Trulli, Meguetounif, Morris on Portimao Rookie Test Entry

A total of 37 cars will take part in Sunday’s European Le Mans Series and Michelin Le Mans Cup rookie test at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimao, which will see the likes of Enzo Trulli, Sami Meguetounif and Bryson Morris sample LMP2 machinery.

Trulli and Morris are both set to test with Algarve Pro Racing, with the former driving the No. 20 Oreca 07 Gibson while the latter has been listed aboard the No. 25 sister machine.

Trulli is the son of former Formula 1 racer and Monaco Grand Prix winner Jarno Trulli and has taken steps into sports car racing after previously competing in junior single seaters.

Morris, for his part, is best known for competing with Bryan Herta Autosport in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge.

Another former single seater racer sampling prototype machinery is 21-year-old Meguetounif, who will be getting behind the wheel of the No. 18 IDEC Sport Oreca.

Meguetounif most recently competed in the FIA Formula 2 Championship with Trident earlier this year before he was let go by the team with three rounds remaining in the season.

Other notable names to appear on the LMP2 entry are LMP3 standout Griffin Peebles, who will share the No. 20 Algarve Pro car with Trulli, as well as Lenny Ried, son of Proton Competition boss Christian Ried.

The younger of the two racing Ried brothers, Lenny Ried most recently competed in Eurocup3 driving for Palou Motorsport, the team owned by four-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou.

The two Ried brothers will share driving duties aboard Proton’s No. 77 Oreca, driving alongside 79-year old Frenchman Dominique Bastien.

The LMP3 category features 18 cars on the entry list, with ELMS teams joined by a significant number of Le Mans Cup crews.

DKR Engineering’s No. 4 Ginetta G61-LT-P325-EVO Toyota is set to be driven by Montego Maassen, who is the son of stalwart Porsche racer and two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner Montego Maassen.

Chloe Chong, who previously raced in F1 Academy, will sample the No. 17 CLX Motorsport Ligier JS P325 Toyota, while Racing Spirit of Leman has Oskar Kristensen, nephew of nine-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen, listed aboard its No. 31 Ligier.

The No. 74 Team Virage Ligier, meanwhile, will see former FIA World Endurance Championship driver Khaled Al Qubaisi share driving duties with his daughters Hamda and Amna.

Amongst the Le Mans Cup teams that have joined the entry are Forestier Racing by VPS, which is partly owned by former Alpine Hypercar driver Matthieu Vaxiviere. The team’s No. 92 Ligier will be driven by Porsche single make racer Sebastian Freymuth and Roee Meyuhas, who previously competed in GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS.

They are joined by newly crowned Le Mans Cup champions R-ace GP, as well as the likes of M Racing, CD Sport and 23Events Racing, with the latter having former rallycross and ice racer Mikhail Simonov behind the wheel of the No. 50 Ligier.

In the LMGT3 class, longtime Kessel Racing and Ferrari driver Takeshi Kimura will notably sample Racing Spirit of Leman’s Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo while Lena Buehler, another former F1 Academy racer, will pilot AF Corse’s No. 51 Ferrari 296 GT3.

In total, the rookie test will consist of five hours spread across two sessions, with a two-hour morning session kicking off at 10 a.m. local time (5 a.m. EST). A second, three-hour session is scheduled for the afternoon with a start time of 1 p.m. local (8 a.m. EST).