To participate in the championship, a driver must submit a categorisation request to the FIA under penalty of not being allowed to take a start, and with the knowledge that if he/she is dissatisfied with the response, he/she can appeal by providing the elements necessary for the examination of the file in question.

As for all cars, there are four driver categories: Platinum (professional drivers), Gold (professional or amateur drivers answering to certain results criteria), Silver (amateur drivers with results) and Bronze (amateur or debuting drivers).

Though the composition of drivers is open in the LM GTE Pro class and loosely restrictive in LM P1 (only Bronze drivers are not allowed), the same cannot be said for the LM P2 and LM GTE Am classes. In the first, a driver line-up of two or three drivers must be composed of a minimum of one Silver or Bronze driver, and in the second, a driver line-up of two or three drivers must include at least one Bronze driver and one Bronze or Silver driver.

Every year, the categorisation is revisited to take into account the year's results as well as the age of the drivers. This is how previous 24 Hours of Le Mans winners Stefan Johansson (TWR Porsche in 1997) and Jan Lammers (Jaguar in 1988) will both move into the Bronze category though Lammers will return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2017 in the LM P2 class.

It is in the same category that Roman Rusinov, who won the FIA Endurance LM P2 Driver Trophy in 2015, and Gustavo Menezes, winner at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year with Signatech Alpine, compete. Following their successful results, they are both moving up to the Gold category.

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Photo: Gustavo Menezes, winner in LM P2 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year, will move into the Gold category for the 2017 season.