Le Mans Virtual Series chapter 5: the virtual 24h of Le Mans.

Every great story offers a thrilling twist and a furious highlight finale. Why should the story of the Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team in the Le Mans Virtual Series 2022-2023 be any different? The twist? A scalded double victory at Sebring turned around a season that didn't live up to the high expectations. The finale furioso? Nothing less than the most spectacular race in the calendar: the virtual 24h of Le Mans. For both Porsche Coanda #20 and #23 LMP2 cars, it's all or nothing: the championship and the single event's result are both significant. A victory at Le Mans and a corresponding result for the competition does offer the chance for the Porsche Esports works team to set a milestone in their first official championship.

As usual, qualifying sets the tone for the weekend on Friday night. With 24 hours ahead, almost everything can happen. Different pit and stint strategies will make the difference. Though claiming the pole at Le Mans is desirable for the prestige, leading the race as the team did in Sebring lets you also control the action at the front. In motor racing, control is better than reacting to the leader’s strategy calls. On Saturday at 2PM, the endurance classic will start its third virtual outing. What follows? 24 stressful hours that will demand everything from the drivers, just like the real Le Mans. But crossing the finish line first on Sunday at 2PM will make every driver forget the pain for sure.

In Porsche Motorsport's history, the different teams and drivers won almost every title at stake. 19 overall wins at the 24 hours of Le Mans are quite impressive. Though, the Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team starts from zero. The high score is reset. The team fought for a class victory in GTE at the two participations (1st place 2020, 2nd place 2022). They never had a chance to win Le Mans overall. Therefore, motivation is as high as ever to clinch the title on the first LMP2 outing. The team demonstrated impressively that they could win last year's final race at the 500 Miles of Sebring. After 134 laps, Porsche Coanda #23 finished on P1, and Porsche Coanda #20 finished on P2. Just 3.5 seconds separated the two works cars in the end. Nevertheless, the team will try to keep the momentum high and convert this experience for the season finale. The legendary 13.626-kilometres long track with its 38 curves offers highspeed action and corners for the technicians. A race duration of 24 hours will be a challenge for the sim racer's mind and body.

One of the many specialities of the 24 hours race at Le Mans is the driver line-up with two pro drivers per car. To be prepared best for the different scenarios in the championship, the team around Team Principal Philip Stamm decided to change the driver line-up. The better-placed car, #20 in the championship, will be piloted by the two Porsche Esports works drivers, Mitchell deJong and Joshua Rogers, and the two Porsche drivers, Ayhancan Güven and Laurin Heinrich. The Porsche Coanda #23 car will see the other two Porsche Esports works drivers going for the win: Mack Bakkum and Dayne Warren who was just appointed as a Esports works driver. They are joined by the new Porsche Junior Bastian Buus and Morris Schuring from the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany talent pool program.

Matthew “Sadokist” Trivett and Wil Vincent (RaceSpotTV) will host the 24 hours stream as show masters. For the final race, all drivers of Porsche Coanda will be present at the Coanda Esports Hub. Besides the already-known onboards that we showed during the first four races, the two show masters will take a look behind the scenes, and ask questions directly to the protagonists. Also, on Social Media, the Porsche works team will offer you 24 hours of content. For those who want to join live, mark your calendars on 14 and 15 January and follow the Porsche Twitch channel. The live stream in Gronau will start around 1:30PM (CEST) on Saturday. For all information and news about the Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team, follow Coanda's social media platforms, the Porsche Twitch channel, and the Porsche Motorsport Hub: Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.