Prologue Entry List Released

Photo: Vision Sport Agency

The entry list for next month’s FIA World Endurance Championship Prologue has been released, featuring 35 of the 36 full-season teams that are due to take part in the 2018-19 season.

The April 6-7 official pre-season test, which returns to Paul Ricard after a one-off at Monza last year, will feature a 30-hour endurance test for the first time.

ENTRY LIST: Prologue

Only a single Rebellion R13 Gibson will be present at the test, featuring all six of the Swiss squad’s full-season drivers.

The first ORECA-built prototype is only expected to turn its first laps early next month, with the second chassis slated to debut in the season-opening Six Hours of Spa in May.

Rebellion, along with ByKolles, Toyota and the pair of SMP Racing BR Engineering BR1 AERs, however, have been registered to take part in the 30-hour test.

Of note, Alex Wurz is set to turn laps in one of Toyota’s TS050 Hybrids, due to three of Toyota’s full-season drivers having other driving commitments that weekend.

Fernando Alonso will miss the Prologue due to the Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix, with both Kamui Kobyahasi and Kazuki Nakajima taking part in the Super GT season-opening round in Okayama that same weekend.

While LMP1 still sees a number of to-be-announced drivers, the seven-car LMP2 category features a nearly full lineup, with additions at both Jackie Chan DC Racing and DragonSpeed.

The all-Malaysian trio of Jazeman Jaafar, Weiron Tan and Nabil Jeffri have been confirmed in the Chinese-backed squad’s No. 37 Oreca, alongside Gabriel Aubry, who has joined Ho-Pin Tung in the No. 38 car.

Esteban Gutierrez, meanwhile, is listed in DragonSpeed’s Oreca with Roberto Gonzalez, although it’s understood the deal to put the ex-Formula One driver in the American-backed team’s LMP2 entry has fallen through.

There are no major surprises in GTE-Pro, which sees a ten-car field with the addition of BMW Team MTEK and the debut of the new-for-2018 BMW M8 GTE.

GTE-Am, however, sees Alex Davison listed in the No. 86 Gulf Racing Porsche 911 RSR with the returning Ben Barker and Mike Wainwright. 

A number of GTE teams are also registered for the full 30-hour test, including both factory Porsches, the No. 82 BMW, No. 95 Aston Martin, as well as GTE-Am entrants Spirit of Race (Ferrari), Team Project 1 (Porsche), Clearwater Racing (Ferrari) and MR Racing (Ferrari).

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