First 24H Le Mans Auto Invites Confirmed

Photo: John Dagys

The Automobile Club de l’Ouest has confirmed the initial list of automatic invitations for next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

A total of 11 cars have received entries for the French endurance classic, thanks to their results in the various ACO-blessed continental championships, or success in last year’s race.

LMP1:
Porsche Team (1st, 24H Le Mans)

LMP2:
KCMG (1st, 24H Le Mans)
Greaves Motorsport (ELMS LMP2 Champion)
Team LNT (ELMS LMP3 Champion)
Michael Shank Racing (IMSA)

GTE
Corvette Racing (1st, 24H Le Mans – GTE-Pro)
SMP Racing (1st, 24H Le Mans – GTE-Am)
Formula Racing (ELMS GTE Champion – GTE-Pro/Am)
BMW Team Marc VDS (ELMS GTE Runner-Up – GTE-Pro/Am)
TDS Racing (ELMS GTC Champion – GTE-Am)
Scuderia Corsa (IMSA – GTE-Am)

The final three auto-invites will be confirmed on Jan. 24 following the conclusion of the 2015/2016 Asian Le Mans Series season, which will award invites to the LMP2 champion, LMP2 champion (for LMP2) and GT champion (for GTE-Am).

Currently, Race Performance (LMP2), DC Racing (LMP3) and Clearwater Racing (GT) lead their respective championships with two races to go.

Full-season teams in the FIA World Endurance Championship receive automatic entries to Le Mans, and thus are not awarded invites based on the previous year’s results.

Auto invites are only accepted if the selected team takes part in a full season of ELMS, WeatherTech Championship or Asian LMS in 2016, which already rules out Team LNT and Marc VDS, as both teams currently have no racing plans for next year.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John