Sawt Falasteen - Streaming stars' Le Mans race scores Twitch viewer record

The GP Explorer race -- the third and final in a series organised by French influencer Lucas Hauchard, alias Squeezie -- drew 1.2 million viewers on public broadcaster France 2, audience measurement firm Mediametrie said Monday.

Around 200,000 people showed up at the racetrack famous for the Le Mans 24-hour endurance event.

Spanish streamer Karchez claimed first place in the 16-lap contest, with the 1.4 million watching on livestreaming platform Twitch a new French record for a live event -- topping the 2023 edition of the race.

"It was the very last one, so it was important for me to be here," 21-year-old Romane Auffret-Lebon told AFP at the track.

Spanish and American teams were invited this year to spice up and internationalise the GP Explorer, which emerged from a challenge launched online in 2022 and has attracted a vast audience of mostly under-30s.

The 2025 lineup included a slew of internet celebrities each with millions of online followers -- chief among them French juggernaut Squeezie, who has 20 million YouTube subscribers.

Twitch chief Dan Clancy, who was at the race, hailed the "passion" of the French community on the platform.

Squeezie has hinted that the GP Explorer could return in a different format, trailing "several races a year" in a Saturday interview with sports paper L'Equipe.

H.Jarrar--SF-PST