Turn up the volume and get to the first corner! Saturday September 9, on the Bugatti circuit in Le Mans, not far from the legendary 24 Hours, is the start of the second edition of the GP Explorer. For 15 laps, 24 drivers will compete on a 4-kilometer long track with 11 turns, where the French motorcycle GP usually takes place.
At the wheel, YouTubers, like Magla, Mister V or the Vilebrequins duo. The event, organized by Squeezie, attracted 40,000 spectators to the stands and nearly 3 million more to the Twitch platform last year.
It’s a crazy bet from Squeezie that is taking shape for the second year in a row: bringing together YouTubers and video game streamers to ride on a circuit. We are not talking here about a soap box race for a parody video but rather about cars approved for the Formula 4 championship, i.e. single-seaters which can reach more than 200 km/h in a straight line.
At the end of an epic battle for first place, it was Sylvain, one of the two protagonists of the Vilebrequin channel, who won against Depielo, also a YouTuber. No need to look for a place, the 60,000 tickets were sold in less than 30 minutes last May.
There are 24 drivers, divided into 12 teams in the color of their sponsor. In addition to a few names already at the start last year (Squeezie, Depielo, Vilebrequins), new drivers will be on the starting grid, such as the rappers SCH and Soso Maness. Here are the teams: Squeezie and Gotaga; Seb and Maghla; Kaatsup and LeBouseuh; Amixem and Etienne Mustache; Djilsi and Theodort; Maxime Biaggi and AnaOnAir; Depielo and Manon Lanza; Mister V and Theo Juice; Horty and Baghera; Crankshaft; Billy and Kekra; Soso Maness and SCH.
It’s a busy Saturday that awaits the different teams. Drivers will arrive at the track between 8 and 9 a.m. Then time for free practice, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. This allows everyone to familiarize themselves one last time with their car, to study the track according to the weather conditions in order to make the best adjustments and take the best lines.
D-5 ?? Return to the program for next September 9: ?? Doors open at 7 a.m. ?? Race starts at 6:35 p.m. ?? Doors close at 12 a.m.
From 12:15 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., the stands will be open to the public to observe the F4s and their livery up close. However, there will be no signing sessions. A surprise event will be organized on the track from 1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m., just before the qualifying races, scheduled until 3:30 p.m. These will help determine the starting order for the final race.
A “big surprise event” is on the program from 4 p.m., followed by the drivers’ parade, from 4:15 p.m. to 4:40 p.m. Then it will be the grid (from 5:25 p.m. to 6 p.m.). The race will start at 6:35 p.m., with 15 laps to complete. The podium will follow with invasion of the track from 7:35 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.
The race will not be broadcast on Canal or on another TNT channel. The entire day can be followed on Squeezie’s Twitch channel, from free practice to the podium.
