Motorsport Games, in partnership with Automobile Club de l’Ouest, has revealed the full entry list for its 2021-22 Endurance Esports Championship, the Le Mans Virtual Series. World-famous motorsport stars such as Jenson Button, Bruno Senna, Stoffel Vandoorne, and more join a full list of 38 teams and 177 drivers, from nearly all major motorsport disciplines, including Formula One, the WEC, INDYCAR, Formula 2 and 3, Formula E and more.
This list has been announced ahead of the first race of the series, 4 Hours of Monza, taking place online on September 25th, 2021. 4 Hours of Monza is the first of five rounds, which will culminate in a 24 hour Le Mans virtual race taking place in ASI, Birmingham, UK on January 15/16th 2022. With one of the largest prize pools in sim racing, $250,000 USD, and partners including Rolex and LEGO Technic, these races are not ones to miss.
The recently launched 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual Series, a joint venture between Motorsport Games Inc. and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (“ACO”) — the creators and organizers of the world-famous 24 Hours of Le Mans and promoter of the FIA World Endurance Championship of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (the “FIA WEC”), announces today the full entry list for the 2021-22 Endurance Esports Championship.
The 38 team entries feature 177 driver names on the full-season roster list (see the full list HERE) and include champions and prominent drivers from nearly all major motorsport disciplines, including Formula One, the WEC, INDYCAR, the International Motor Sports Association (“IMSA”), Formula 2 and 3, Formula E and Extreme E, GT World Challenge and more. Participating this season are open-wheel luminaries of motorsport, such as 2009 F1 Champion, Jenson Button, F2 racer, Jack Aitken, Formula E racer Sergio Sette Camara, current INDYCAR Championship points leader, Alex Palou and INDYCAR driver and 2019 INDYCAR Rookie of the Year, Felix Rosenqvist.
The Le Mans Virtual Series’ driver roster also contains some of the most exciting up and coming young professional drivers, including F2 and F3 stars Liam Lawson, Bent Viscaal, Victor Martins, and Caio Collet, as well as female driver Beitske Visser, who races in the W Series and the WEC. The FIA WEC, 24 Hours of Le Mans, and IMSA are represented by former champion Bruno Senna, plus former F1 stars Stoffel Vandoorne, Harry Tincknell, Will Stevens, Matt Campbell, Yifei Ye, and many other prominent racers.
Demonstrating his racing versatility, Timmy Hansen – World Rallycross and Extreme E driver, will race alongside winners from Japan’s Super GT, the Super Formula championships, and GT racers from all around the world. Rounding out the list of professional racing drivers is last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual winning line-up, who are reuniting for the Rebellion GPX Williams team to defend their title. Teams making up the rest of the grid include Team Fordzilla, Red Bull Racing Esports, Team Redline, Panis Racing, Team Project 1, and Team WRT, among others, plus championship and Le Mans-winning worldwide brands, such as Alpine, Ferrari, Porsche, and BMW, just to name a few.
Joining this roster of esteemed professional racing drivers are elite competitors from the sim racing scene, including popular names such as Michi Hoyer, Bono Huis, Jan von der Heyde, Joshua Rogers, and Kevin Siggy. There will be 98 sim drivers within the full 177 driver roster.
An overview of the driver roster construction and format is as follows:
- Teams must submit a full-season roster of 4 or 5 drivers.
- A minimum of 2 drivers must be FIA graded (or its equivalent).
- The remaining drivers are sim drivers.
- For each of the first 4 online rounds, teams will nominate 3 drivers from their full-season roster 7 days before each race. Of these, one must be an FIA-graded driver (or its equivalent).
- For the 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual finale – scheduled to be held January 15th and 16th, 2022 in Birmingham, UK at the 2022 Autosport International motorsport show – line-ups will increase to 4 drivers per entry with a minimum of 2 FIA-graded drivers (or its equivalent). An additional 20 entries are expected for the live, televised event, with some of the most well-known motorsport names in the world due to appear.
Given the ongoing calendar uncertainty in real-world racing, there is provision within the regulations to allow for the replacement of FIA-graded drivers if the originally nominated drivers are not available.
