Entertainment
Michael Fassbender to compete in gruelling 24 Hours of Le Mans race as Porsche driver-Tori Brazier-Entertainment – Metro
It’s a dream he’s had for years.
Michael Fassbender is realising a dream by taking on the challenging race (Picture: Getty/MEGA)
Hollywood actor Michael Fassbender will make his debut as a driver for Porsche at the 90th edition of the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans across the weekend of June 11 and 12.
The legendary endurance race is something the X-Men star has been preparing for intensively over the last three years, after developing a passion for racing.
Apparently, he doesn’t do things by halves!
He was all smiles as he was snapped practising in a green helmet and uniform with his team mates on the track ahead of the big weekend.
The Oscar nominee, who welcomed a baby with his wife Alicia Vikander in 2021, is set to share a Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19 with Australian driver Matt Campbell and Zacharie Robichon from Canada.
Campbell is the only member of the three-man driving team to have competed in the race before, with Fassbender preparing for his debut by competing in the Porsche Carrera Cup and the European Le Mans Series previously.
The actor got into motor racing and has been training for over three years for the event (Picture: Porsche/MEGA)
He was snapped practising in the car and with his team mates ahead of this weekend’s race (Picture: Porsche/MEGA)
Fassbender is in a driving team for Porsche (Picture: Joao Filipe/DPPI/LiveMedia/REX/Shutterstock)
Speaking ahead of what he considers a career highlight, the 45-year-old shared: ‘It’s always been a dream of mine to contest the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the thing with dreams is you don’t think about how much work you’ve invested or how many setbacks you’ve had to face.
‘I not only learned what it takes to contest a race weekend but also how to be competitive. It’s giving me a fascinating opportunity to show my full potential.’
He added: ‘It could be a one-off chance, so I simply want to do my best.’
Pictured with this team mates, Matt Campbell and Zacharie Robichon (Picture: Porsche/MEGA)
He was all smiles on the track (Picture: Porsche/MEGA)
Fassbender is not the first actor to attempt the driving challenge, with actors Paul Newman and Patrick Dempsey also having given Le Mans a go previously.
The challenging race is also the subject matter of 2019 Hollywood film Le Mans ’66, starring Christian Bale and Matt Damon.
It was in fact Grey’s Anatomy star Dempsey that helped fuel the start of Fassbender’s motor racing career a few years back when the pair met on a long-haul flight from London to Los Angeles.
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After an animated conversation, the American team co-owner and former Le Mans driver of Dempsey-Proton Racing, who placed second in his class at the 2015 Le Mans event, contacted the heads of Porsche Motorsport Marketing.
During Fassbender’s subsequent visit to Le Mans in 2018, a plan took shape to support the actor on his road to Le Mans, which is coincidentally the name of the YouTube series Porsche filmed, documenting his journey.
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