The full season entry list for the Le Mans Virtual Series is littered with big names from real world motorsport. F1 World Champion Jenson Button, IndyCar Champion Alex Palou, World Rallycross Champion Timmy Hansen, and championship winners from many different disciplines such as Stoffel Vandoorne, Bruno Senna and Yifei Ye are just some of the internationally crowned and renowned title holders who are bringing their talents to the world of esports endurance racing.
Central to the success of this championship is the crossover between real and virtual and the real world drivers readily admit they lean heavily on the talents and experience of the sim drivers they are teamed with in order to achieve success. So who are these sim stars up and down the grid?
They are young, ambitious, dedicated and come from all over the world. Between them have a roll call of esports honours that many gamers can only dream of. We highlight just a few of the sim champions on our Le Mans Virtual Series entry list to demonstrate that this really is the champions’ championship.
In no particular order we have Josh Rogers, a German-based Australian who achieved victory in the GT class of the 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual 2020, driving for Porsche alongside Nick Tandy, Ayhancan Guven and Tommy Østgaard. The 2021 Porsche Esports Supercup Champion remains with Porsche Esports Team this year, Sage Karam in place of Nick Tandy in an otherwise unaltered line up, and they are challenging hard for their first LMVS 2021 victory.
The esports CV of 22-year-old Slovenian Kevin Siggy is undeniably stellar! A championship winner in touring, GP Masters, ABB FE Race at Home Series among others, BMW Team Redline’s Siggy has also had a storming start to his LMVS campaign. Two GTE pole positions from two races, a 2nd place at Monza and a win on the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit, the line-up of Siggy, Enzo Bonito, Lorenzo Colombo and Rudy van Buren is proving hard to beat.
Nikodem Wisniewski has been a pivotal figure in the Rebellion GPX Williams line up, one of the few completely unaltered since last year. The Pole claimed overall victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual 2020 with team-mates Louis Deletraz, Raffaele Marciello and Kuba Brzezinski, is an esports World Touring Car Champion, and a race winner in many different series on different platforms.
Crowned world champion in the prestigious Porsche Esports Supercup for the first time in 2020, 21-year-old British Red Bull Racing Esports competitor Sebastian Job fought off some of the world’s top drivers on the iRacing platform, his victory even more impressive because of the winning margin over 2019 champion Josh Rogers. Teamed with newly crowned British GT4 Champion Dennis Lind and Japanese hot shot Ryo Hirakawa as pro drivers, Job has yet to run in the LMVS due to other commitments. We can’t wait to see what he can do.
Bono Huis is a five time Formula Sim Racing Champion and, after proving himself at the top level there, the Dutchman has gone to compete in the iRacing GTE World Championship and F1 Esports. The 2021 rFactor2 Formula Pro Series champion and 2020 Formula Challenge Pro Champion took top LMVS honours at the 6 Hours of Spa recently with Atze Kerkhof and IndyCar star Felix Rosenqvist for Team Redline and his experience was a key part of that victory.
2021 GT Pro Series Champion and 2020 Formula SimRacing World Champion Jernej Simončič has proved himself to be extremely versatile, no matter what the type of car, and he’s determined to get to the top in endurance racing too. With Jesper Pedersen and Sergio Sette Camara the Czech claimed 3rd place overall at Monza for Floyd ByKolles-Burst and moved up to second overall at Spa with Pedersen and Tom Dillmann. You know which step he’s got his eye on next!
The next round of the 2021-22 Le Mans Virtual Series will be the 8 Hours of Nürburgring on the Nordschleife circuit on Saturday 13th November. Stay tuned to www.lemansvirtual.com to find out more and to follow all the action.
For further media information contact Fiona Miller, Miller Media & Communications, on +44 7770 371332 or miller.media10@btinternet.com
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