The 24 Hours of Le Mans stands as the ultimate test of human endurance and mechanical reliability, drawing the world’s most elite drivers to the French countryside every June.
A staple of every motorsports fan’s calendar, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is always one of the most celebrated races of the year.
Beyond the professional ranks, the race possesses a unique gravity that pulls in icons from film and global sports, all eager to prove their mettle on the legendary Circuit de la Sarthe.
It has even been the subject of several major motion pictures, which are renowned for being filmed on-location and during the yearly event.
Every celebrity to have raced in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, including Michael Fassbender and Patrick Dempsey
Leading the Hollywood contingent is Paul Newman, who famously secured a second-place overall finish in 1979 driving a Porsche 935, a feat that cemented him as a legitimate racing driver at the time.
In the modern era, Patrick Dempsey followed in the footsteps of Newman by taking part in the prestigious race four times and reaching the GTE Am podium with a second-place class finish in 2015.
More recently, Michael Fassbender fulfilled a lifelong dream by joining the grid in 2022 and 2023 with Porsche, documenting his steep learning curve in a docu-series called Road to Le Mans.
The transition isn’t limited to actors; athletes from all different categories of sports have also sought to conquer the iconic race.
World Cup-winning goalkeeper Fabien Barthez became a regular fixture in the paddock with his own team, Panis Barthez Compétition, and competed three times across the LM GTE Am and LMP2 classes.
Similarly, six-time Olympic cycling champion Sir Chris Hoy swapped two wheels for four, and competed quite regularly in the mid-2010s.
The Scottish legend took part in the 2016 edition of the endurance race, one year after winning the championship in the LMP3 class of the European Le Mans Series.
Max Verstappen has regularly shared his ambitions of winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans
Max Verstappen has been very vocal about his desire to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, often stating it is an event he definitely wants to add to his trophy collection in the future.
In a recent Q+A on the Team Redline YouTube channel, Verstappen expressed a keen interest in taking part in some of the biggest endurance events on the motorsports calendar, and has even tried to rearrange races next season in order to make it happen.
The 24 Hours of Nurburgring is on the four-time world champion’s radar this year, but the first two qualifying rounds, which take part in the NLS Series, clash with the Chinese and Japanese weekends of the F1 season.
Mercedes, who supply Verstappen.com Racing with an AMG GT3 car in the series, has requested that the organisers of NLS postpone the events by a week to alleviate any scheduling conflicts for the Dutchman.
A decision remains to be made, but the German manufacturers are confident that the influence that Verstappen has in bringing more eyeballs to the category would be enough to grant their wishes.
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