Brad Pitt soon to drive in the 24 Hours of Le Mans?

Will Brad Pitt make the leap from on-track action in movie theaters to real-life action on the tarmac? Now he's hitting French big screens today in F1, where he plays a racing driver, the American actor could soon take on this role... in reality.

In this film, which bears the name and logo of the premier class of motorsport, Brad Pitt plays Sonny Hayes, a former Formula 1 star who returns to a fictional 11th team, Apex, which he helps climb the hierarchy by mentoring a young talent played by Damson Idris. Co-produced by Lewis Hamilton, this feature film was largely shot during real Grand Prix races of the championship, but also at the 24 Hours of Daytona.

In the film, Sonny Hayes, played by Brad Pitt, has not yet retired from his racing career. Although he has left Formula 1, he competes in other prestigious events, such as the Florida double-circle race. As with the Grand Prix, actual racing scenes were filmed during the 2024 edition of this American classic. These scenes were notably filmed with the Porsche 911 No. 120 from the Chip Hart Racing team.

Whether at Daytona or on the F1 circuits, Brad Pitt himself took the wheel of the cars used for filming. While he didn't drive a real Formula 1 car, he did get into some Formula 2 modified to match reality as closely as possible. He really pushed himself to the limit, said Joseph Kosinski, the film's director. He approached 300 km/h. »

In an interview given to La Tribune Dimanche, Joseph Kosinski goes even further, stating that Brad Pitt would have " received two offers from teams to race in the GT class, at Le Mans and Daytona "Crazy? Not so much. The 61-year-old American could easily aspire to participate in these events in the LMGT3 or GTD Daytona categories with a Bronze driver classification.

He wouldn't be the first actor to embark on such an adventure. Paul Newman, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Michael Fassbender and Patrick Dempsey have all participated in 24 Hours of Le MansThis year, Frankie Muniz was also present in Sarthe, not for the main event, but to drive in the Ford Mustang Challenge.

Sure, Brad Pitt is 61, but this year, Thomas Flohr was competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans on the Ferrari 296 No. 54 of the Vista AF Corse team at the age of 65. There is no doubt that Brad Pitt would have no fitness problems to compete as a Bronze driver in this category. However, he would lack the experience of racing, the aforementioned circuits and the many specificities of endurance (traffic management, night driving), if he were to take on such a challenge.

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