24h Le Mans
This year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans driver line-up includes 46 drivers first-time contenders. The rookies, as they are known, will be exploring the 13.629-km circuit for the first time during the Test Day tomorrow and banking their mandatory ten laps.
LM P1 - There are two rookies in the same car: Yuji Kunimoto and José Maria Lopez in the #9 Toyota TS050 Hybrid.
LM P2 - This class has the most first-timers: 28 in all. The Test Day ten-lap requirement applies to all those who have never competed at Le Mans before, even the very experienced like Rubens Barrichello (#29 Dallara P217 - Gibson Racing for Nederland) who has over 300 F1 Grands Prix to his name. The same goes for Jean-Eric Vergne (#24 Oreca 07 - Gibson, CEFC Manor TRS Racing), formerly of Toro Rosso F1, and Sergey Sirotkin (#27Dallara P217 - Gibson, SMP Racing), third driver for Renault F1.
The other rookies are: Paul Lafargue (#17 Ligier JS P217 - Gibson, Idec Sport Racing), Jose Gutierrez (#22 Oreca 07 - Gibson, G-Drive Racing), Roberto Gonzalez (#25 Oreca 07 - Gibson, CEFC Manor TRS Racing), Alexander Lynn (#26 Oreca 07 - Gibson, G-Drive Racing), Matthieu Vaxivière (#28 Oreca 07 - Gibson, TDS Racing), Nicky Catsburg (#28 Oreca 07 - Gibson, TDS Racing), Frits Van Eerd (#29 Dallara P217 - Gibson, Racing for Nederland), William Owen and Hugo De Sadeleer (#32 Ligier JS P217 - Gibson, United Autosports), Pierre Nicolet (#33 Ligier JS P217 - Gibson, Eurasia Motorpsorts), Phillip Hanson (#34 Ligier JS P217 - Gibson, Tockwith Motorsports), André Negrao (#35 Alpine A470 – Gibson, Signatech Alpine Matmut), Thomas Laurent (#38 Oreca 07 - Gibson, Jackie Chan DC Racing), Enzo Guibbert and Eric Trouillet (#39 Oreca 07 - Gibson, G-Drive Racing), James Allen and Franck Matelli (#40 Oreca 07 - Gibson, G-Drive Racing), Dean Koutsoumidis (#45 Ligier JS P217, Algarve Pro Racing), Roberto Lacorte and Giorgio Sernagiotto (#47 Dallara P217 - Gibson Cetilar, Villorba Corse), Konstantins Calko and Rik Breukers (#49 Ligier JS P217 - Gibson, ARC Bratislava).
LM GTE Pro - Two rookies: Miguel Molina (#71 Ferrari 488 GTE, AF Corse) and Daniel Serra (#97 Aston Martin Vantage, Aston Martin Racing).
LM GTE Am - Fourteen rookies: Christian Philippon (#50 Corvette C7 Z06, Larbre Competition), Thomas Flohr (#54 Ferrari 488 GTE, Spirit of Race), Richard Wee (#60 Ferrari 488 GTE, Clearwater Racing), Alessandro Balzan (#65 Ferrari 488 GTE, Scuderia Corsa), Matteo Cairoli et Marvin Dienst (#77 Porsche 911 RSR, Dempsey-Proton Racing), Robert Smith and Dries Vanthoor (#84 Ferrari 488 GTE, JMW Motorsport), Nicholas Foster (#86 Porsche 911 RSR, Gulf Racing), Stéphane Lémeret (#88 Porsche 911 RSR, Proton Racing), Salih Yoluc and Euan Hankey (#90 Aston Martin Vantage, TF Sport), Michael Hedlund (#93 Porsche 911 RSR, Proton Racing) and Ross Gunn (#99 Aston Martin Vantage, Beechdean AMR).
One car has an all-rookie crew: the #21 Oreca 7 - Gibson fielded by DragonSpeed will be driven by Henrik Hedman, Benjamin Hanley and Felix Rosenqvist.
Photo: The #21 Oreca 7 - Gibson has an all-rookie crew
