Crubile Not Cleared; ProSpeed to Run Two Drivers in GTE-Pro

ProSpeed Competition will be allowed to race in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with its new chassis, but with only two drivers in Jeroen Bleekemolen and Cooper MacNeil.

Projected new third driver Sebastien Crubilé, who was due to replace the injured Bret Curtis as Bronze-rated driver, has not received permission to drive either. Crubilé did not get the chance to turn any laps at Le Mans this week.

READ: ProSpeed to Replace Car, Driver Following Crash

That requires the No. 79 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, a 2012-spec car formerly utilized by Paul Miller Racing in the American Le Mans Series, to actually switch from the GTE-Am to the GTE-Pro class as it does not fulfill the GTE-Am driver lineup requirement of a Bronze-rated driver.

Additionally, the car will have to run 20 kilos heavier and with a bigger gurney, per GTE-Pro regulations. The maximum drive time is no more than four hours in a six-hour period, and no more than 14 hours in total.

It gives the GTE-Pro class a ninth car, while reducing the GTE-Am entry down to 18.

“It will be a tough challenge because of the heavier car,” Bleekemolen said. “It has been done in the past but it would be very difficult. There’s not too many cars in the class, though.”

Bleekemolen and MacNeil will become the first two-driver pairing at Le Mans since 2009, when Andre Lotterer and Charles Zwolsman raced the privateer No. 14 Kolles Audi R10 TDI after third driver Narain Karthikeyan got injured in a fall on race morning. That car finished seventh overall.

René de Boer contributed to this article.