24h Le Mans
The entry list for the fifth season of the Michelin Le Mans Cup has been released, with 29 cars competing in the six rounds and seven races of the 2020 season.
Twenty-nine cars are set to take part in Season 5 of the Michelin Le Mans Cup, with 18 cars in the LMP3 class and 11 in GT3.
In LMP3, DKR Engineering will hit the track looking to win its fourth consecutive title. The Luxembourg team will field a Duqueine M30-D08-Nissan and 2017 champion Jean Glorieux has already been confirmed for the car. Nielsen Racing will once again race two Norma M30-D08-Nissans, with the #7 entrusted to previous Michelin Le Mans Cup winners Tony Wells and Colin Noble. The United Autosports team is expected to field three Ligier JS P320-Nissans and 2019 LMP2 title-winner in the European Le Mans Series, IDEC SPORT Racing, will participate with a Ligier JS P320-Nissan. Graff and Cool Racing will also be competing in the 2020 season.
Three major manufacturers will battle it out in the GT3 class: Ferrari, Mercedes and Bentley. The defending champion team, Kessel Racing, will field three Ferrari 488 GT3s. Giacomo Piccini, crowned in 2019, is set to drive a Ferrari for the new Iron Lynx team managed by his fellow countryman (and also a champion last year), Sergio Pianezzola, and will join forces with another Italian driver, Rino Mastronardi. Iron Lynx is expected to enter two other 488 GT3s, including one for an all-female driver line-up of Michelle Gatting and Deborah Meyer. Gatting took the start in last year's 24 Hours of Le Mans (also in an all-female crew) with Kessel Racing. IDEC SPORT Racing will enter a Mercedes AMG GT3 for Patrice Lafargue and Dimitri Enjalbert in GT3, and lastly, Spanish team Bullit Racing will field a Bentley Continental GT3 to be driven by Stephen Pattrick and Romain Monti.
Click for the provisional entry list for the 2020 Michelin Le Mans Cup
Matthieu Bonardel, Head of Michelin Motorsport: "Michelin has been the ACO's partner and title sponsor of this series since its creation five years ago. The Michelin Le Mans Cup allows amateur and semi-professional drivers to reach the world of endurance racing. The discovery of new talent is really important for Michelin to ensure the future of motorsport.
Through this championship, the drivers discover not only Michelin tyres, their performance and their consistency, but also how to take advantage of them during qualification and the race thanks to the Michelin staff. This allows all the drivers to show their driving skills at all rounds of the Michelin Le Mans Cup. Those performances and this consistency are the DNA of Michelin tyres, characteristics that the drivers will find in all our tyres made for endurance racing including the World Championship."
Gérard Neveu, CEO of the Michelin Le Mans Cup: "We are pleased to see a very strong grid of 29 cars for the 2020 Michelin Le Mans Cup season. When we look at the high quality of the teams and drivers who will compete this season, we can be sure that each one will have to work very hard to win the titles at the end of the season.
You only have to look at the drivers who started in the Michelin Le Mans Cup and are now racing, and winning, in the ELMS, the WEC and even at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This more than underlines the importance of providing an entry level to endurance racing and I would like to acknowledge Michelin for their ongoing support of the Le Mans Cup."
2020 Michelin Le Mans Cup calendar:
For more info on the Michelin Le Mans Cup, go to the official championship website.
