Le Mans Virtual Series begins with tyre partner Goodyear

Goodyear has been appointed the official tyre partner to the Le Mans Virtual Series, which got underway Saturday, 25 September, to bring the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and 24 Hours of Le Mans to the sim racing world in partnership with esports industry leaders Motorsport Games.

As official tyre supplier to the LMP2 class, Goodyear is already a key partner to WEC and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. As the championship goes virtual with five rounds and 48 hours of racing between now and January, Goodyear tyres will be raced by every car – in both the LMP2 and LMGTE classes.

Goodyear’s involvement in Le Mans Virtual Series goes far beyond branding, however. The Le Mans Virtual Series features real-life tyre information and characteristics. With tyre strategy an important aspect of endurance racing, this detail is sure to add to the overall gaming experience and results. To achieve this, Goodyear’s engineers have worked directly with the games’ organisers to introduce a virtual replica of the Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport race tyres used on real life LMP2 and LMGTE cars.

The series commenced with the 4 Hours of Monza on Saturday, which was won by Realteam Hydrogen Redline as drivers Jeffrey Rietveld, Dani Juncadella and Michal Smidl held off GPX Rebellion Williams and Floyd ByKolles-Burst. In GTE, the Porsche Esports Team car driven by Mitchell deJong, Mack Bakkum and Martin Krönke was dominant.

After Monza, the series will hold the 6 Hours of Spa (16 October), 8 Hours of Nürburgring Nordschleife (13 November) and 6 Hours of Sebring (18 December) before culminating with the 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual held live at the Autosport International show in Birmingham on 15-16 January.

“We’re excited to take our partnership with WEC and Le Mans into the virtual world, working with Motorsport Games to bring the Goodyear name to fans of esports and endurance racing,” says Ben Crawley, director motorsport, Goodyear EMEA. “This championship will be a great complement to WEC and I’m particularly looking forward to the virtual rendition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans at Autosport International in January. With such a high-quality grid of top drivers from the virtual and real world, fans are in for a treat.”