Charles Leclerc, Fernando Alonso and Jean-Eric Vergne are among the major names to be confirmed for next month’s 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual as part of the full entry list for the event, scheduled for June 13-14
The list, which was confirmed on Saturday after a week of driver announcements, also features the like of W Series Champion Jamie Chadwick, former F1 star Rubens Barrichello and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi.
Leclerc and Giovinazzi will team up as part of AF Corse’s three car GTE Pro assault, with the pair driving the #52 Ferrari 488 GTE alongside Enzo Bonito and David Tonizza. The #51 car for the Italian outfit will see WEC regular Nicklas Nielsen and Federico Leo paired together with sim racers Kasper Stoltze and Amos Laurito. The #71 will be piloted by Miguel Molina alongside sim racing specialist David Perel, with the line-up completed by Danilo Santoro and Jordy Zwiers.
Double Le Mans winner and two-time Formula One world champion Alonso will pair with former Ferrari and Brawn driver Rubens Barrichello as part of their FA/RB Allinsports team, racing together with sim racers Olli Pahkala and Jarl Teien.
A number of teams, including Porsche, Alpine, Team WRT and United Autosports had previously already confirmed their line-ups, while it was confirmed last week that Giancarlo Fisichella and Felipe Massa will team up as part of an outfit fielded by Princess Charlene of Monaco.
Alonso’s former WEC team, Toyota Gazoo Racing, have also confirmed their two-car team, featuring most of their current WEC LMP1 stars. Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez will partner up to drive the #7 car, joined by sim racer Maxime Brient. Sebastieb Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Toyota protege Kenta Yamashita will partner up with Yuri Kasdorp on board the #8 car.
Toyota’s main WEC challenger, Rebellion Racing, has teamed up with Williams Esports for a two-car effort that includes F2 driver Louis Deletraz, GT3 star Raffaele Marciello as well as current WEC racers Bruno Senna and Gustavo Menezes.
IMSA and IndyCar frontrunners Team Penske will see the four-man crew of Juan Pablo Montoya, Simon Pagenaud, Dane Cameron and Ricky Taylor team up. The race marks Pagenaud’s first time in a major esports event since his controversial run-in with McLaren’s Lando Norris. Norris has already been confirmed for the event alongside fellow F1 star Max Verstappen.
Norris and Verstappen will be racing for Team Redline, which has entered two additional cars for the British WEC squa JOTA Sport. The two-car assault will see Formula E’s Antonio Felix da Costa and IndyCar star Felix Rosenqvist team up in the first car, while the second car will see WEC team-mates Gabriel Aubry and Will Stevens team up.
Reigning W Series Champion and Williams development driver Jamie Chadwick will team up with DTM star Ferdinand Habsburg and influencer Jimmy Broadbent and Kevin Rotting as part of Mahle Racing’s GTE Pro squad.
Chadwick has had previous affiliation with the Veloce Esports crew, which is also entering three cars featuring a star-studded line-up that includes the likes of Vergne, Pierre Gasly, Norman Nato and Stoffel Vandoorne. 2009 Formula One world champion Jenson Button is also on the grid with his own Team Rocket Zansho team alongside Bentley factory driver Alex Buncombe. The other Zansho-run outfit, Multimatic Zansho, sees the father-and-son pairing of Andy and Sebastian Priaulx team up.
WEC GTE Pro points leaders Aston Martin Racing have entered three cars into the GTE Pro category with a line-up consisting of most of their real-life line-up. The #95 Aston Martin Vantage AMR will be piloted by Nicki Thiim, Richard Westbrook and Lasse Sorensen, Marco Sorensen’s younger brother.
Their line-up is completed by Manuel Biancolilla. Alex Lynn, Charlie Eastwood and Harry Tincknell team up on board the #97 car alongside Tiziano Briono. The #98 car will see the 2017 class winning pairing of Darren Turner and Jonny Adam reunited alongside Ross Gunn and Giuseppe de Fuoco.
The Richard Mille Racing Team, which is set to enter an all-female LMP2 squad if and when the European Le Mans Series season gets underway, is also entered with Katherine Legge, Tatiana Calderon and Sophia Flörsch teaming up with Emily Jones.
The full entry list for the 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual can be found here.
