JMR Targeting Future WEC Entry After Le Mans Debut

Prince Jefri Ibrahim has ambitions for his Johor Motorsports Racing squad to secure a full-time place in the FIA World Endurance Championship in the future after contesting this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans under the wings of TF Sport.

The Malaysian squad was involved in the additional entry that TF secured for the race for winning the LMGT3 class title of last year’s European Le Mans Series.

JMR was first founded in 2019, initially with an operations partnership with Triple Eight Race Engineering, and has achieved success in GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS but is now seeking to become established in the endurance racing arena after reinventing itself with a new fully in-house team last year.

The JMR-badged No. 2 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R that Prince Jefri raced alongside Lorcan Hanafin and Ben Green finished 14th in class at Le Mans after losing four laps when it suffered a gearbox problem, but had run within the top-six at times during the middle of the contest.

“It’s always been the dream to do this race and it’s taken me seven years to finally do it so it’s always been the pinnacle of the aim I have,” Prince Jefri told Sportscar365.

“After we started the team last year, we started everything from the ground up with a new team and to be here in just our second year I think is a great achievement for us.

“I’m really stoked for the team, they’ve worked so hard to get here.”

In terms of future aims, he added: “Hopefully to be back here in Le Mans for next year and to do more endurance races.

“I think now we’re just going to focus more on the big endurance races around and hopefully, one day, WEC — that would be the aim to do the full calendar.”

When asked specifically what other categories those plans could involve, he replied: “WEC, and IGTC and mostly the big endurance races I think we will focus on that.

“I’ve done the sprint races with the Corvette since 2025 so this year onwards we want to focus more on that and how to bring up a team and bring them to higher heights.”

A WEC LMGT3 berth would likely only be possible in partnering with an existing team, or taking over a program from a manufacturer that’s currently on the grid, as only two cars per brand are possible per regulations.

TF Sport, for instance, recently signed a contract extension with Chevrolet that will keep the British squad operating the Corvettes in the WEC through at least the end of the 2027 season.

Prince Jefri, meanwhile, has also ruled out any imminent attempt on the Nürburgring 24 amid speculation that the Corvette could soon be homologated in order to tackle the Eifel endurance classic.

It is the only IGTC round that JMR is slated to miss this year, although the team will have only a single Pro-Am class Corvette entry for next weekend’s CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa due to the lack of available factory Corvette drivers because of the clashing Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen.

Considering how quickly JMR has developed, Prince Jefri described its growth so far as being exciting as he now targets major sports car success.

“It’s been a huge learning for us and a great journey to get there,” he said. “We’re enjoying it and taking it step by step.

“We will try to do our best all the time and hopefully a win is some way up in our reach and we’re giving it our all.”

Hanafin was only drafted into the No. 2 Corvette’s lineup just a couple of weeks before the race and was impressed by what the team was able to accomplish.

“Le Mans is one of the most physically demanding races in the world: long straights, heavy braking zones and you need to be on point every single lap for 24 hours straight,” he said.

“It’s such an achievement for Prince Jefri to finish this race on his first attempt, and I’m very fortunate to be part of it.”

Prince Jefri added: “This is our first try and we know what to expect next time; we’ll be back stronger.”