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How Vandoorne was re-educated for Le Mans

Any driver making their Le Mans 24 Hours debut is required by the ACO to take a mandatory simulator course. This is how ex-McLaren Formula 1 driver and current Formula E racer Stoffel Vandoorne was introduced to the Circuit de la Sarthe

Stoffel Vandoorne has just completed his first laps of the Circuit de la Sarthe in all its eight-and-a-half-mile glory. Only he's not strapped into the SMP Racing squad's LMP1 prototype that he is racing in the 2019 24 Hours, nor is he even anywhere near Le Mans. The Belgian is actually sitting in a simulator in a darkened room 120 or so miles away.

Those laps are firmly in the virtual realm, but worthwhile nonetheless, according to Vandoorne. He reckons he's just got a decent feel for an event he is contesting for the first time aboard one of SMP's AER-powered BR Engineering BR1s. And that's exactly why he's in the simulator at AOTech to the south of Paris. He's undertaking the mandatory day here that each and every rookie must complete before heading to the great race.

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Author Gary Watkins

Gary Watkins has, for reasons best known to himself, devoted all his working life to covering sportscar racing. This season is his 33rd as a motorsport journalist, during which time he has reported on major long-distance events on four continents and approaching 80 24-hour races. He reckons a degree in political philosophy makes him well qualified for covering the sometimes Machiavellian world of international sportscars.

Gary, who also writes for Motor Sport, Autocourse, RACER and others, lives in Surbiton close to the former workshops of the Cooper Formula 1 team but spends more time on the road than at home for most of the year.