Final Le Mans Auto-Invites Confirmed in Abu Dhabi

The two final automatic invitations for this year’s edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans have been handed out following the conclusion of the Asian Le Mans Series season, with the champions in the LMP2 and GT class picking up an entry slot for the French endurance classic.

CrowdStrike Racing by APR and Pure Rxcing, which both sealed their championships during the second of this weekend’s four-hour races at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit, have each received an invitation.

Coincidentally, both teams already have a guaranteed spot on the grid for Le Mans through success achieved elsewhere.

Algarve Pro Racing, which ran the No. 4 Oreca 07 Gibson that won the title by finishing seventh in Sunday’s finale, received an invite after winning the European Le Mans Series LMP2 title last year.

George Kurtz, the Bronze-rated driver alongside Colin Braun and Malthe Jakobsen, did the same after winning IMSA’s Jim Trueman Award, given out to the best Bronze-rated driver in the WeatherTech Championship LMP2 class.

Pure Rxcing, meanwhile, could potentially have as many as three cars on the grid at Le Mans. The reward for winning the GT class title in Abu Dhabi already adds to an earlier invitation for winning the overall Bronze Cup title in Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS.

Additionally, the team will also be represented on the FIA World Endurance Championship’s LMGT3 grid through a partnership with Manthey Racing.

The two invitations handed out on Sunday add to the nine already awarded at the conclusion of last year. Three further LMP2 invites came through the ELMS, handed out to United Autosports (runner-up in LMP2), AF Corse (LMP2 Pro-Am champions) and Cool Racing (LMP3 champions).

Of note, Cool Racing also won the LMP3 title in the Asian series but has not received an Le Mans slot, with the Swiss team instead receiving a priority entry for the Road to Le Mans support race.

Proton Competition is set to receive a third Le Mans entry to go alongside their two-car Ford Mustang GT3 bid in WEC’s LMGT3 class after winning the GTE title in ELMS last year.

In addition to Kurtz’s Jim Trueman Award nomination, the WeatherTech Championship has two more automatic entries: one for Bob Akin Award winner Brendan Iribe and one for Action Express Racing, which received an IMSA-specific invite for winning the GTP teams’ championship.

The full 62-car entry list for Le Mans is expected to be released by the end of this month.