It’s been a mixed outing in the virtual 24hr of Le Mans for the three participating Australians overnight as the Rebellion Williams Esport #1 Oreca LMP won the outright battle for first place.
Taking place on the event’s original dates following the ‘real life’ event’s postponement until September, 200 drivers across 50 teams, made up of professional and sim racers, featured in the 24 hour endurance event, which went right down to the last lap.
Behind the wheel of the event-winning Oreca LMP was Louis Deletraz, Raffaele Marciello, Nikodem Wisniewski and Kuba Brzezins and the team finished just 17 seconds ahead of ByKolles-Burst Esport #4 Oreca LMP, who began the race on pole.
It was a good start from the runner-up squad made up of Tom Dillmann, Esteban Guerrieri, Jernej Simončič and Jesper Pedersen, however the team soon fell down the order and had to work their way back into second place, eventually taking it from Augustin Canapino, Jack Aitken, Alex Arana and Michael Romanidis in the Rebellion Williams Esport #13 LMP with just 20 minutes to go.
As for the Australians, Victorian-based sim racer Emily Jones finished the event in 18th place alongside internationals Katherine Legge, Tatiana Calderon and Sophia Floersch for the Richard Mille Racing Team, after the all-female team started the race in 23rd.
The remaining two Aussies were part of the GTE class with sim racer Joshua Rogers and Porsche factory driver Matt Campbell racing in different entries for the Porsche Esports Team, however both drivers experienced contrasting results come the chequered flag.
In a fierce battle for victory between four manufactures in Porsche, Corvette, Ferrari and Aston Martin, it was the Porsche team of Rogers, Nick Tandy, Ayhancan Güven and Tommy Östgaard, who took out the class win over the #95 Aston Martin Vantage GTE and the R8G Esports Team driven #80 Corvette C7.R, who rounded out the top three.
Having qualified in pole position for the class, Rogers alongside his teammates, held off any challenges from the other teams to steer their 2017-spec 911 RSR to victory after completing 339 laps, as well as also posting the class’ fastest lap of the race.
Making the victory even more special was the team getting the win for Porsche exactly 50 years after to the day after its first win at the real 24 Hours of Le Mans.
"The result shows how much we've put into this,” Rogers said post-event.
‘The competition was insanely strong. I think it's without a doubt one of the strongest grids in a sim race ever. We had not a scratch on the car, no major mistakes, no penalties, which I think is ultimately how an endurance race is won.
“We approached the race with the right mindset, we made sure we bought our ticket to the last few hours with the right strategy and reacting quickly to things like red flags. All the hard work was worth it for sure."
Campbell on the other hand, with fellow Porsche drivers Jaxon Evans, Mack Bakkum and Jeremy Bouteloup, was on course for a podium finish thanks to the crew’s competitive performance, only for a server issue just one hour before the race saw them relegated to 11th place.
The real-life 24Hr of Le Mans is scheduled to take place on 19-20 September.