24H Le Mans Entry List Released

Photo: MPS Agency

The ACO has released the entry list for this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, featuring a full grid of 62 cars plus six reserve entries.

Confirmed on Thursday, it comes more than a week delayed from the initial release date after the re-opening of entry requests in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that impacted at least two cars on the list.

G-Drive Racing’s pair of LMP2 cars have been swapped for two independently-run Oreca 07 Gibson from operators Algarve Pro Racing, which will carry the Nos. 45 and 47.

The team’s ‘race by race’ WEC entry will be driven by Steven Thomas, Rene Binder and James Allen, while its European Le Mans Series car has been confirmed for Le Mans with drivers John Falb and Sophia Floersch. 

Absent are Russian drivers Daniil Kvyat and Roman Rusinov, who both refused to sign the FIA’s document that would let them compete but under a “neutral capacity” without the Russian flag, colors or country’s national anthem being played.

It’s believed to have been the only change made to the list since the ACO’s re-opening of entry requests made earlier this week.

A total of five cars will battle for top honors in the Hypercar class, including confirmation of a second Glickenhaus 007 LMH car for Ryan Briscoe, Richard Westbrook and Franck Mailleux. 

Olivier Pla, Romain Dumas and Pipo Derani are listed in the team’s full-season WEC entry, in a reshuffled lineup compared to its entry for next weekend’s season-opening 1000 Miles of Sebring.

A third entry from the American-flagged team, which was actively investigated following the ACO’s re-opening of entries, did not materialize. 

The LMP2 class features a record 27-car grid, all but one entry being Orecas. 

CD Sport, which gained an auto invite for winning the LMP3 class of the Asian Le Mans Series, will line up with a Ligier JS P217 Gibson for Christophe Cresp and two to-be-confirmed co-drivers.

ELMS LMP3 champions DKR Engineering, meanwhile, will also be on the grid in an Oreca featuring Laurents Hoerr and  Jean Glorieux, along with the Asian LMS LMP2 championship-winning team of Ben Hanley, Rodrigo Sales and Matt Bell in Nielsen Racing’s entry.

Multi-time IMSA champion Ricky Taylor has been confirmed as part of Cool Racing’s LMP2 lineup alongside Yifei Ye and Niklas Kruetten, while a second Inter Europol Competition Oreca will join its WEC entry for the race.

Other full-time ELMS LMP2 teams granted entries include TDS Racing x Vaillante, Graff Racing, IDEC Sport and Panis Racing.

Of the 27 entries, ten are listed in the Pro-Am sub-class that requires each lineup to have a Bronze-rated driver.

A total of seven cars are listed in GTE-Pro, thanks to the addition of a second Chevrolet Corvette C8.R as expected and Riley Motorsports’ Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, featuring the lineup of Felipe Fraga, Sam Bird and Shane van Gisbergen. 

Third drivers for AF Corse’s two factory Ferraris have yet to be confirmed.

Twenty-three cars are due to line up in GTE-Am, the majority coming from full-season WEC entries.

After several years in the GTE-Pro class, WeatherTech Racing will compete for GTE-Am class honors in a Proton Competition-run Porsche 911 RSR-19 featuring Cooper MacNeil as the only confirmed driver so far.

Hollywood star Michael Fassbender is set for his long-awaited Le Mans debut, having been confirmed in an additional Proton Porsche alongside factory driver Matt Campbell.

Iron Lynx has taken up one of its auto-invites to become a three-car effort, when factoring in the Iron Dames effort, with team principal Andrea Piccini listed as the only confirmed driver in the additional Ferrari.

Hardpoint will make its Le Mans debut with Akin Award winner Rob Ferriol, who received an auto-invite by IMSA. Ferriol’s co-drivers have also yet to be announced.

The reserve list features both High Class Racing Orecas, including one that was due to feature father-and-son Jan and Kevin Magnussen on the lineup.

Kevin Magnussen, however, has been ruled out of contesting Le Mans this year due to making his return to Formula 1 with Haas.

This year’s race clashes with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Fellow WeatherTech Championship entrant Racing Team Nederland is also on the reserve list with its LMP2 car, alongside GTE-Am efforts from Rinaldi Racing, Absolute Racing and an additional TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage GTE.

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