OK so this weekend should have been the 2020 Le Mans 24 Hours, but with the global crisis that has seen millions of cases, and thousands upon thousands of deaths, the regular milestones of life have been reset, for now at least.
With our sport having been at a standstill ESports has moved to attempt to fill the void – in addition to well established standing operators and groups, and in a movement led by the Torque ESports outfit with their successful ‘Legends’ product, an array of series have sprung up with mixed success, some supported by major manufacturers and Series, some even with mainstream online and TV support.
However, replacing one of the world’s biggest motorsport events on its regular place in the calendar is a rather trickier task, and if someone is going to try to do it they needed to be thinking big.
We’ll find out in just a couple of days whether that scale of thought is going to produce the desired results in terms of competition, audience, and the quality of the product.
The product is named, perhaps mildly clumsily for an English language audience, the 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual, organised by the ACO and their joint venture in race operations LMEM, under the leadership of Gerard Neveu.
The event will involve 50 four-driver teams in two classes, LMP (all featuring the ORECA 07 Gibson LMP2) and GTE, with a choice of GTE Machinery (Aston Martin Vantage, Corvette C.7R, Ferrari 488 GTE and Porsche 911 RSR).
The teams have been selected by a standalone committee and include many, but not all, of the teams that otherwise would have been in France this week, had the ‘real’ race been able to go ahead.
Several major team names from the E-Sports world are featured, some in collaboration with established endurance teams.
Teams must include at least two 2 professional drivers with an International FIA licence or equivalent. The other two can be either sim racers or professional drivers. As in the real 24 Hours of Le Mans, drivers are not permitted to drive in more than one car.
The race is set to be broadcast, in its entirety, on a range of online, terrestrial and other platforms from 1500 CEST on Saturday (14:00 in the UK).
Full details of the teams, drivers, event and broadcast package follow in subsequent posts.
