29 Entries for The Prologue

Photo: CVF – Adrenal Media/FIA WEC

Twenty nine of the 35 full-season cars in the FIA World Endurance Championship will take part in The Prologue at Paul Ricard later this month, as drivers and teams prepare for the start of the 2015 season.

The FIA WEC released Tuesday the entry list for the official pre-season test, set for March 27-28, which will see the public debuts of a number of new machinery.

ENTRY LIST: The Prologue

LMP1 factories Toyota, Audi, Porsche and Nissan will all be in attendance, although Nissan will only bring one of its GT-R LM NISMOs to France. Both cars are still expected for the season-opener at Silverstone two weeks later.

With Rebellion Racing set to miss Silverstone due to a late switch from Toyota to AER power, Team ByKolles will be the only privateer LMP1 squad at the test with its CLM P1/01 AER nominated for Simon Trummer.

All ten full-season LMP2 entries are due to take part, including both Extreme Speed Motorsports HPD ARX-04bs, which will come directly from Sebring the week before.

Additional interest comes with the public debuts of both the Strakka-Dome S103 Nissan and the Oreca 05 Nissan, which will be fielded by Strakka Racing and KCMG, respectively.

Eleven GTE cars are listed to take part, between the Pro and Am categories, with Aston Martin Racing only bringing three of its five Vantage GTEs to the test.

Besides Rebellion, Larbre Competition is the only other team set to miss the test, with the French squad’s new Corvette C7.R expected to take part in pre-season testing in the U.S. instead.

The Prologue, however, is deemed a mandatory test for all FIA WEC competitors, and it’s unclear if the Jack Leconte-led team has been given special dispensation.

“The Prologue has become an important and integral part of the WEC calendar,” said FIA WEC CEO Gerard Neveu. “It is the first opportunity for all the competitors to test themselves against their rivals on a level playing field and for the media to see the teams and drivers all in one place for the first time in 2015.”

The two-day test will be open to the public, with free admission on Sat., March 28, which will include a pitwalk and autograph session.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John