Two Changes in Duqueine’s LMP2 Driver Lineup

Duqueine Team has confirmed that it will continue for a fourth season in the European Le Mans Series LMP2 ranks with an adjusted driver lineup for its Oreca 07 Gibson.

Rene Binder and double ELMS champion Memo Rojas have joined the French squad and will team up with the retained Tristan Gommendy for this year’s six-round campaign.

Binder piloted Inter Europol Competition’s Ligier JS P217 Gibson last term, while Rojas contested a part-season program with DragonSpeed.

Rojas won the 2017 title with G-Drive Racing, which was run by DragonSpeed that year, while the Mexican driver was also a member of IDEC Sport’s 2019 championship crew.

Gommendy teamed up with Konstantin Tereschenko and Jonathan Hirschi in 2020.

The trio finished second in the Portimao season finale to end up sixth in the standings, marking Duqueine’s joint-best campaign in the LMP2 division since its step up from the LMP3 category at the start of 2018.

In addition to two new drivers, Duqueine has recruited experienced motorsport engineer Greg Wheeler whose previous roles include spells in Formula 1, the British Touring Car Championship and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans as part of BMW’s V12 LMR program.

In December, Wheeler was appointed technical director of Asian Formula 3 team BlackArts Racing, working at the management level alongside ex-F1 driver Alex Yoong and Le Mans LMP2 class winner Richard Bradley, who drove for Duqueine in 2019.

“For this fourth ELMS season with the Oreca LMP2, I am extremely happy that Max was able to assemble such a crew,” said Gilles Duqueine, president of the Duqueine Group.

“With Tristan, the arrivals of Rene and Memo confirm our ambitions and our objectives for 2021.

“Welcome to Greg Wheeler, our new engineer who will have to technically guide this trio of excellent drivers who are as fast and as experienced as they are reliable.

“‘I can’t wait for the whole of Team Duqueine to quickly demonstrate their performance in the championship and I hope for the 24 hours of Le Mans too.”