43 Entries for Petit Le Mans

Photo: Peter Burke/IMSA

A total of 43 cars are set for next weekend’s Motul Petit Le Mans, with the confirmation of the entry list for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season finale.

Among the highlights include a second WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 in GT Le Mans, the Michelin Endurance Cup debut of the McLaren 720S GT3 and a record-setting LMP3 grid.

The DPi class features the return of the No. 48 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R of Jimmie Johnson, Kamui Kobayashi and Simon Pagenaud to bring the class up to seven cars.

All other teams see the return of their third drivers, including Meyer Shank Racing’s reshuffled lineup with the previously confirmed Helio Castroneves in place of Olivier Pla.

LMP2 sees a five-car entry with the return of United Autosports with its Oreca 07 Gibson while a series record ten cars will take part in the LMP3 class.

Todd Archer and Max Hanratty are now confirmed alongside James Vance in the FastMD Duqueine D08 Nissan, while several seats are still to-be-determined, including at Forty7 Motorsports and Performance Tech Motorsports.

Six GTLM cars will take part in the final WeatherTech Championship race for the GTE platform, with the return of the pair of Team RLL BMW M8 GTEs and a second WeatherTech Porsche, which as of last week was “unlikely” to run according to Proton Competition team boss Christian Ried.

An all-Porsche factory driver lineup is expected in the No. 97 Porsche, although WeatherTech Racing has yet to formally confirm the entry or drivers.

The GT Daytona class, meanwhile, will feature 15 cars including previously confirmed entries from Winward Racing and Inception Racing.

NTE Sport has entered its Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo for Don Yount, Jaden Conwright and a to-be-announced third driver while Philip Ellis and Mercedes-AMG factory driver Maro Engel will complete Winward’s lineup.

Of note, SunEnergy1 Racing is not listed to take part after having previously committed to the Endurance Cup season with a Gradient-run Mercedes.

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