Paul Jeffrey
Premium
As the RaceDepartment Le Mans Series by Vesaro kicks off this Saturday 1st April we thought it the ideal time to take the opportunity to have a look at the teams in more detail before the green flag falls.
With 38 teams, two classes, 13 different models and 150 drivers, RDLMS by Vesaro looks well set to be one of the biggest and best championships in recent RaceDepartment history. With such a wealth of talent and experience on the grid, plus a few exciting new faces joining in the action for the first time, now feels like the perfect opportunity to have a look at the teams and drivers taking part before the action begins for the first time this April 1st.
Prototype
The LMP2 Prototype class will be the highest specification of car run during the 2017 RDLMS by Vesaro. In the field for the upcoming season we have entries driving the Gibson 015S Nissan, Oreca 03 Nissan, Ligier JS P2 Nissan, Zytek Z11SN, Alpine A450b and the Ligier JS P2 Judd made up of 21 teams and 81 drivers all looking to lift the trophy and come away with an incredible prize at the end of the season.
Due to take to the track this April 1st will be a number of very familiar names to regular readers of RaceDepartment, with many of our ever present club racing regulars and a few staff members due to take part in the action. Over at the #6 RedShift Racing Oreca car we have a team utilising a wealth of driving experience, including our very own rFactor 2 guru @Daiman Patel hoping to benefit from years of combined competition history in their quest to bring the car home in first place at the end of the year.
Other strong challengers this season include the ever formidable Atlantic Motorsports outfit, fielding the #15 Zytek Z11SN Nissan with a very strong driver line up that are vastly experience and successful in a myriad of endurance racing championships throughout the sim racing world.
Another driver / team / car combination sure to be right up at the sharp end of the grid all through the year is the very impressive #25 FEEDER Ragnar Simulator team of @Kuba Brzeziński, @Nikodem Wisniewski, @Maciej Młynek, Again benefitting from a very well established and lightening quick driving line up, FEEDER Ragnar possibility head into the start of the season as one of the favourites to wrack up big points over the opening rounds.
GT
Here in GT the best of the best come together to create an incredibly closely packed field of some hugely talented racing drivers and teams. Featuring a packed grid containing some of the most exotic and desirable sports cars in GT racing history, we have seven different manufacturers lining up on the starting grid come Saturday containing a packed GT field of 69 drivers across the 17 teams scheduled to take part.
Again the RaceDepartment staff team are well represented in GT, with many names well known for the wearing of the red RD staff badge present in several of the squads signed up to the year ahead. We can expect to see rare league outings for our new live streamer @Joseph Wright, our US Assetto Corsa clubber and league organiser @Lorenzo Bonder and the guys behind the hugely popular RDRC DiRT Rally Championship @Ole Marius Myrvold and @Roy Magnes amongst many others from our team.
Looking through the grid in more detail the #108 Apex Eclipse Aston Martin team immediately stand out as one to watch, featuring the driving strength of the incredibly fast and consistent @Yuri partnered alongside highly promising youngsters @Aleksi Kivelä, @Joonas Raivio and @TTupsi, that car could well prove to be one to watch throughout the year ahead.
Other strong teams in GT include the #102 TeamRGPL who's drivers all show strong pedigree and outright pace, plus the #114 RedShift Racing entry of @Ricardo Edelmann @Matt Horst and @jego who will all be sure to prove stiff competition to a grid packed full of fantastic talent.
The RaceDepartment Le Mans Series by Vesaro begins on Saturday April 1st with the Thrustmaster 12 Hours of Interlargos at the epic Brazilian Grand Prix venue. With prototype and Grand Touring cars providing two unique classes of racing, 38 cars will be taking to the grid in an attempt to secure honours for themselves and their team this weekend. You can catch all the racing action live and exclusive here at RaceDepartment on our very own RD Twitch channel. As an added bonus, stay tuned for a chance to win some amazing prizes from our series partners Thrustmaster and Vesaro!
So how can you watch the action yourself, and be in with a shout at winning some amazing and very expensive sim racing prizes? Well as you may already know, we are exceptionally proud to partner up with quality peripheral manufacturers Vesaro and Thrustmaster this season, who between them have generously put up on offer nearly 10,000 eu worth of superb prizes for the drivers and fans of the series to win this year! You can read the specific prize details on the Vesaro announcement HERE and the Thrustmaster announcement HERE.
Basically in order to be in with a shout at winning something very special indeed all our viewers need to do is follow and subscribe to our Twitch and Youtube channels and watch our thrilling action packed broadcasts, which will be live streamed with professional commentary.
Round One, the Thrustmaster 12 Hours of Interlagos will be live and exclusive on Saturday 1st April on our Twitch and Youtube channels. The Session timetable can be seen below:
Session Timetable
- 10:55 | Race server reboot
- 11:00 | Official practice & Briefing (no duplicate cars allowed from this point on)
- 11:45 | GT qualifying (30 minutes)
- 12:15 | Prototype qualifying (30 minutes)
- 12:45 | Warm-up
- 13:00 | Race start [Saturday 1st April] (in-game: 13:00 / 1PM)
- 01:00 | Race ends [Sunday 2nd April] (in-game: 01:00 / 1AM)
The RaceDepartment Le Mans Series by Versaro is going to be an epic year of racing. Tune in and watch the action unfold for yourself at your very own RaceDepartment.com as we continue to blur the lines between real and virtual motorsport.
Looking forward to RDLMS? Which team will you be shouting for at lights out? Will you be watching live? Let us know in the comments section below!
The spotter guide can also be downloaded as a PDF - see below!
