Bumper 42-Car Full Season Entry Released

The European Le Mans Series has revealed a bumper 42-car grid for the 2023 season, headlined by a combined 18 LMP2 entries.

Released on Monday, the entry list also features 12 cars in both the LMP3 and GTE categories.

Out of the LMP2 entries, 11 teams have entered the Pro-Am class. This is a significant improvement over last year.

Pro-Am squads are only eligible to compete in ELMS this year, as the category intended for Bronze-rated drivers no longer features in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Reigning LMP2 champions Prema will not defend its title, instead focusing on a two-car FIA World Endurance Championship effort.

Instead, the class is led by efforts from United Autosports, Algarve Pro Racing, IDEC Sport, Duqueine Team, Inter Europol Competition, Cool Racing and Panis Racing.

Algarve Pro has notably signed Cadillac factory driver Alex Lynn to be part of its lineup for the No. 25 Oreca 07 Gibson, teaming with recent Rolex 24 at Daytona class winner James Allen and Kyffin Simpson.

Laurents Hoerr steps up to the LMP2 class with IDEC Sport alongside Paul Lafargue and Paul-Loup Chatin, replacing Patrick Pilet, while Reshad de Gerus joins Vlad Lomko and Jose Maria Lopez at Cool Racing.

The Pro-Am class grows to 11 entries this year, largely down to new additions for DKR Engineering, United, DragonSpeed, Cool Racing and Proton Competition.

Reigning champions Racing Team Turkey return, as do Team Virage, AF Corse, Nielsen Racing and Algarve Pro.

The latter has added Tristan Vautier and Jack Hawksworth to its ranks to team with Fred Poordad aboard the No. 20 Oreca. The father-and-son pairing of Juan Pablo and Sebastian Montoya joins Henrik Hedman at DragonSpeed.

The 12-car LMP3 field consists almost entirely of Ligier machinery, with only two squads running Duqueine D08 Nissans

Reigning champions Cool Racing enter a single Ligier JS P320 Nissan for Adrien Chila, Marcos Siebert and Alejandro Garcia while Miguel Cristovao, Kai Askey and Sebastian Alvarez are set to drive for runners-up Inter Europol.

RLR M Sport and Eurointernational return, as do DKR and Nielsen.

Amongst the new entries is WTM by Rinaldi Racing, with the German squad moving from the GTE ranks to enter a single Ligier piloted by Corvette Racing WEC ace Nico Varrone alongside Torsten Kratz and Leonard Weiss.

Racing Spirit of Leman steps up from Michelin Le Mans Cup, while Ultimate returns to the LMP3 ranks after campaigning an Oreca in WEC last year.

In GTE, five Ferrari entries from AF Corse, Spirit of Race, Kessel Racing, JMW Motorsport and series newcomers Formula Racing are joined by four Porsches and three Aston Martins.

As previously reported by Sportscar365, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship ace Ryan Hardwick will make his series debut in the No. 16 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19. He will team up with Zach Robichon and Alessio Picariello.

Christian Ried will pilot the second of the team’s three cars, with Michael Fassbender returning to the No. 93 car alongside Martin Rump and Richard Lietz.

GMB Motorsport is set for its series debut with a previously-confirmed Aston Martin Vantage AMR, joining a pair of cars from TF Sport.

The ELMS season kicks off with the 4 Hours of Barcelona on April 23.