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Team Penske among 50 entries for virtual Le Mans 24 Hours

Team Penske is among the 50 entries for the virtual Le Mans 24 Hours, which will be staged on 13-14 June in place of the postponed real-world race

The event will be run as a collaboration between the World Endurance Championship, Le Mans organiser the Automobile Club de l'Ouest and Motorsport Games.

This will mark the return of the Penske name to Le Mans as a competitor, albeit on rFactor 2, for the first time since the 1971 edition of the 24 Hours.

Penske is one of 30 prototype entries that will racing using a virtual Oreca 07 LMP2 car and it will be joined by a trio of cars from the reigning Le Mans winner - LMP1 outfit Toyota Gazoo Racing.

Privateer LMP1 team Rebellion, which will bow out of motorsport following this year's Le Mans 24 Hours - now set to take place on 19-20 September - will enter four LMP2 cars in partnership with Williams Esports.

Each entry will run a minimum of two professional drivers with an FIA international license, and a maximum of two sim racers.

It is expected that the Rebellion-Williams tie-up will involve sim racers from the Williams stable racing alongside Rebellion's LMP1 drivers.

The ByKolles LMP1 team, which has sat out the entirety of the real-life 2019-20 WEC season so far, will run a single entry in the virtual endurance race.

Roger Penske has previously expressed interest in a possible real-world return to Le Mans upon the introduction of the LMDh cars alongside the Le Mans Hypercars tentatively set for introduction in 2022.

Reigning Le Mans LMP2 class-winner Signatech-Alpine leads the LMP2 teams competing, which also includes 1996 Monaco Grand Prix winner Olivier Panis' re-branded Panis Racing outfit.

The sim racing teams include three entries for Le Mans Esports Series champion Veloce Esports and a single entry for Team Redline.

Redline has previously run drivers such as Formula 1 stars Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in virtual 24-hour races, and the pair won the virtual 24 Hours of Spa last July.

There is a single entry for two-time F1 champion and double Le Mans 24 Hours winner Fernando Alonso's sim racing team.

The 20 GTE entries will be comprised of virtual machinery from Aston Martin, Ferrari, Porsche and Corvette.

Porsche is represented with eight cars - including four-factory backed entries in conjunction with its esports team.

Aston Martin and the Ferrari AF Corse teams are running three cars each, while Corvette is fielding a pair of factory-backed entries.

Among the 10 reserve entries are Ford's Team Fordzilla esports team and 2018 European Le Mans Series champions G-Drive Racing.

The drivers participating in the race will be revealed over the next three weeks.

The virtual Le Mans 24 Hours will be livestreamed on Motorsport.tv, Autosport.com and Motorsport.com.

For more details visit: https://24virtual.lemansesports.com/

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