Max Verstappen is known to be a great lover of Esports and never misses the opportunity to get behind the wheel when his commitments on the track allow it. This weekend he is racing the Virtual Le Mans 24 Hours with Team Redline together with IndyCar driver and former DTOM driver Felix Rosenqvist and the two Esport drivers Atze Kerkhof and Maximilian Benecke.
The event, which brings together sim drivers with big stars of the classic races, seemed to have started off on the right foot for the reigning world champion of Formula 1, who had managed to put himself in second position in qualifying. At the start of the race he was able to quickly take the lead with a good overtaking and, before giving the car to his teammate, he had an advantage of almost a minute.
However, after nearly a third of the race, in his second stint he had an accident that forced him and his team to retire when they were leading the LMP2 class of the Virtual Le Mans 24 Hours, organized by Motorsport Games and by ACO (Automobile Club de l’Ouest), the organizer of Le Mans.
There was still the Ford chicane before the main straight and the Red Bull driver was too aggressive in passing the curb at the entrance of the first corner. There he lost the front of his car and, although he tried to control with a quick turn of his hands, he hit the virtual tire wall surrounding the track, causing his team to retire.
“Endurance races can be cruel at times. However, with an incredible effort on the part of everyone involved, the pace our # 123 had was spectacular. We will come back, we will fight again, ”the team wrote on Twitter.
In addition to the presence of Verstappen, there was also that of Mercedes, who played this race with an LMP2 with the livery of the silver arrows. One of its drivers was Jarno Opmeer, reigning world champion of Formula 1 Esports. But the race ended early for them too. Former Spanish DTM driver Dani Juncadella accidentally shifted down a gear too abruptly while braking. As in the real world, this overspeed of the engine caused it to break.
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