Le Mans 24 Hours entry list revealed with Wayne Taylor Racing making its debut

Wayne Taylor Racing will contest the Le Mans 24 Hours for the primary time this yr as a part of a four-car Cadillac assault on the World Endurance Championship’s blue-riband occasion. 

The maiden participation at Le Mans for a staff that has received the Daytona 24 Hours 4 occasions has been confirmed together with a return of the Motion Specific Racing staff with its Cadillac V-Collection.R LMDh for a 3rd consecutive season. 

WTR and Motion Specific, Cadillac’s companions within the IMSA SportsCar Championship in North America, will be part of the 2 full-season WEC entries from the British Jota staff, which has taken over from Chip Ganassi Racing because the Normal Motors model’s consultant within the sequence. 

Affirmation that there can be 4 Caddys on the grid at Le Mans on 14-15 June got here on Monday when race organiser the Vehicle Membership de l’Ouest revealed the complete 62-car entry record for the race. 

The WTR and Motion Specific crews are joined as extra automobiles on high of the common 18 WEC entries by a 3rd Porsche 963 LMDh fielded by the manufacturing unit Penske staff. 

Porsche Penske Motorsport has taken up the automated entry it claimed for successful final yr’s IMSA title, which implies it would have a trio of automobiles on the grid for the third yr in succession. 

The additional entries carry the Hypercar class entry record as much as 21 automobiles at Le Mans. That’s down from final yr’s 23 when there was yet one more full-season WEC entry and 4 extra entries for the 24 Hours.  

WTR has named Ricky and Jordan Taylor, the 2 sons of staff founder Wayne, in its V-Collection.R together with Filipe Albuquerque, who has been on the staff’s books since 2021. 

Motion Specific has listed full season driver Jack Aitken in its entry together with Frederik Vesti and Felipe Drugovich. 

Vesti is contesting the enduros alongside his Components 1 reserve function at Mercedes, whereas Aston Martin F1 reserve Drugovich raced for the squad at Le Mans final yr and Daytona within the January simply gone. 

Earl Bamber, who’s Aitken’s common accomplice in IMSA, can be on responsibility for Jota at Le Mans. 

Nick Tandy and Felipe Nasr will race the extra Penske Porsche Motorsport entry at Le Mans for a 3rd yr in a row. The third driver is but to be confirmed and PPM must herald somebody from exterior of its common eight-strong LMDh roster.  

Pascal Wehrlein, who made his sportscar debut for the client JDC-Miller staff at Daytona, is believed to be one of many main candidates.

#85 JDC Miller MotorSports Porsche 963: Tijmen Van Der Helm, Gianmaria Bruni, Pascal Wehrlein, Bryce Aron

Photograph by: Andreas Beil

The decreased Hypercar entry has resulted in yet one more automotive apiece in LMP2 and LMGT3 in comparison with final yr. 

There at the moment are 17 automobiles, all ORECA-Gibson 07s, within the secondary prototype class, two up on the 15 to which the ACO dedicated when the category disappeared from the complete WEC schedule forward of the 2024 season. 

9 are entered within the Professional-Am sub-class, which calls for a bronze-rated driver moderately than a silver within the line-up.

The LMP2 subject contains 5 invited entries gained for achievement within the European and Asian Le Mans Collection. 

They embody the British RLR M Sport squad, which claimed its grid slot for successful the LMP3 class in final yr’s ELMS and is returning to the 24 Hours for the primary time since 2019.

Included within the subject are two automobiles every from United Autosports and Inter Europol, winners at school at Le Mans in 2024 and 2023 respectively. 

Algarve Professional Racing has named the 2023 F2 champion and Peugeot Hypercar reserve Theo Pourchaire in one in every of its pair of ORECAs as a part of a full programme encompassing the ELMS.

Theo Pourchaire, Peugeot Sport

Photograph by: Peugeot Sport

The entry additionally contains the IDEC Sport ORECA fielded along with Hyundai Motorsport, as a part of its so-called trajectory programme forward of the beginning of sister marque Genesis’s LMDh venture in 2026. 

Jamie Chadwick is the one identify within the automotive up to now after ex-F1 driver Logan Sargeant dropped out of the programme.

There are three automobiles with auto invitations in LMGT3, together with the Sky Tempesta Ferrari 296 GT3 that claimed its entry for successful the GT World Problem Europe Bronze Cup. 

Its AF Corse-run automotive is now entered underneath the Ziggo Sport Tempesta banner. 

The ACO has additionally revealed a six-car reserve record together with a Porsche 963 from Proton Competition and second entries from the British Vector Sport and JMW Motorsport groups competing in LMP2 and LMGT3 respectively.