Carlin Dallara Drops Off Updated 59-Car Le Mans Entry List

The Thunderhead Carlin Racing Dallara P217 Gibson has dropped off the updated 59-car entry list for next month’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Carlin car, which has been absent from its intended European Le Mans Series program so far this year, was not shown on the new list of entries published on Tuesday.

It was due to be driven by Jack Manchester, Ben Barnicoat and another driver in the French endurance classic which is being held behind closed doors on September 19-20.

Previous withdrawals have exhausted the 10-car reserve list, meaning that no entry is on hand to replace the Carlin Dallara and thus ensuring the drop to less than 60 cars.

The only Dallara in the field will be campaigned by FIA World Endurance Championship full-season team Cetilar Racing, while the LMP2 grid now stands at 23 entries.

The updated entry list also verifies some of the GTE-Am driver lineups that had yet to be confirmed.

Jan Magnussen is shown in the JMW Motorsport Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, alongside Porsche single-make prospect Maxwell Root and former IMSA GTD regular Richard Heistand.

Four-time Le Mans class winner Magnussen was originally set to represented High Class Racing, which had a second Oreca 07 Gibson promoted from the reserve list, but the Danish squad opted to withdraw that entry and compete with a single car.

Super GT star Yuhi Sekiguchi is set for his Le Mans debut aboard the CarGuy/MR Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo.

Sekiguchi, who currently leads the Japanese championship’s points standings with his Toyota co-driver Sacha Fenestraz, is listed alongside Kei Cozzolino and Takeshi Kimura.

French driver Charles Milesi, who competed in Japanese Formula 3 last year, has replaced Alexandre Cougnaud in Graff’s LMP2-class Oreca.

Garret Grist, Alex Kapadia and Tony Wells will feature for Nielsen Racing on the team’s Le Mans debut, while Timothe Buret is set to replace Ryan Cullen at DragonSpeed.

ELMS and Michelin Le Mans Cup outfit Iron Lynx now has three Ferraris entered in GTE-Am, with the team’s third car appearing to replace Kessel Racing’s sole Ferrari entry.

Rino Mastronardi and Matteo Cressoni will share the wheel of the additional Iron Lynx car with Andrea Piccini, whose original place in the team’s No. 60 Ferrari has been taken up by GT racing veteran Paolo Ruberti, who drove for ByKolles in LMP1 last year.

Dempsey-Proton Racing’s No. 99 Porsche 911 RSR is set to be driven by Lucas Legeret – who made his GTE debut with the team in the WEC round at Spa – as well as Vutthikorn Inthraphuvasak and 2018 Le Mans LMP2 podium finisher Hugo de Sadeleer.

Proton has also added Horst Felbermayr Jr and Michele Beretta to its No. 78 Porsche crew, while 74-year-old American driver Dominique Bastien will appear in the team’s No. 88 car with Thomas Preining and Adrien de Leener.

An all-French lineup of Benoit Fretin, Bruno Fretin and ‘Steve Brooks’ has been confirmed for Team Project 1’s No. 89 Porsche.