18 | LMP | 07 | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Oreca 07 | 3:24.802 | +1.422 |
| 19 | LMP | 24 | Veloce Esports 1 | Oreca 07 | 3:24.911 | +1.531 |
| 20 | LMP | 02 | Rebellion Williams Esports | Oreca 07 | 3:24.930 | +1.550 |
| 21 | LMP | 23 | Team Rocket Zansho | Oreca 07 | 3:25.024 | +1.644 |
| 22 | LMP | 10 | Toyota Gazoo Racing Argentina | Oreca 07 | 3:25.257 | +1.877 |
| 23 | LMP | 50 | Richard Mille Racing Team | Oreca 07 | 3:25.588 | +2.208 |
| 24 | LMP | 31 | Panis Racing Triple A | Oreca 07 | 3:26.034 | +2.654 |
| 25 | LMP | 36 | Signatech Alpine Elf | Oreca 07 | 3:26.363 | +2.983 |
| 26 | LMP | 21 | Axle Motorsport | Oreca 07 | 3:26.421 | +3.041 |
| 27 | LMP | 06 | Team Penske | Oreca 07 | 3:26.422 | +3.042 |
| 28 | LMP | 22 | United Autosports | Oreca 07 | 3:26.600 | +3.220 |
| 29 | LMP | 12 | MPI-Zansho | Oreca 07 | 3:26.642 | +3.262 |
| 30 | LMP | 42 | Cool Racing | Oreca 07 | 3:27.548 | +4.168 |
| 31 | GTE | 93 | Porsche Esports Team | Porsche 911 RSR | 3:46.550 | +23.170 |
| 32 | GTE | 91 | Porsche Esports Team | Porsche 911 RSR | 3:47.182 | +23.802 |
| 33 | GTE | 88 | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Porsche 911 RSR | 3:47.819 | +24.439 |
| 34 | GTE | 92 | Porsche Esports Team | Porsche 911 RSR | 3:47.864 | +24.489 |
| 35 | GTE | 95 | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin Vantage GTE | 3:47.992 | +24.612 |
| 36 | GTE | 80 | R8G Esports Team | Chevrolet Corvette C7.R | 3:48.108 | +24.728 |
| 37 | GTE | 94 | Porsche Esports Team | Porsche 911 RSR | 3:48.213 | +24.833 |
| 38 | GTE | 63 | Corvette Racing | Chevrolet Corvette C7.R | 3:48.704 | +25.324 |
| 39 | GTE | 52 | Ferrari - AF Corse | Ferrari 488 GTE | 3:48.717 | +25.337 |
| 40 | GTE | 57 | Project 1 Motorsport | Porsche 911 RSR | 3:48.897 | +25.517 |
| 41 | GTE | Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Le_Mans_24_Hours_Virtual