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Verstappen gets support from Leclerc: "The car was suddenly upside down"

14 June 2020 at 15:18
Last update 14 June 2020 at 16:03
  • GPblog.com

Ferrari came into action in the online 24 hours of Le Mans in the GTE class with Charles Leclerc and Antonio Giovinazzi. The Formula 1 drivers were accompanied by sim drivers Bonito and Tonizza. Like Max Verstappen's team, the quartet faced problems with the software of platform rFactor, which made it impossible to get a good result. 

A problem with the server caused Giovinazzi to hit the tarmac with his car. In the last hours of the race Leclerc parked the car in the wall. At Sky Leclerc talks about his adventure: "I'm a bit tired. The race was a disaster. The first eight hours went pretty well, we fought for the podium."

Server down

That stage turned out to be far from feasible in the end. "I also suffered from a stuck image, just like Max. Then Antonio had a problem with the server. Suddenly he was upside down and not long after that the server suddenly stopped completely. The connection was broken and we lost twenty laps", said Leclerc, who knew that the chances for Ferrari were gone then. "We had to take the car home, but twenty minutes before the end we lost another position because I put the car in the wall."

For Charles, it was the first time he'd run such a long sim race. "It was a lot of fun. I'd like to do it again if the team agrees," said Leclerc, who had trouble falling asleep. "That didn't really work out because I knew the race was on my team. Every ten minutes I looked on my mobile phone so I didn't get much sleep. That was the biggest challenge, being able to fall asleep while my team was racing".