21 Hypercars Headline Capacity Le Mans Entry

The Automobile Club de l’Ouest has released a 62-car entry list for the 93rd running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which will be headlined by a 21-car field in the Hypercar category.

Revealed on Monday, the entry will also see 17 LMP2 cars and 24 LMGT3 entries.

Hypercar will feature a slightly smaller number of cars compared to last year’s 23 cars, but will feature the event debut of the Aston Martin Valkyrie.

Notably, Cadillac will be represented by four cars for the first time in the Hypercar class, with Hertz Team JOTA and the returning Action Express Racing team joined by Wayne Taylor Racing.

As previously reported by Sportscar365, the team was looking to field a single Cadillac V-Series.R at the event and will do so with Ricky and Jordan Taylor joined by Filipe Albuquerque.

It will mark the first time the Wayne Taylor-led squad has competed at Le Mans and comes 23 years after the elder Taylor’s last start as a driver, which was notably at the wheel of a Cadillac Northstar LMP02.

Action Express’ No. 311 Cadillac, meanwhile, will be driven by Jack Aitken, Felipe Drugovich and Frederik Vesti.

Elsewhere, Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy have been confirmed as part of the lineup for the No. 4 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963, with the third driver yet to be confirmed.

The LMP2 field will see defending champions United Autosports return with a two-car effort, with Acura Meyer Shank Racing driver Renger van der Zande headlining its No. 22 Oreca 07 Gibson.

All three of the Dutchman’s full season IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship stablemates are also represented on the LMP2 grid, each with different teams.

Co-driver Nick Yelloly will pilot the No. 43 Oreca alongside Kuba Smiechowski and Tom Dillmann, while Colin Braun and Tom Blomqvist are entered with Nielsen Racing and CLX Pure Rxcing, respectively.

Inter Europol and Algarve Pro Racing also have two-car entries, which both teams have secured through a variety of automatic invitations.

Algarve Pro Racing’s second entry comes as a result of its championship success in the Asian Le Mans Series, with the No. 45 car entered into the Pro-Am class for George Kurtz, Nicky Catsburg and Alex Quinn.

Inter Europol, meanwhile, earned its two entries through finishing runner-up in the European Le Mans Series as well as the Jim Trueman Award for Nick Boulle, who is listed aboard the No. 34 car alongside Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer and Luca Ghiotto.

The rest of the class is made up of class regulars like Proton Competition, which also fields a second car with Iron Lynx, as well as IDEC Sport, TDS Racing, VDS Panis Racing, AF Corse and AO by TF.

Of note, TF Sport has opted not to make use of its auto-invite for winning last year’s ELMS LMP2 title, instead opting for a single Pro-Am entry headlined by PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron.

In LMGT3, the majority of squads come from WEC, with Kessel Racing and Richard Mille AF Corse the only teams not to receive a slot through the world championship or automatic invitations.

AWA Racing will make its event debut with Orey Fidani, Lars Kern and Matt Bell piloting its No. 13 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, having secured the Bob Akin Award in the WeatherTech Championship last year.

Tempesta Racing, meanwhile, will compete at the event thanks to an invite for its Bronze Cup efforts in GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS.

The British squad recently revealed a new title partnership deal with Dutch broadcaster Ziggo Sport and will have its No. 193 Ferrari piloted by team regulars Jonathan Hui, Chris Froggatt and Eddie Cheever III.

Custodio Toledo, Lilou Wadoux and Riccardo Agostini have been tapped for the No. 150 Richard Mille Racing AF Corse Ferrari, while Kessel Racing’s single-car entry has Takeshi Kimura and Daniel Serra confirmed.

Second Proton Porsche Headlines Six-Car Reserve List

The reserve list for the event is comprised of six cars, led by a second customer Porsche Hypercar entry for Proton Competition.

The No. 44 car has Tristan Vautier listed as the sole driver, with a situation for the German squad that is similar to last year, when it was also first reserve.

Should any of the 62 entries confirmed for the event drop out, it means the No. 44 Porsche is first in line to be called upon.

The remainder of the reserve list comprises of two LMGT3 entries and four LMP2 cars.

GR Racing is second reserve with its No. 86 Ferrari 296 GT3, followed by LMP2 squads DKR Engineering and Duqueine Team, a second Ferrari for JMW Motorsport and the No. 26 Vector Sport Oreca 07 Gibson.

Vector is the only squad on the reserve list to have a full lineup nominated, with Ryan Cullen joined by Vlad Lomko and Pietro Fittipaldi.