53 Entries for Petit Le Mans

Photo: Rick Dole/IMSA

A total of 53 entries are set for next weekend’s Motul Petit Le Mans, which will close out the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, as well as being the final round of the Michelin Endurance Cup.

Released by IMSA on Wednesday, the near-capacity entry list comprises 12 GTP cars, 12 LMP2s, ten GTD Pro entries and 19 GTD cars for the ten-hour enduro at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

Porsche Penske Motorsport’s FIA World Endurance Championship drivers Julien Andlauer and Laurens Vanthoor will complete the Nos. 6 and 7 car lineups, respectively.

Andlauer, who takes Kevin Estre’s seat from the first two races of the season, will join GTP points leaders Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 6 Porsche 963, while Vanthoor will make his first start in the No. 7 car since winning the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring alongside Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy. The trio also took victory in the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Cadillac factory drivers Will Stevens and Norman Nato complete Wayne Taylor Racing’s lineups, as previously announced, while Frederik Vesti will make his second consecutive start in the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series after his, Earl Bamber and Jack Aitken’s win in last month’s Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Kevin Magnussen and Robin Frijns return to BMW M Team RLL for what will be the final outing for the Bobby Rahal-led squad before Team WRT takes over for next season, while Scott Dixon and Tristan Vautier complete Acura Meyer Shank Racing’s lineups, as announced on social media on Tuesday.

Daniil Kyvat will be back in the Lamborghini SC63 for what could be its final outing, while Neel Jani and Max Esterson complete JDC-Miller Motorsports’ lineup in the lone privateer Porsche, with Proton Competition absent for the second consecutive race.

Alex Riberas, meanwhile, completes the lineup in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Valkyrie.

LMP2 sees a dozen entries with only one driver change since Indianapolis, with Alex Quinn replacing Malthe Jakobsen in the No. 04 CrowdStrike by APR Oreca 07 Gibson.

BMW factory driver Connor De Phillippi is listed to drive in both the Nos. 1 and 48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVOs in GTD Pro, which also sees the return of Dani Juncadella and Nico Varrone to the pair of Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs.

Kyle Kirkwood is back in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 as a third, while Ben Barker and Dennis Olsen will complete Ford Multimatic Motorsports’ lineups, with James Hinchcliffe in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.

AO Racing has drafted in Porsche factory driver Michael Christensen to its No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R, while DragonSpeed’s three-driver squad consists of Ferrari factory ace Davide Rigon fellow Italian Giacomo Altoe and class title contender Albert Costa.

In GTD, Rory van der Steur is slated to return to the No. 19 Van der Steur Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo following a mountain biking accident that forced him to miss Indianapolis, while the third driver in the No. 021 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 remains to-be-determined.

Cetilar Racing will have a shuffled lineup with team owner Roberto Lacorte returning in place of his son, Nicola, with Antonio Fuoco replaced by fellow Ferrari factory driver Miguel Molina.

Eric Filgueiras will continue as the third driver in Forte Racing’s Lamborghini, while Magus Racing returns for the first time since the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen with the previously announced lineup of John Potter, Spencer Pumpelly and Jan Heylen.

The 53-car entry is one shy of the track’s maximum capacity of 54 cars per the supplementary regulations, although last year’s race also had 53 entries.

Track action for Motul Petit Le Mans is set to get underway on Thurs. Oct. 9.

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