Esports News: FE, IndyCar stars join JOTA-run Virtual Le Mans team

Formula E championship leader Antonio Felix da Costa and IndyCar driver Felix Rosenqvist will race in the Virtual Le Mans 24 Hours next month.

Following the postponement of the real-life endurance race to September 19-20 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a partnership between Le Mans organiser ACO, the World Endurance Championship and Motorsport Games will stage a virtual rFactor 2 race on the original June 13-14 date.

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The rules dictate that each team must run a minimum of two drivers with an international FIA license and a maximum of two sim racers.

DS Techeetah driver da Costa will share a virtual ORECA 07 LMP2 car, which will be run by WEC outfit JOTA Sport and sim racing veteran Team Redline, with Chip Ganassi Racing's Rosenqvist and virtual stars Rudy van Buren and Kevin Siggy.

Van Buren won the inaugural World's Fastest Gamer in 2017 and earned a simulator job with McLaren, while Siggy won the manufacturer's McLaren Shadow Project esports competition last year.

The team are also fielding a second LMP2 entry together, with WEC regulars Will Stevens and Gabriel Aubry joining Redline's drivers Dominik Farber and Aleksi Uusi-Jaakkola.

It was announced on Wednesday morning that Redline will be running its own solo entry, which features current Formula 1 drivers Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.

They will be joined on the grid by Haas F1 driver Romain Grosjean's new R8G Sim Racing Team, running former DTM driver and avid sim racer Daniel Juncadella as well as experienced endurance racer Mathias Beche.

The team, which will be completed by McLaren Shadow runner-up Erhan Jajovski and fellow sim racer Risto Kappet will compete in the GTE class in a Corvette C7.R.

Williams Esports will run four LMP2 cars in partnership with Rebellion, who is set to exit motorsport after the real-life Le Mans 24 Hours.

Its first two driver line-ups have been revealed with Haas F1 reserve Louis Deletraz partnering factory Mercedes GT driver Raffaele Marciello and Williams Esports drivers Nikodem Wisniewski and Kuba Brzezinski in the first entry.

The second car will feature Rebellion LMP1 drivers Bruno Senna and Gustavo Menezes alongside sim racers Petar Brljak and Dawid Mroczek.

Elsewhere, 1996 Monaco Grand Prix winner Olivier Panis will race alongside his son, World Touring Car Cup driver Aurelien Panis, in one of two Panis Racing LMP2 entries.

Ex-Ferrari F1 drivers Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella were the first names to be announced earlier this week and will race in a virtual Ferrari 488 GTE.

The Virtual Le Mans 24 Hours will be streamed live on Motorsport.tv. The race starts on 13 June at 14:00 BST.