Hollywood superstar Michael Fassbender takes on Le Mans

Le Mans is not short of glamour, nor of connections with Hollywood. Famously, the late, great Paul Newman raced at Le Mans, and were it not for an engine problem in the final few hours, would probably have won the race outright in 1979. Meanwhile, Steve McQueen immortalised Le Mans on screen with a massive, and massively long, big-screen version of the race in 1971.

Hoping to emulate Newman’s successes is Irish-German superstar Michael Fassbender.

Fassbender is taking on a new challenge, and has joined the pro-am driving squad of Dempsey-Proton Racing, campaigning a Porsche 911 RSR racing car in the GTE category of Le Mans. GTE is the Le Mans class that uses cars — Porsche, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Corvette — which look mostly like cars you can actually buy and drive on the road (unlike the LMP prototype racers which look more like spaceships).

Dempsey-Proton Racing has had much success in GT racing since it was formed in 2014, and Fassbender won’t be alone as a Hollywood star in the pit — the Dempsey in the name refers to Patrick Dempsey, co-owner of the team (and formerly a driver too) who is best known for his long-running role in television series Grey’s Anatomy, as well as big-screen films such as Bridget Jones’s Baby and Enchanted.

“It’s always been a dream of mine to contest the 24 Hours of Le Mans,“ Fassbender said as the race’s practice days kicked off. “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. It could be a one-off chance so I simply want to do my best.”

Fassbender and Dempsey