24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual H+18: Rebellion-Williams dominates, Verstappen retires
The Team Redline car, driven notably by Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, will not win, due to connection issues during the night. The Rebellion-Williams E-sport have taken the lead, despite a major incident.
The Avener group’s entrance on Saturday came to interrupt an intense fight at the top of the virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Redline, 2 Seas motorsport and Veloce E-sport were within seconds of each other, with Rebellion Williams lurking. In the midst of the competition, Max Verstappen, behind the wheel of Redline, took the lead.
In the early morning, everything had changed. No more Team Redline or Veloce E-sport in the top positions. Verstappen’s team experienced major connection problems overnight, leading to their retirement. Veloce E-sport’s white car, on the other hand, collided with another car, resulting in damage and a drive-through penalty. They fell back to fourteenth place.
The big winners? Rebellion-Williams E-Sport. The Swiss team, which competes in LMP1 in the World Endurance Championship, has partnered with Williams E-Sport, a renowned team in the virtual world, for the event. After a cautious start to the race, the alliance is starting to pay off. The team is currently achieving a one-two finish. Car #1 driven by Deletraz, Marciello, and simracers Wisniewski Brezinski is ahead of car #13 driven by Canapino, Aitken, and simracers Arana and Romanidis by about a minute.
On the third step of the podium is Bykolles. The Austrian team, accustomed to setbacks in the real 24 Hours of Le Mans, also experienced its share of mishaps this weekend. Starting in the hands of Tom Dillmann, they had to do a drive-through for jumping the start. On Saturday night, they had steering problems on the simulator, to the point of stopping on the track. A few minutes lost. Despite these issues, far from being a favorite, they are putting on an amazing race, led by simracers Simoncic and Pedersen. They are currently 2’30 behind the leader.
Top 5:
| Driver | Team | Car | Gap | |
| 1 | Deletraz/Marciello/Wisniewski/Brzezinski | Rebellion Williams e-sport #1 | Oreca 07 | |
| 2 | Canapino/Aitken/Gassner/Romanidis | Rebellion-Williams e-sport #13 | Oreca 07 | +40.445 |
| 3 | Dillmann/Guerrieri/Simoncic/Pedersen | Bykolles | Oreca 07 | +2:09.383 |
| 4 | Al Khalifa/Rowland/Macduff/Braune | 2 Seas Motorsport | Oreca 07 | +3:06.352 |
| 5 | Vergne/Gasly/opmeer/Sillissen | Veloce E-sport 1 | Oreca 07 | +1 lap |
On the GT side, the race is much less eventful than in real life. Apart from a few hiccups from Charles Leclerc in his Ferrari, the race is unfolding normally and the time gaps are quite significant. Only three cars are on the same lap. The Porsche #93 of Nick Tandy is leading 2’25 ahead of the R8G Motorsport Corvette and the Porsche #92 by 3’33.
Top 5
| Drivers | Team | Car | Gap | |
| 1 | Tandy/Guven/Rogers/Ostgaard | Porsche GT Team #93 | Porsche | |
| 2 | Juncadella/Beche/Jajovski/Kappet | R8G ESPORTS | Corvette | +2:18.707 |
| 3 | Evans/Campbell/Bakkum/Bouteloup | Porsche GT Team #92 | Porsche | +3:29.613 |
| 4 | Thiim/Westbrook/Sorensen/Biancollila | Aston Martin Racing #95 | Aston Martin | +1 lap |
| 5 | Pera/Hartog/Francesconi/Vandooren | Dempsey – Proton Racing #88 | Porsche | +1 lap |
