Esports endurance: Goodyear the official tyre partner to Le Mans Virtual Series

Goodyear has been appointed the official tyre partner to the Le Mans Virtual Series, which gets underway this 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 gets underway with the 4 Hours of Monza at 13:30 CEST this Saturday. The packed entry list includes stars from the world of esports and real-life racing. Newly crowned ELMS LMP2 drivers Louis Deletraz and Yifei Ye are joined by Formula E racer Sergio Sette Camara, W Series’ Beitske Visser, former F1 driver Will Stevens, World Rallycross champion Timmy Hansen and WTCR race winner Nestor Girolami.

From the esports world, drivers include GT Pro Series champion Jan von der Heyde, Formula Pro Series racer Michi Hoyer, ADAC GT Masters Esports race winner Jack Keithley, Porsche TAG Heuer Esport Supercup driver Joshua Rogers and many more. Of note, Ayhancan Guven, who regularly competes in both esports and real-world races, will complete the race from Monza, as he’s racing in the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland round at the Italian track that same weekend.

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. 

Ben Crawley, Director Motorsport, Goodyear EMEA, said: “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. 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.”