SIMMSA Esports is taking part in the 2nd Season of the Le Mans Virtual Series!

Meet our drivers for the LMVS 2022/2023 season.
Patrick Schindler (Am) 🇩🇪
Armin Binder (Am) 🇩🇪
Sebastian Wunsch (Am) 🇩🇪
Gustas Grinbergas (Pro) 🇱🇹
Ramez Azzam (Pro) 🇨🇦

On our Pit Wall, we have our rFactor 2 Team Manager Gerhard Lindauer 🇦🇹.

Our vehicle is the Ferrari 488 GTE with our traditional number #66.

We are very proud to be part of this historic series again!

Le Mans Virtual Series returns for more elite Esports competition including award Winning 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual

Le Mans Virtual Series, a joint venture between Motorsport Games Inc. and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO), returns this September for more of the elite, endurance esports competition which has attracted world motor racing champions, captured global attention, and received plaudits from teams, drivers and fans alike. The announcement was made today at the official ACO annual press conference ahead of the 90th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Last year’s successful Le Mans Virtual Series culminated in a thrilling 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual in January 2022 with multiple, major motor manufacturers entering teams and F1 World Champion Max Verstappen and IndyCar Champion Alex Palou within the 200-strong driver line up. An impressive, cumulated TV and digital audience figure of more than 81 million (Source: YouGov Sport) was registered throughout its 5-month season.

Similar to the 2021/22 series, all five rounds of the coming series will be held online on the rFactor2 platform including the 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual, the climax of the premier endurance esports championship. This format allows teams to compete virtually on simulators located all around the world, for a total prize fund of US $250,000.

To allow more flexibility within professional drivers’ schedules – now fully restored after the disruption of the global health pandemic – a change has been made to the driver requirements. Teams must enter one professional driver in at least one regular round of the series (Rounds 1-4) instead of the full season.

The 2022/23 calendar features some of the world’s most famous and recognizable racetracks across three continents which will challenge drivers from the real and sim worlds, and thrill the millions of esports enthusiasts around the globe. New for 2022 is the season-opening 8 Hours of Bahrain, a more modern classic which fits in comfortably with the history and legendary status of Monza, Spa, Sebring and, of course, the most iconic venue of them all, Le Mans.

LE MANS VIRTUAL SERIES 2022/23

Giving their full and continued support to the Le Mans Virtual Series will be some of the world’s best known and most prestigious brands: Thrustmaster as Official Hardware Partner, Rolex as Official Timepiece Partner, Total Energies as Official Energy Partner, Goodyear as Official Tire Partner, Algorand as Official Blockchain Partner, and LEGO® Technic as Official Engineering Partner.

Pierre Fillon, President of the ACO, commented: “We are very pleased to have supported and followed the success of the Le Mans Virtual Series to date with, as its highlight, the 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual. The link between real-life motorsport and esports is an essential element for our manufacturers and teams, and we believe it has an important role to play in attracting a new, younger audience both on and off track. We all look forward to another excellent season of esports competition.”

CEO of Le Mans Virtual Series, Gérard Neveu, said: “Last year’s Le Mans Virtual Series was extremely successful but we always aim for better! The audience figures and returns we saw in 2021-22 go a long way towards recognizing the support of our impressive portfolio of partners, the collaboration of elite manufacturers and the commitment of the best sim racing teams including our current champions, Team Redline. We are confident we will continue to attract champions from all different categories of motorsport and sim racing, and that we can produce another exciting and professional esports series for the massive worldwide gaming and spectator audiences to enjoy.”

The vision for the virtual series remains to be as prestigious and recognizable as the real-world FIA World Endurance Championship, which includes the 24 Hours of Le Mans as its cornerstone event. The esports series will continue to use rFactor 2 as its platform, which is focused on the sim racing audience and provides a more authentic racing experience. Focus on increased race and strategy analysis and professional broadcasts of the races will further boost fan interest and engagement. As in previous years, FIA-licensed drivers and sim racing experts compete together in either LMP or GTE models. More details on the entry list will be revealed at the beginning of September.

With a recently-announced raft of elite motorsport manufacturers and top esports teams due to compete in the 2022-23 Le Mans Virtual Series, attention now turns to who will be piloting the 40-strong entries to success.

All will be revealed in an exclusive TV show, hosted by renowned motorsport commentator Martin Haven and esports specialist Lewis McGlade, which will be shown later today on Traxion.GG’s YouTube channel at 18h00 BST / 19h00 CEST / 13h00 EST.

Superstar names from Formula One, IndyCar, WEC, from all major esports championships and many, many more real and virtual series from around the world will be announced, stunning car liveries will be revealed and the latest update on the composition of driver line ups will be explained.

Tune in to see how the coming Le Mans Virtual Series season will unfurl starting with the 8 Hours of Bahrain on Saturday, 17th September with the broadcast beginning at 12h30 BST (13h30 CEST/07h30 EST). The full entry list for Round 1 will be revealed tomorrow, Tuesday 13th September.

