Five Automatic Le Mans Entries Confirmed at Portimao

Five automatic invitations to next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans have been confirmed following the conclusion of the European Le Mans Series season at Portimao on Sunday.

Algarve Pro Racing and United Autosports will both have a guaranteed spot on the LMP2 grid for the French endurance classic for securing the top two spots in the LMP2 standings.

Algarve Pro locked up the championship at Portimao with a pair of second-place finishes for Kyffin Simpson, James Allen and Alex Lynn, while United managed to leapfrog several teams across the two races to finish runners-up in the standings.

The Anglo-American squad arrived in Portugal sitting sixth in the standings, but back-to-back victories saw them jump ahead of Duqueine Team, Panis Racing, Cool Racing and IDEC Sport to end the season in second place.

Additionally, in a change compared to last year, LMP2 Pro-Am champions AF Corse also receive an LMP2 entry for the event.

A fourth invitation for the LMP2 class has been extended to Swiss squad Cool Racing, which captured the LMP3 title for the second consecutive season.

Proton Competition secured the sole ticket available for teams in the GTE class this year, ensuring it will have an additional presence on the grid for the LMGT3 class’ first appearance at Le Mans.

Although Ryan Hardwick, Zach Robichon and Alessio Picariello secured the title in the outgoing Porsche 911 RSR-19, Proton is set to campaign the Ford Mustang GT3 as part of a two-car FIA World Endurance Championship LMGT3 campaign, subject to a decision by the WEC Selection Committee.

However, team boss Christian Ried previously told Sportscar365 that the German squad has multiple Type-992 Porsche 911 GT3 Rs on order as Proton looks to continue its longstanding relationship with Porsche in GT racing.

The number of invites available for teams in the GTE class is notably smaller compared to last year, when the top three teams in the standings were given berths for the blue riband event. Additionally, there is also no longer an invite for the Michelin Le Mans Cup GT3 champions.

The five invitations handed out at Portimao are joined by four existing invitees for next year’s edition of the event.

George Kurtz looks set to defend his LMP2 Pro-Am crown after securing IMSA’s Jim Trueman Award, which is given out to the best Bronze-rated driver in the WeatherTech Championship LMP2 class.

Inception Racing’s Brendan Iribe plans to take McLaren back to Le Mans as part of the LMGT3 class after capturing the Bob Akin Award for the best Bronze-rated GTD driver with Inception Racing. A third IMSA-specific invite was given to Action Express Racing for winning the GTP teams’ championship.

An additional LMGT3 invitation was extended to Pure Rxcing for winning the overall Bronze Cup title in Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS.

The final two invitations, one for LMP2 and one for LMGT3, will be determined following the conclusion of the 2023-24 Asian Le Mans Series, which kicks off with a double header event at Sepang International Circuit on December 3-4.