24h Le Mans
Less than two weeks after the list of 60 invitees to the 84th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans was announced, certain outfits have revealed only their head driver, while others have confirmed their driver line-ups. Update on the LM GTE Am class.
A class in which spots still remain, announcements are ramping up in LM GTE Am, and the Gulf Racing UK team is the last to have entered. In support of head driver Michael Wainwright in the Porsche 911, will be former British single-seaters hopeful, Adam Carroll, and a driver from Porsche Supercup, Ben Barker. A few days ago, the Singapour Clearwater Racing outfit announced the presence of Rob Bell who raced one of the Aston Martin Vantages in the LM GTE Pro class at Le Mans last year, along with Malaisien Mok Weng Sun and Japanese driver Keita Sawa from the Asian Porsche Carrera Cup.
For now, only four other teams have confirmed their driver line-ups, such as Larbre Compétition, competing with Paolo Ruberti for an additional year. The Italian will be joined by Pierre Ragues who knows Jack Leconte's outfit well having taken the start at the 24 Hours with the Morgan LM P2 in 2014, and Yutaka Yamagashi, a Japanese Super GT driver.
Another World Endurance Championship (WEC) team, AF Corse, whose No. 83 Ferrari 458 Italia returns this season with an unmodified trio composed of François Perrodo, Emmanuel Collard, with 21 participations and two podium finishes at Le Mans, and Rui Aguas. Only Duncan Cameron has been confirmed in the second Ferrari of Amato Ferrari's outfit (no relation).
The Italian manufacturer will have two other models of the 458 Italia on the starting grid of the 84th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans: one in the colours of Formula Racing, from the European Le Mans Series, entrusted to Johnny Laursen, Mikkel Mac and Christina Nielsen, who will become the first female Dane at the start of the 24 Hours, and the other under the banner of Scuderia Corsa, third in the class last year with, namely, Bill Sweedler, who will return, but his teammates have yet to be announced.
The last driver line-up completed so far is that of Abu Dhabi Proton Racing's No. 88 Porsche 911 with Khaled Al Qubaisi, Patrick Long, official Porsche driver second in the class with Patrick Dempsey last year, and David Heinemeier Hansson, leaving the LM P2 class. The sister car of Proton Competition has entered Gianluca Roda, formerly with Larbre Compétition, as head driver without revealing his teammates. The owner of Proton Competition himself will compete in the Porsche of KCMG, outfit that won in the LM P2 class at Le Mans in 2015.
Though Aston Martin Racing has yet to announce its driver line-ups for 2016, it seems the trio Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy, 16 participations and two podium finishes at Le Mans, and Mathias Lauda, son of former F1 World Champion, will return, whereas only Andrew Howard has been designated for the other Vantage V8, but the British manufacturer should be announcing its driver line-ups by the end of the day.
The last two teams come from continental championships: European for TDS Racing, whose Aston Martin Vantage will be entrusted to Eric Dermont and Franck Perera, and Asian for Team AAI, returning after crossing the finish line with its two Porsches last year, but this time with a Corvette C7.R for owner-driver Jun-San Chen.
Cécile Bonardel / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO
PHOTO: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, SUNDAY JUNE 14 2015, RACE. Scuderia Corsa's Ferrari 458 Italia will return in 2016.
