Vanthoor Out at Sebastien Loeb Racing for Le Mans

Reigning FIA GT Series champion Laurens Vanthoor will not compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the Sébastien Loeb Racing LMP2 team.

The Belgian driver had been confirmed to race the team’s Oreca 03 Nissan with René Rast and Vincent Capillaire in June, but today announced the decision not to join the team for the race.

“Quite obviously I’m very disappointed, but the team finally decided to collaborate with a funded driver, a decision which was not easy to accept, but on the other hand I can also understand why they did so,” Vanthoor said.

“I’m a professional driver, which obviously has certain advantages for a team, but on the other hand it also requires a certain amount of commercial and financial elements. Those elements were not in place and this meant that Sébastien Loeb Racing opted for another path.”

Vanthoor, fresh from a fourth place finish in the Blancpain Endurance Series race in Monza last weekend, will still join Sébastien Loeb Racing at the Le Mans Test day in order to get his 10 mandatory laps in and qualify for the race, should a position become available..

“Le Mans could well still take place, but if it is not this year, it will be in 2015. It’s a magnificent race and of course I want to compete in it.

“In fact I’m convinced that it will happen. Anyway, I will do my 10 mandatory laps in Le Mans during the test day for Sébastien Loeb Racing. This means that I will be ready in any case.”