This weekend, the FIA World Endurance Championship has their marquee event, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The 8.469-mile Circuit de la Sarthe will be alive with activity all week. The activity will be focused on the 60 teams that are entered.
The headlining LMP1 class is a bit smaller in 2017. Audi pulling out of the WEC in the wake of the ongoing Dieselgate scandal means that there are only two factory programs (Porsche and Toyota) left out there. Toyota has a part-time third car entered that Jose Maria Lopez, who started the season in the full-time No. 7, has been exiled to. Stéphane Sarrazin, who drove the No. 9 Toyota at Spa last month, replaces Lopez in the No. 7. Regardless, based on pace from the Test Day, Toyota seems to be the favorite as of now to bring Japan their first overall victory at Le Mans since 1991.
The ByKolles Racing Team No. 4 is the only non-hybrid team entered in the class. In practice, they are likely to fight it out among the LMP2 teams.
In LMP2, there are 25 teams entered. Testing has shown that the ORECA 07-Gibsons have a visible advantage over the other three cars in the class. ORECA 07s (or ORECA 07-based entries) were the top 13 cars during the Test Day.
Riley Motorsports, dubbed Keating Motorsports for Le Mans due to rules that prohibit manufacturers in LMP2, will field the sole Riley Mk. 30-Gibson in the field for IMSA GT Daytona point leaders Jeroen Bleekemolen and Ben Keating, along with Ricky Taylor. The team was 10 seconds off of the fastest drivers during the Test Day, but more time on the track will help.
GTE-Pro once again has a heavy IMSA presence. Five of the nine full-time GT Le Mans teams (both Corvette Racing C7.Rs, both Ford GTs and Risi Competizione’s Ferrari 488 GTE) are in the field and should play a role. Sébastien Bourdais was supposed to be in the No. 68 Ford, but his injuries at Indianapolis have ruled him out. Tony Kanaan will take his place.
Since the race weekend began, there has been one major driver change. Former Audi factory racer Lucas di Grassi was scheduled to make his GTE debut in AF Corse’s No. 51 Ferrari 488 GTE alongside regular drivers James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi. However, di Grassi suffered a broken fibula during last weekend’s Berlin e-Prix that has ruled him out of the race.
I'll sadly miss this year's #LeMans24 with a broken fibula that requires surgery. This was a hard decision but I'm following medical advise.
— Lucas di Grassi (@LucasdiGrassi) June 14, 2017
Veteran Ferrari racer Michele Rugolo has been tapped to take di Grassi’s place in the No. 51.
GTE-Am also has quite a bit of American influence. California-based Scuderia Corsa won the class last year with Townsend Bell, Jeff Segal and Bill Sweedler. This year, Bell and Sweedler are back with Cooper MacNeil bringing his WeatherTech sponsorship to the team. The team earned a second entry by virtue of winning the GT Daytona championship as well. Championship drivers Alessandro Balzan and Christina Nielsen are joined by Bret Curtis.
Porsche factory racer Patrick Long is back at Le Mans in a third Proton entry, the No. 93 Porsche, along with Pirelli World Challenge regular Mike Hedlund. Tracy Krohn is also back in a Ferrari, racing the No. 83 DH Racing 488 GTE along with longtime co-driver Nic Jonsson.
