Charles Leclerc's commitment to this weekend's virtual Le Mans 24 Hours has decided the Monegasque to pull out of the Virtual Canadian GP finale scheduled to take place on Sunday evening, therefore handing the title to series leader George Russell.
Ferrari's Leclerc was the only driver capable of eventually beating the Williams charger in F1's official virtual championship that will wrap up on Sunday with a round in Montreal.
However, Russell will still face some strong opposition for a final race win, with usual rivals Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi joined on the grid by Valtteri Bottas and Pierre Gasly.
Guest stars for Sunday's finale will include Sweden's gold-medal freeskier Jon Olsson and Biffy Clyro singer Simon Neil.
Lando Norris, who will be racing alongside Max Verstappen for Team Redline at Le Mans, is also expected to take a pass on the Virtual Canadian GP race.
Ferrari and McLaren have yet to announce replacements for Leclerc and Norris, but a host of F2 chargers will be online for the Montreal encounter, including renault junior Guanyu Zhou, Louis Deletraz and Pietro Fittipaldi,
David Schumacher will drive for Racing Point while Brazilian charger Caio Collet will partner Zhou at Renault.
The Virtual Canadian GP will kick off at 6pm UK time (1pm EST - 7pm CET), with the event streamed live over its usual YouTube, Twitch and Facebook channels.
The Virtual Le Mans 24 Hours is set to start on Saturday at 2pm UK time (9am EST - 3pm CET), with the action streamed live on the FIA WEC and ACO Le Mans YouTube channels.
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