Le Mans Friday Notebook

Photo: MPS Agency

***Friday marked the opening day of scrutineering for the 100th anniversary edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which saw 39 of the 62 entries pass through Place de la Republique in downtown Le Mans for administrative checks on both cars and drivers. The remaining 23 entries are due to take part on Saturday.

***The No. 88 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19 has seen Don Yount and Jonas Ried, the 18-year-old son of team boss Christian, confirmed alongside Harry Tincknell, replacing Brendon Iribe and Ollie Milroy due to business commitments for Iribe. Christian Ried told Sportscar365 that the deal for Yount and his son was only finalized at the end of last week.

***Jonas Ried heads into his first Le Mans and with only two days of testing experience in the Porsche 911 RSR-19, at Barcelona, when he was 15 years old. “I asked him if he wanted to do [Le Mans] and there was no question mark anymore!” said Christian Ried, who confirmed the No. 88 car will be replaced by its new Porsche 963 for the remainder of the WEC season post-Le Mans.

***In addition to John Farano being replaced by Steven Thomas in the Tower Motorsport LMP2 entry, it is the only other change to the entry list since the most recent publication last week that had confirmed Tristan Vautier in place of Jacques Villeneuve in the No. 4 Vanwall Vanderwell 680 in the Hypercar class.

***At least 22 drivers won’t be going through scrutineering due to clashes with Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup, which races at Paul Ricard on Saturday, the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship double-header in Jakarta and NTT IndyCar Series race in Detroit.

***Dries Vanthoor, Maxime Martin, Alessio Rovera, Nicklas Nielsen, Ben Barker, Mirko Bortolotti, Daniel Serra, Davide Rigon, Antonio Fuoco, Rahel Frey, Sarah Bovy, Michelle Gatting, Thomas Neubauer and Louis Prette will all be traveling from Paul Ricard to Le Mans in the early morning hours of Sunday to be on track.

***Ferrari’s global head of endurance Antonello Coletta and head of endurance race cars Ferdinando Cannizzo will also be making the trip from the south of France, thus missing scrutineering activities, including the first group photo for the Ferrari 499P cars on Saturday.

***Sebastien Buemi, Antonio Felix Da Costa, Jean-Eric Vergne, Robin Frijns, Norman Nato, Nico Mueller and Rene Rast, meanwhile, will miss the eight hours of available running on Sunday altogether due to their Formula E commitments, with Scott Dixon and Simon Pagenaud also skipping the action due to being on IndyCar duty in the Motor City.

***Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Andre Lotterer, who has been a full-season Formula E driver for Porsche-affiliated outfit Avalanche Andretti, is prioritizing the test day over Jakarta, as the only Formula E driver to do so. Peugeot’s Stoffel Vandoorne, meanwhile, will also travel to Le Mans following the races, as a reserve driver.

***Juan Manuel Correa, who as a Silver-rated pilot is required to complete his minimum ten laps on Sunday, will travel directly from Sunday’s FIA Formula 2 Feature Race in Barcelona, which ends at 12:30 p.m., to Le Mans to drive the No. 9 Prema Oreca 07 Gibson.

***The entire Corvette Racing team, including drivers Ben Keating, Nicky Catsburg and Nico Varrone, wore cowboy hats during scrutineering, in a nod to the squad’s debut in the French endurance classic in 2000 when they showed up in the same attire. This weekend marks the 23rd and likely final appearance under the Corvette Racing banner, with the new-for-2024 LMGT3 class prohibiting factory entries.

***The Pratt Miller-run organization has operated four generations of Corvettes at Le Mans through the years, with a total of 25 drivers to have driven for the team at Circuit de la Sarthe. It has secured eight class wins, the last coming in 2015 with Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Jordan Taylor in a Corvette C7.R.

***Daniil Kvyat revealed he asked three-time overall winner Allan McNish for advice leading up to his Le Mans debut with Prema. “I’m lucky to know Allan quite well,” Kvyat told Sportscar365. “We sometimes have a little catch-up. Last time we spoke I asked him a few questions about Le Mans and I think he’s one of the best guys ever to ask about this track.”

***Michael Fassbender teams with Porsche factory driver Richard Lietz at Le Mans for the first time. The duo raced together previously in the European Le Mans Series, but the Irish-German actor-turned-racer teamed up with Zacharie Robichon and Matt Campbell last year as Lietz joined Porsche’s GTE-Pro effort to take a class victory instead. “I was trying to convince him to be part of our team last year for Le Mans,” Fassbender told Sportscar365. “Thank God he wasn’t!”

***Fassbender added that his nerves were “a little more contained” compared to his debut year. “It was definitely an enormous experience for me last year, in terms of mentally what the challenge was. So having that experience, hopefully it will stand me in good stead this year.”

***Chandler Hull, who is making his Le Mans debut in the No. 100 Walkenhorst Motorsport Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, will be racing a non-BMW for the first time since taking part in a RCN Rundstrecken-Challenge race at the Nürburgring four years ago with a Porsche Cayman. “Ever since then it’s been BMWs,” he told Sportscar365.

***Hull revealed Walkenhorst had attempted to bring back the BMW M8 GTE but was denied by the ACO. “They said it was out of homologation and they wouldn’t bring it back just for one race,” he said. “But I’m really looking for driving something different and I think the Ferrari should be strong here.”

***Colorado-based data analytics company Palantir Technologies has joined Hertz Team JOTA as a new team partner. The tech firm, co-founded by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, joins fellow American companies Hertz, Singer and Brady on the No. 38 Porsche 963 Hypercar class entry.

***Two different types of powertrain — electric-drive fuel cell and hydrogen internal combustion — will be eligible for the ACO’s planned Hydrogen class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which is slated to debut by as early as 2026. “The fuel cell was initially chosen for its potential, which is still relevant,” said ACO President Pierre Fillon. “Today, the hydrogen internal combustion engine is also presented as a possibility for manufacturers.”

***AO Racing has yet to announce how it will juggle the second and final WEC/IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship date clash of the year between Monza and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Team manager Gunnar Jeannette told Sportscar365: “It’s a tough thing because obviously we’re partners with Project 1 here but in the States, that is our own team. To not be with our own team at a race is very difficult.”

***A WeatherTech Championship program is “one of the targets” for Cool Racing in the future according to the team’s sporting director Anthony Megevand, who revealed to Sportscar365 that it came close to running a LMP2 car at this year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona.

***The Swiss squad, which is fielding two LMP2 entries at Le Mans for the first time, also had an option to move into the GT ranks this year but turned down the opportunity to focus on its expanded LMP2 effort according to Megevand.

***The Ford Mustang GT3 will be formally presented next Friday at Le Mans. Originally set to break cover at Sebring International Raceway in March, Multimatic and Ford Performance opted to conduct a series of tests with the car instead, ahead of its 2024 race debut.

***Unveiling the car at Circuit de la Sarthe gives a strong indication that two of the cars will be on the WEC LMGT3 grid next year. The FIA and ACO have previously stated that Hypercar manufacturers with GT3 machinery would take priority. Ford CEO Jim Farley will be among the dignitaries in attendance.

***The Grand Centenary Exhibition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans opened to the public on Thursday. The exhibition, which runs through July 2 at the Le Mans Museum adjacent to the circuit’s main gate, features 86 cars, 65 of which are overall winners of the race.

***The majority of the Hypercar class contenders, including Porsche Penske Motorsport, Toyota Gazoo Racing, Ferrari AF Corse and the three factory Cadillac V-Series.Rs, are scheduled to roll through scrutineering on Saturday, with activities running from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. local time.

Davey Euwema & Daniel Lloyd contributed to this report

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