KUALA LUMPUR (5 JUNE 2020): Due to the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic, the 88th 24 Hours of Le Mans race – like any other major sporting events this year – has been affected and is postponed to September 2020. But fret not, as before that, racing fans will be treated to a new event, a virtual race on the rFactor 2 track called the 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual.
It will be an even sweeter occasion for Malaysian and Asian racing fans as they will be greeted by a familiar sight with an Alex Yoong-led Axle Motorsport being selected as one of only 60 teams to compete in the virtual race on 13th and 14th June 2020.
Alex would have fond memories of the world’s oldest active sports car endurance race as he won ‘Rookie of the Year’ when he first competed in Le Mans back in 2006. He would go on to finish fifth the following year on the legendary track.
“We are very proud to be selected by Le Mans and will be fielding an All-Malaysian team which comprises of drivers who have won our eRacing GP online competitions. We have been holding practice sessions nightly to get up to speed and have seen steady progress,” said Alex.
The Malaysian team is also the only Asian team to be included in the line-up, besides the factory Toyota Gazoo Racing teams and they will be joined by drivers such as Fernando Alonso, Max Verstappen and many other world-class race car drivers.
As Le Mans requires two of the four drivers in the line-up to be real world drivers, Alister Yoong will be lining up as the second driver in a father-son combination for Axle. Both Alex and Alister are licensed by the Motorsport Association of Malaysia.
The other two drivers are current fastest sim racer in Malaysia, Naquib Azlan, who also finished second in the first eRacing GP Global Edition and the experienced Mika Hakimi who has won endurance races on multiple occasions.
They will be racing for the overall honours in the Le Mans Prototypes 2 (LMP2) class, driving the white and red ORECA bearing number 21.
Le Mans will be televised on TV channels across the globe and is the most watched Motorsport event yearly. Viewers can catch all the updates on the race at 24virtual.lemansesports.com.
