LMP2: a one of a kind grid!

This season, the LMP2 field is the largest it has ever been. Nineteen cars will battle it out on Sunday at the 4 Hours of Le Castellet, and the majority of them (13) will participate in the next 24 Hours of Le Mans! Defending champion G-Drive Racing will enter two ORECA 07-Gibsons. The first (#26), with technical support provided by TDS Racing, for Roman Rusinov-Andrea Pizzitola-Alexandre Imperatori, and the second (#40) with technical support provided by Graff for James Allen-Enzo Guibbert-Jose Gutiérrez).

Many other teams are considered favorites, starting with United Autosports. After a fifth place finish at the 12 Hours of Sebring, the team will field two Ligier JS P217s for Phil Hanson and Bruno Senna (#22), replacing Filipe Albuquerque tied up in the U.S. this weekend, and the #32 for Wayne Boyd, Hugo De Sadeleer and Will Owen. 

Another major player in the ELMS, DragonSpeed, is set to make an appearance at Le Castellet. The American team already has one LMP1 and one LMP2 in the World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC), but will participate in the European championsip with an ORECA 07-Gibson (#21) and an unchanged driver line-up of Henrik Hedman, Ben Hanley and Nicolas Lapierre (two-time LMP2 winner at the 2015 and 2016 24 Hours). Other ORECA 07-Gibsons to watch are Graff's #39 (Tristan Gommendy-Jonathan Hirschi-Alexandre Cougnaud) and IDEC Sport's #28 (Paul Loup Chatin-Paul Lafargue-Memo Rojas, the latter is defending ELMS champion).

Competing with the French constructor's cars (nine total), there are five Ligier JS P217s including the aforementioned United Autosport entrant. Another car to watch will be Panis Barthez Compétition's #23 driven by Julien Canal (2017 winner of the WEC LMP2 Drivers Trophy), Timothé Buret and former F1 driver Will Stevens. Also hitting the track this weekend, four Dallara P217s for AVF by Adrian Vallés, Cetilar Villorba Corse, High Class Racing and SMP Racing who brought the Italian chassis to victory at the 2017 edition of the 4 Hours of Le Castellet!

New arrivals in LMP2

Among the newcomers, two teams stand out. First, the #24 ORECA 07-Gibson of Racing Engineering represented by official Ford driver in the WEC Olivier Pla along with Paul Petit and Norman Nato, a driver in the GP2 Series in 2017! Previous ELMS champions Nelson Panciatici and Pierre Ragues will once again join forces at the wheel of Duqueine Engineering's #29 ORECA 07-Gibson along with Nicolas Jamin.

Two WEC teams as reinforcements

Two teams entered in the 2018-2019 Super Season of the WEC will also take the start at the race this weekend. Signatech Alpine (Alpine A470 for André Negrão and Pierre Thiriet) and TDS Racing (#28 ORECA 07-Gibson for 2013 Le Mans winner Loïc Duval, Matthieu Vaxivière and François Perrodo) will both be seeking the win. 

The LMP3 class: a real springboard for endurance

The grid in this class is 18 strong: 14 Ligier JS P3s and four Norma M30s. LMP3 is the first rung on the endurance ladder toward a career in Le Mans Prototype. 2017 champion United Autosports is the the clear favorite, but several teams should be watched closely (2017 Michelin Le Mans Cup champion DKR Engineering, Ultimate, M. Racing YMR, Ecurie Ecosse, AT Racing) as well as young, up-and-coming drivers.

LMGTE: Ferrari faces off against Porsche

Ferrari and Porsche are set to duel it out in the 2018 European Le Mans Series. With eight cars at the start - four per manufacturer - the LMGTE class will be hotly contested.

JMW Motorsport, winner at the 2017 24 Hours in LMGTE Am, will defend its title with a Ferrari 488 GTE for Liam Griffin, Alex McDowall and Miguel Molina. Spirit of Race will field two of the Italian cars, Krohn Racing one for Tracy Krohn, Niclas Jonsson and Andrea Bertolini.

As for Porsche, two 911 RSRs will participate for Proton Competition, one for Ebimotors (2017 Michelin Le Mans Cup champion in GT3) and the last for Gulf Racing (Michael Wainwright, Alexander Davison, Ben Barker) entered in the 2018-2019 Super Season of the WEC. Five of the competitors will take part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 16th and 17th. 

Click HERE for the entry list.

SCHEDULE: 

Free Practice 1: Friday, April 13th at 11:15 a.m. (90 min)

Group Test - Bronze Drivers: Friday, April 13th at 4:35 p.m. (30 min)

Free Practice 2: Saturday, April 14th at 9:15 a.m. (90 min)

LMGTE Qualifying: Saturday, April 14th at 1:40 p.m. (10 min)

LMP3 Qualifying: Saturday, April 14th at 2:00 p.m. (10 min)

LMP2 Qualifying: Saturday, April 14th at 2:20 p.m. (10 min)

Race: Sunday, April 15th at 12:00 p.m. (4 hours)

Note all times are local, subtract one hour for U.K. time.

 

 

VIDEOS: YouTube - ELMS official