Entry List: 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans
| Class | Team | Drivers | Car |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMP1 | 1 - Porsche LMP Team | Neel Jani André Lotterer Nick Tandy | Porsche 919 Hybrid |
| LMP1 | 2 - Porsche LMP Team | Earl Bamber Timo Bernhard Brendon Hartley | Porsche 919 Hybrid |
| LMP1 (non-hybrid) | 4 - ByKolles Racing Team | Marco Bononomi Dominik Kraihamer Oliver Webb | ENSO CLM P1/01-NISMO |
| LMP1 | 7 - Toyota GAZOO Racing | Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Stéphane Sarrazin | Toyota TS050-Hybrid |
| LMP1 | 8 - Toyota GAZOO Racing | Sébastien Buemi Antony Davidson Kazuki Nakajima | Toyota TS050-Hybrid |
| LMP1 | 9 - Toyota GAZOO Racing | Yuni Kunimoto Nicolas Lapierre Jose Maria Lopez | Toyota TS050-Hybrid |
| LMP2 | 13 - Valliante Rebellion | Mathias Beche David Heinemeier Hansson Nelson Piquet Jr. | ORECA 07-Gibson |
| LMP2 | 17 - IDEC Sport Racing | Patrice Lafargue Paul Lafargue David Zollinger | Ligier JS P217-Gibson |
| LMP2 | 21 - DragonSpeed 10 Star | Ben Hanley Henrik Hedman Felix Rosenqvist | ORECA 07-Gibson |
| LMP2 | 22 - G-Drive Racing (DragonSpeed) | José Gutierrez Ryo Hirakawa Memo Rojas | ORECA 07-Gibson |
| LMP2 | 23 - Panis Barthez Racing | Fabien Barthez Nathaniël Berthon Timothé Buret | Ligier JS P217-Gibson |
| LMP2 | 24 - CEFC Manor TRS Racing | Tor Graves Jonathan Hirschi Jean-Eric Vergne | ORECA 07-Gibson |
| LMP2 | 25 - CEFC Manor TRS Racing | Roberto Gonzalez Vitaly Petrov Simon Trummer | ORECA 07-Gibson |
| LMP2 | 26 - G-Drive Racing | Alex Lynn Roman Rusinov Pierre Thiriet | ORECA 07-Gibson |
| LMP2 | 27 - SMP Racing | Mikhail Aleshin Victor Shaytar Sergey Sirotkin | Dallara P217-Gibson |
| LMP2 | 28 - TDS Racing | Emmanuel Collard François Perrodo Matthieu Vaxiviere | ORECA 07-Gibson |
| LMP2 | 29 - Racing Team Nederland | Rubens Barrichello Jan Lammers Frits van Eerd | Dallara P217-Gibson |
| LMP2 | 31 - Vaillante Rebellion | Julien Canal Nicolas Prost Bruno Senna | ORECA 07-Gibson |
| LMP2 | 32 - United Autosports | Filipe Albuquerque Hugo de Sadeleer William Owen | Ligier JS P217-Gibson |
| LMP2 | 33 - Eurasia Motorsport | Erik Maris Jacques Nicolet Pierre Nicolet | Ligier JS P217-Gibson |
| LMP2 | 34 - Tockwith Motorsports | Karun Chandhok Phil Hanson Nigel Moore | Ligier JS P217-Gibson |
| LMP2 | 35 - Signatech Alpine Matmut | André Negrao Nelson Panciatici Pierre Ragues | Alpine A470-Gibson |
| LMP2 | 36 - Signatech Alpine Matmut | Romain Dumas Gustavo Menezes Matthew Rao | Alpine A470-Gibson |
| LMP2 | 37 - Jackie Chan DC Racing | Alex Brundle David Cheng Tristan Gommendy | ORECA 07-Gibson |
| LMP2 | 38 - Jackie Chan DC Racing | Oliver Jarvis Thomas Laurent Ho-Pin Tung | ORECA 07-Gibson |
| LMP2 | 39 - GRAFF | Enzo Guibbert Eric Trouillet James Winslow | ORECA 07-Gibson |
| LMP2 | 40 - GRAFF | James Allen Richard Bradley Franck Matelli | ORECA 07-Gibson |
| LMP2 | 43 - Keating Motorsports | Jeroen Bleekmolen Ben Keating Ricky Taylor | Riley Mk. 30-Gibson |
| LMP2 | 45 - Algarve Pro Racing | Vincent Capillare Matt McMurry Mark Patterson | Ligier JS P217-Gibson |
| LMP2 | 47 - Cetilar Villorba Corse | Andrea Belicchi Roberto Lacorte Giorgio Sernagiotto | Dallara P217-Gibson |