The entry list for the 2022-23 Le Mans Virtual Series, the global, elite endurance esports series, has today been revealed and it features teams representing some of the most prestigious automotive manufacturers in the world, as well as elite esports squads from around the globe. The biggest full season Le Mans Virtual Series entry list to date can be found here

(PDF) click to open – The complete list of teams was announced.

Driver names – including championship-winning superstars from multiple disciplines around the world who will be making an appearance during the season – are due to be released on Monday, September 12th during a special TV Preview Show. Stay tuned to social media channels for more news on how to view the show.

An additional 10 cars are expected to join the entry list for the increasingly popular, high profile 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual on January 14/15, the final round of the five-race series, attracting even more star names to add to the excitement.

The 40 full season entries are split between two categories of car (LMP2 – 24 cars; LMGTE – 16) which will compete in races which range between four and 24 hours in duration. Top worldwide brands such as Alpine, Aston Martin, BMW, Ferrari, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche return for more top esports action and success, many with multiple entries.

The prestige manufacturer names are joined by the elite of sim racing competition, including LMP and GTE 2021 champions Team Redline and GTE Vice Champions Porsche Coanda Esports who are stepping up to the prototype class. Among others, Romain Grosjean’s R8G Esports team will be competing alongside Floyd Vanwall-Burst, Williams Esports, Alpine Esports, YAS Heat Veloce, AMG Team Petronas Esports and Jenson Button’s Rocket Simsport team in the prototype category, and all entries will compete with an ORECA 07 LMP2. Joining them for 2022 are Mexico Racing Team, Pescarolo Esport Monaco, Team Fordzilla and Brabham Esports, the latter new to the Le Mans Virtual Series but bringing with it a name steeped in motorsport history.

Some of endurance racing’s most steadfast teams such as the European Le Mans Series’ Panis Racing, GR Vector eSport (a combination of two WEC teams), Proton Competition, D’Station Racing and ARC Bratislava are also featured on the list across the two categories.

The GTE class offers competitors a choice of Aston Martin Vantage GTE, BMW M8 GTE, Ferrari 488 GTE and Porsche 911 RSR GTE cars, and names familiar to both the real and sim racing world such as MAHLE Racing Team, SIMMSA Esports, Oracle Red Bull Racing and Prodrive FYRA Esport will be among the competitors vying for championship success.

No fewer than 15 different nations are represented on the team entry list from Europe, the USA, Africa and the Far East, a 25% increase on last season. The appeal of Le Mans Virtual Series racing continues to rise!

Le Mans Virtual Series is a joint venture between Motorsport Games Inc. (NASDAQ: MSGM) (“Motorsport Games”) — a leading racing game developer, publisher and esports ecosystem provider of official motorsport racing series throughout the world — 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 (FIA WEC). It will take place over five rounds with the 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual as its grand finale. The calendar of events features some of the world’s most famous and recognizable racetracks – Monza, Spa, Bahrain, Sebring and Le Mans – which will challenge all the drivers, international FIA-licensed and sim racers alike, and thrill the millions of esports enthusiasts worldwide.

Paint schemes were revealed over the weekend.
Plenty of sim racing talents inhabit the roster, including Bono Huis, Joshua Rogers and Kevin Siggy. With so many teams and so many drivers, there were a few guidelines that needed to be followed to get their final roster.

About Le Mans Virtual Series
Le Mans Virtual Series is a global, elite esports series made up of five rounds which bring together endurance racing and sim racing’ top teams to compete on some of the world’s most famous racetracks. International FIA-licensed real-world drivers are teamed up with elite esports squads to take on endurance classics for a total prize fund of US$250,000, culminating in the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual. Le Mans Virtual Series is a joint venture between leading racing game developer, publisher and esports ecosystem provider of official motorsport racing series throughout the world, Motorsport Games, and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) – the creator and organizer of the world-famous 24 Hours of Le Mans and promoter of the FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC).

SIMMSA Esports, Ferrari 488 GTE, #66:

(PDF) click to open – The full list of teams and drivers that were announced for Round 1 – Bahrain.

These guidelines are provisioned in a way to allow for the replacement of FIA-graded drivers if needed due to schedule uncertainty. The entry list for Monza should be available within the week of the race.

So many big names. Who are you most excited to see racing in this virtual season? Will you be trying your hand in the Le Mans Virtual Cup to race alongside these giants in the main event? Let us know! If you can’t read the graphic above, no worries as we’ve transcribed it below as well.

(PDF) click to open – Here you can enjoy the spotter guide for the season.

LE MANS VIRTUAL SERIES 2022/23 CALENDAR

• Round 1 – 8 Hours of Bahrain – 27th September 2022
• Round 2 – 4 Hours of Monza – 8th October 2021
• Round 3 – 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps – 5th November 2021
• Round 4 – 500 miles of Sebring – 3rd December 2021
• Round 5 – 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual – 14th/15th January 2022

Traxion.GG is a media partner of the series. Every Le Mans Virtual Series race will be live on our YouTube and Twitch channels, plus the Traxion Facebook page.

Sources: Le Mans Virtual Series and Traxion.GG