I was quite disappointed earlier this summer that there was not another edition of the Virtual Le Mans 24h. I thought the experiment in 2020 was excellent and so close to reality.
I was so wrong, I have just discovered just by chance that there is a 24h race scheduled tomorrow January 15th 2022
On the Nürburgring video, skip to minute 50′ to see one of the amateur actually racing.
I have just received my own equipment and set it up and tried it a few days ago. It is extremely hard and a lot of concentration is needed. I’ll have to practise a lot if ever I wanted to enter the 24h virtual race.
There is in fact a video of this… Am working on how to upload it.
Start – Bapco 6 hours of Bahrain – Bahrain International Circuit
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and restrictions on entry to Japan, the Fuji 6 Hour race, scheduled for September 26, was cancelled and replaced by the six-hour race in Bahrain on October 30.
HYPERCAR | TOYOTA SECURES THE MANUFACTURERS’ TITLE
The Toyota Gazoo Racing team took the victory for the third time in a row and achieved a new double win at the BAPCO 6 Hours of Bahrain, the fifth and penultimate round of the 2021 FIAWEC.
The N°7Toyota GR010 Hypercar driven by Mike Conway, Khamui Kobayashi and José Maria Lopez finished ahead of the sister car N°8 Toyota GR010, driven by Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley. The Japanese marque thus won its third consecutive world manufacturers’ title, the first in the Hypercar category. The N°36 Alpine A480 of the Alpine Elf Matmut team driven by Nicolas Lapierre, Matthieu Vaxivière finished in third position and claimed its fifth consecutive podium of the season.
LMP2 | TEAM WRT AT THE TOP!
It was a second consecutive victory for Team WRT, who leads the championship at the end of the BAPCO 6 Hours of Bahrain with the N°31Oreca 07 driven by Robin Frijns, Charles Milesi and Ferdinand Habsburg. The British-based JOTA team scored a double podium with the N°28Oreca 07-Gibson driven by Stoffel Vandoorne, Tom Blomqvist and Sean Gelael finishing second, followed by its sister car the Oreca 07-Gibson N°38 taking third place. However, nothing is decided yet in the fight for the LMP2 World Championship title with only five points separating Team WRT and JOTA in the overall standings. The battle promises to go down to the wire at the season-finale close this Saturday at the BAPCO 8 Hours of Bahrain.
LMP2 PRO Am | RACING TEAM NEDERLAND LEADS
Following Racing Team Nederland’s strong performance at last weekend’s BAPCO 6 Hours of Bahrain, the Dutch squad are now leading the new-for-2021 LMP2 Pro Am category. Indeed, just ten points cover the top seven drivers going into the season-closer this weekend with Racing Team Nederland firm favourites as they lead DragonSpeed USA by nine points. However, with a total of 39 points available it will be all to play for!
LMGTE Pro | DOUBLE SUCCESS FOR PORSCHE GT TEAM
Last weekend saw the N°92 Porsche 911 RSR-19 of the Porsche GT Team driven by Kévin Estre and Neel Jani win the LMGTE Pro class ahead of the #91 sister car of Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz. The N°51AF Corse Ferrari, driven by Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado, claimed the final step on the podium, which sees the gap at the top of the leaderboard reduced to just one single point heading into the season finale.
LMGTE AM | VICTORY FOR TF SPORT
In the LMGTE Am class, the top step of the podium was taken by the N° 33TF Sport Aston Martin driven by the trio Dylan Pereira, Ben Keating and Felipe Fraga, who scored its first win of WEC Season 9. The N°77Dempsey Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 with Christian Ried, Jaxon Evans and Matt Campbell was second, followed by another German car, the Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR with Egidio Perfetti, Matteo Cairoli, and Ricardo Pera.
I have updated my Excel file with all the races results so far this year. As usual, the file can be found on my “Cloud”.
Excellent 1st race of the season in Belgium yesterday. The sunny conditions, which is very unusual in Spa Francorchamp, were perfect for the 1st outing of the hypercars (LMH).
There certainly was a battle on between the new Toyotas LMH and the Alpine LMH.
I watched the whole 6 hours using the WEC app on my PC as well as my tablet so that I could have a combination of the race on one screen and live positions on the other one. Excellent.
I have already updated my Excel file for the new season with the race results.
I’ll gladly sent you the file if anyone is interested.
The next race is Le Mans 24h in August. I am not planning on going and it is not yet known if spectators will be allowed.
The Mission H24 project’s new hydrogen-electric powered racing prototype recently completed its first laps at the Lurcy-Levis circuit with Norman Nato at the wheel.
MissionH24 has just kicked off a new phase in its development. H24 Racing hit the track with the new H24 prototype for the first time at the Lurcy-Levis circuit in central France. Development driver Norman Nato was able to get a sense of the improvements made to the aerodynamics, cooling system and propulsion. The team also tested out a lighter and more compact gearbox and an electronic braking system. Thanks to a weight increase of 150 kg, bringing the H24 closer to the mass of a GT3, performance has also gotten better.
The 89th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans on 21 and 22 August this year celebrates rejuvenation, with the introduction of a Hypercar class.
Quite rightly, the high-performance, stylish machines in the new category take centre stage on the 2021 race poster.
Devised to depict speed and to evoke the distinctive day/night aspect of the world-famous race, the understated 2021 poster design leaves the limelight to the spectacular cars.
Corvette Racing has announced it will compete at the upcoming TOTAL 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (29 April – 1 May) with its Corvette C8.R.
Fresh from their victory at the Rolex 24 At Daytona in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Corvette Racing will enter a single C8.R at the WEC season-opener.
Antonio Garcia (Spain) and Oliver Gavin (UK) are set to drive the No. 63 C8.R – the first time they have shared a car in their Corvette Racing careers.
I have just completed my follow-up Excel file for the forthcoming 2021 season. It is of course subject to many changes, in particular on the driver’s side. Many have not yet been decided upon and many still need to get their 24h of Le Mans licences.
I can make the file available if you send me a message with your email address.
The dates of the races keeps changing due to the current health conditions. Let us hope that spectators will be allowed.
JJ's Le Mans 24h 