Le Mans Pre-Race Notebook

***Toyota’s Sebastien Buemi is set to become the FIA World Endurance Championship’s most experienced ever driver when he makes his 90th start on Saturday, which would put him one ahead of Christian Ried. The Swiss driver has not skipped a race since the start of the 2013 season, although uncertainty still surrounds his status for next month’s 6 Hours of Sao Paulo, which clashes with the Berlin Formula E round.

***Buemi previously stated a decision on whether he would be present at Sao Paulo would only be made after this weekend’s race.

***Manthey Porsche driver Richard Lietz is set to become the second member of the ’90 starts club’ at the Circuit of The Americas assuming, he starts all races in the meantime.

***Lietz remains the most experienced driver in the field at Le Mans this year with 18 starts already under his belt, followed by Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA’s Sebastien Bourdais on 17 and RLR MSport LMP2 driver Patrick Pilet on 16.

***The Hypercar class features only one rookie, Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Pascal Wehrlein. Only one car, the No. 60 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, features an all rookie-crew, with Andrew Gilbert, Fran Rueda and Lorcan Hanafin all set for their debuts.

***A total of 33 nationalities are represented on this year’s Le Mans grid. Best represented are the UK with 32 drivers and France with 31, followed by Italy with 15, the U.S. with 14 and Denmark with nine.

***The youngest driver in the field is Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG driver Lin Hodenius, who is 18 years, 10 months and 13 days old on race day. The eldest is AF Corse Ferrari LMGT3 regular Thomas Flohr at 65 years, two months and 28 days.

***Rahel Frey is set to become the second-most experienced female driver in Le Mans history this year as she prepares for her eighth start, which would move her ahead of Vanina Ickx. Anne-Charlotte Verney made ten starts between 1974 and 1983.

***This year’s edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans marks a unique milestone for the race’s two Hong Kong drivers Antares Au and Jonathan Hui. The two drivers, who make their simultaneous Le Mans debuts, took their first steps into GT3 racing together six years ago when they shared a Porsche 911 GT3 R in the Michelin 24H Dubai.

***Ziggo Sport Tempesta Racing, which Hui drives for, is the first team to compete at Le Mans through an auto-invite extended for a team in GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Bronze Cup. Pure Rxcing was extended the invite in 2024, but did not take it up as the Lithuanian-flagged squad was already represented its WEC through its joint effort with Manthey.

***The LMGT3 field, which numbers 24 cars, will be the largest ever single GT class in Le Mans history, surpassing the GTE-Am fields of 2021 and ’22 by one car.

***Michelin, which supplies the entire Hypercar field, is poised to equal the record for most outright Le Mans wins for any tire manufacturer on Sunday. Dunlop still leads the way on 34 wins, the last of which came with the Mazda 787B in 1991, with Michelin now on 33, having been undefeated since 1998.

***Goodyear, which supplies both the LMP2 and LMGT3 classes, is set for its biggest Le Mans ever as it supplies 41 cars. The U.S. manufacturer has 100 staff on site and 8,000 tires. Both the LMP2 and LMGT3 classes are expected to be able to run quadruple stints, which in practice means 40 laps for LMP2 and approximately 44 laps for LMGT3.

***Heart of Racing Team has provided further visibility for its charitable efforts with the Seattle Children’s Hospital with graphics seen on the team’s structures in the pit lane and paddock explaining the multi-faceted initiative. Fans can donate directly to the charity while the team donates $1 USD for every Instagram follower it has.

***Cadillac’s massive hospitality complex in the paddock started life as a four-car garage for rally cars, which has been leased by the American manufacturer for the next three years according to a Cadillac spokesperson.

***Both Action Express Racing and Wayne Taylor Racing are running at Le Mans this weekend in support of Team Fox, the grassroots fundraising community of The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) that aims to fund research into treatments for Parkinson’s disease. The foundation’s logo will be displayed on the No. 101 and No. 311 cars, on driver firesuits, and on crew shirts. Post-race, the drivers’ firesuits will be auctioned to raise further funds. See details here.

***Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe vice-chairman Kazuki Nakajima said the marque considered multiple designs from its past to celebrate its 40th anniversary at Le Mans before settling on the GT-One design seen on the No. 7 GR010 Hybrid.

**Nakajima told Sportscar365: “We considered the very first one [the Toyota 85C]. For me personally, the options were that, the Casio one [from the TS010] and the GT-One. In the end, we chose the GT-One because the red color goes well with the GR colors, and the GT-One is probably one of the most iconic cars in Le Mans history. I’m very happy that it has had a positive reception.”

***Despite being associated with Honda throughout his career, including his Formula 1 stint from 1987-91, Nakajima’s father Satoru made two Le Mans starts for Toyota in 1985-86. “It was thanks to TOM’S and [team owner Nobuhide] Tachi-san, because they were close and somehow the opportunity came up,” said the younger Nakajima, who had the chance to drive the 85C in the Le Mans Classic in 2022.

***He added: “As a family, it’s nice to have this story from the beginning of Toyota’s activities at Le Mans until now, and maybe that’s partly why I am still super-motivated to work on this project.”

***TV coverage of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the U.S. will be on MotorTrend TV, with continuous live coverage beginning at 9 a.m. EST through the checkered flag and post-race ceremonies. Full streaming coverage will be available via the B/R Sports add-on on Max.

***Radio Le Mans’ coverage, available online, trackside at 91.2 FM, and on Sirius XM Radio Stateside, will be led by the team of Jonny Palmer, Peter Mackay, John Hindhaugh, Johnny Mowlem, Bruce Jones, Ryan Myrehn, Paul Truswell, Nick Daman, Joe Bradley and Peter Snowdon.

John Dagys and Davey Euwema contributed to this report