| LMP2 | 49 - ARC Bratislava | Rik Bruekers Konstantins Calko Miroslav Konopka | Ligier JS P217-Gibson |
| GTE-Am | 50 - Larbre Competition | Romain Brandela Christian Philippon Fernando Rees | Chevrolet Corvette C7.R |
| GTE-Pro | 51 - AF Corse | James Calado Lucas Di Grassi Alessandro Pier Guidi | Ferrari 488 GT3 |
| GTE-Am | 54 - Spirit of Race | Olivier Beretta Francesco Castellacci Thomas Flohr | Ferrari 488 GTE |
| GTE-Am | 55 - Spirit of Race | Duncan Cameron Marco Cioci Aaron Scott | Ferrari 488 GTE |
| GTE-Am | 60 - Clearwater Racing | Hiroki Katoh Àlvaro Parente Richard Wee | Ferrari 488 GTE |
| GTE-Am | 61 - Clearwater Racing | Matt Griffin Weng-Sun Mok Keita Sawa | Ferrari 488 GTE |
| GTE-Am | 62 - Scuderia Corsa | Townsend Bell Cooper MacNeil Bill Sweedler | Ferrari 488 GTE |
| GTE-Pro | 63 - Corvette Racing | Antonio Garcia Jan Magnussen Jordan Taylor | Chevrolet Corvette C7.R |
| GTE-Pro | 64 - Corvette Racing | Marcel Fässler Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner | Chevrolet Corvette C7.R |
| GTE-Am | 65 - Scuderia Corsa | Alessandro Balzan Bret Curtis Christina Nielsen | Ferrari 488 GTE |
| GTE-Pro | 66 - Ford Chip Ganassi Racing UK | Billy Johnson Stefan Mücke Olivier Pla | Ford GT |
| GTE-Pro | 67 - Ford Chip Ganassi Racing | Pipo Derani Andy Priaulx Harry Tincknell | Ford GT |
| GTE-Pro | 68 - Ford Chip Ganassi Racing USA | Joey Hand Tony Kanaan Dirk Müller | Ford GT |
| GTE-Pro | 69 - Ford Chip Ganassi Racing USA | Ryan Briscoe Scott Dixon Richard Westbrook | Ford GT |
| GTE-Pro | 71 - AF Corse | Sam Bird Miguel Molina Davide Rigon | Ferrari 488 GTE |
| GTE-Am | 77 - Dempsey-Proton Racing | Matteo Cairoli Marvin Dienst Christian Ried | Porsche 911 RSR (2015) |
| GTE-Pro | 82 - Risi Competizione | Giancarlo Fisichella Pierre Kaffer Toni Vilander | Ferrari 488 GTE |
| GTE-Am | 83 - DH Racing | Andrea Bertolini Nic Jönsson Tracy Krohn | Ferrari 488 GTE |
| GTE-Am | 84 - JMW Motorsport | Robert Smith Will Stevens Dries Vanthoor | Ferrari 488 GTE |
| GTE-Am | 86 - Gulf Racing | Ben Barker Nick Foster Michael Wainwright | Porsche 911 RSR (2015) |
| GTE-Am | 88 - Proton Competition | Khaled Al-Qubaisi Klaus Bachler Stéphane Lemeret | Porsche 911 RSR (2015) |
| GTE-Am | 90 - TF Sport | Rob Bell Euan Hankey Salih Yoluc | Aston Martin Vantage |
| GTE-Pro | 91 - Porsche GT Team | Richard Lietz Frédéric Makowiecki Patrick Pilet | Porsche 911 RSR |
| GTE-Pro | 92 - Porsche GT Team | Michael Christensen Kevin Estre Dirk Werner | Porsche 911 RSR |
| GTE-Am | 93 - Proton Competition | Abdulaziz Turki Al-Faisal Mike Hedlund Patrick Long | Porsche 911 RSR (2015) |
| GTE-Pro | 95 - Aston Martin Racing | Marco Sørensen Richie Stanaway Nicki Thiim | Aston Martin Vantage |
| GTE-Pro | 97 - Aston Martin Racing | Jonny Adam Daniel Serra Darren Turner | Aston Martin Vantage |
| GTE-Am | 98 - Aston Martin Racing | Paul Dalla Lana Pedro Lamy Mathias Lauda | Aston Martin Vantage |
| GTE-Am | 99 - Beechdean AMR | Oliver Bryant Ross Gunn Andrew Howard | Aston Martin Vantage |
About the author
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
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