Wickens Confirmed for Virtual 24H Le Mans in Final Entry List

The final entry list for this weekend’s virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans has now been confirmed and includes the addition of Robert Wickens.

There are 36 different nationalities of driver competing in the event.

Wickens, a former IndyCar driver and runner-up in FIA Formula 2, will join the No. 67 Mahle Racing Team replacing Jamie Chadwick in the Aston Martin Vantage GTE.

Since suffering from a life-changing spinal cord injury following an accident in 2018, Wickens has made remarkable progress in his recovery and hopes of returning to racing.

For this weekend’s race, Wickens will use a custom rig with hand controls – as he has been using for his sim racing exploits in the U.S.. He joins Ferdinand Habsburg and sim stars Jimmy Broadbent and Kevin Rotting.

Elsewhere, Ferrari AF Corse have confirmed some notable lineup changes. South African driver David Perel will now compete in the No. 51 car alongside Nicklas Nielsen plus sim racers, Kasper Stoltze and Matteo Caruso.

Meanwhile, the No. 71 Ferrari 488 GTE will see Italian Federico Leo compete alongside Miguel Molina, while Amos Laurito will replace Danilo Santoro as the sim racer. The threesome will be joined the team’s original sim racer entry, Jordy Zwiers.

The No. 21 Axle Motorsport entry from Malaysia sees a sim racer change as Mohammed Aleef is replaced by Malaysia’s Mika Hakimi to create the only all-Malaysian squad competing in this weekend’s virtual race.

IDEC Sport Racing also has a sim racer swap with Germany’s Michi Hoyer stepping into the No. 17 LMP entry’s lineup.

Having clocked up more than 2,100 hours on the rFactor 2 platform.

The first free practice session will be open for all competitors from 10 a.m.-10 p.m. CEST tomorrow and will continue until Friday. LMP qualifying will take place from 6:10-6:30 p.m. CEST on Friday, with GTE qualifying from 6:40-7 p.m. CEST.

The race will get underway at 3 p.m. CEST on Saturday. The entire race will be available to watch on YouTube, with various broadcasters also airing the race on linear TV.

The full broadcast list will be available tomorrow.