Contrary to previous years, stability is not the name of the game in the head class: of the five cars already present in 2016, only one driver line-up will remain the same, that of the Toyota TS050 HYBRID, now #8, driven by 2015 World Endurance Champions Sébastien Buemi and Anthony Davidson, pursuing their collaboration with Kazuki Nakajima.

The second Toyota TS050 HYBRID entered in the World Endurance Championship (WEC), the #7, will once again be entrusted to Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi who will be joined for the full season by a newcomer to endurance, José María López, three-time World Touring Car Champion (WTCC) with Citroën between 2014 and 2016.

The Anglo-Japanese pair's former teammate, Stéphane Sarrazin, will take the wheel of the third car entered in the WEC Spa-Francorchamps round and the 24 Hours of Le Mans by the Japanese manufacturer. For now, the French native has been confirmed for the #9 Toyota TS050 HYBRID as the sporting regulations require teams to name a head driver with their invitation request.

Though Toyota revealed its plans in Japan at the presentation of its 2017 sporting program the night before the conference, time difference considered, Porsche, in accordance with tradition, released its driver line-ups during the end-of-year soirée at its headquarters in Weissach last December. Of the six drivers from 2016, only three will return to drive the Porsche 919 Hybrid, and Mark Webber has retired from competition.

To replace the Australian in the driver line-up of 2015 World Endurance Champions Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley (#2), Porsche has chosen Earl Bamber: winner at the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans in the third car along with Nico Hülkenberg (currently a Renault driver in F1) and Nick Tandy.

Tandy had switched to GT, which allowed him to score the overall win with Patrick Pilet at Petit Le Mans in 2015 despite terrible weather conditions. He will be competing full-time in LM P1 in the #1 Porsche 919 Hybrid along with Neel Jani, the only remaining member of the trio formed with Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb who won at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this past June and clinched the World Endurance Champion Drivers title. The Anglo-Swiss pair will be joined by André Lotterer, three-time winner at the 24 Hours, who found a home with Porsche after Audi retired from endurance racing.

Toyota and Porsche have now completed their driver line-ups set to compete in the entire 2017 World Endurance Championship (WEC) season, but the same cannot be said of the only non-hybrid LM P1 prototype (entered by ByKOLLES Racing Team). The #4 CLM P1/01 will be driven by Robert Kubica, former F1 driver making his return to the race-tracks after a long break on the heels of a severe rally accident (although he entered WRC for two seasons), and Oliver Webb who was a member of the Austrian team last year.

So there are only three seats left to fill in the LM P1 class...not at all the case in LM P2. To be continued…

Invitees List for the 85th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans

Photo (Copyright - Michel Jamin/ACO): Only the trio Sébastien Buemi-Anthony Davidson-Kazuki Nakajima, here at the Drivers' Parade of the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans, will remain the same as last year for the 85th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.