The Automobile Club de l’Ouest has released another update to the entry list for the 88th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Two more entries are withdrawing from the race, including Thunderhead Carlin’s LMP2 entry.
The British team’s #45 Dallara JS P217-Gibson and the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo are both no longer on the entry list. In their place, Iron Lynx have entered a third Ferrari 488 GTE Evo for Rino Mastronardi, Matteo Cressoni and Andrea Piccini. Piccini moves over from the team’s #60 car.
Elsewhere on the grid, all but one of the 59 entered cars have had their driver line-ups confirmed. In LMP1, Michael Simpson is joined on board Team LNT’s lone Ginetta G60-LT-P1 – AER by the reunited pairing of Guy Smith and Chris Dyson.
In LMP2, French racer Charles Milesi has replaced Alexandre Cougnaud in Graff’s LMP2 line-up, while Timothe Buret is set to replace Ryan Cullen aboard the #21 Dragonspeed ORECA 07-Gibson. Nielsen Racing have also confirmed their full line-up the team’s LMP3 regulars Garret Grist, Alex Kapadia and Anthony Wells are set to pilot the #24 ORECA.
GTE Am has meanwhile seen a significant number of drivers confirmed. One of the most notable is the appearance of Le Mans veteran Jan Magnussen aboard JMW Motorsport’s #66 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo. Magnussen joins Richard Heistand and Max Root after his bid to enter with High Class Racing fell through.
8 Hours of Bahrain winner Larry ten Voorde partners season regulars Egidio Perfetti and Matteo Cairoli aboard the #56 Team Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR. The German squad has also confirmed the driving crew for its third car, as ‘Steve Brooks’, Benoit Fretin and Bruno Fretin have been confirmed for the #89 Porsche 911 RSR.
Fellow Porsche squad Proton Competition has also confirmed the vast majority of its line-up, with one spot left to fill. Horst Felbermayr Jr. looks set for his first Le Mans start in nearly a decade as he partners Michele Beretta aboard the #78 Porsche 911 RSR.
The German team’s #88 car, run under the Dempsey-Proton banner, sees Porsche junior Thomas Preining and Adrien de Leener return to the car to partner American racer Dominique Bastien, who at 74 years of age looks set to take the record for oldest starter in Le Mans history. Finally, the team’s #99 car sees Lucas Legeret return to the team after his Spa debut, partnering Hugo de Sadeleer and Vutthikorn Inthraphuvasak, who narrowly missed out on his WEC debut in Spa as a result of travel issues.
Finally, Super GT racer Yuhi Sekiguchi has been confirmed as the third driver aboard the Car Guy Racing/MR Racing Ferrari. Sekiguchi partners Takeshi Kimura and Kei Cozzolino to form an all-Japanese line-up.
Paolo Ruberti, who competed in last year’s race with ByKolles LMP1 outfit, takes the place of Andrea Piccini aboard the #60 Iron Lynx Ferrari, partnering Claudio Schiavoni and Sergio Pianezzola.
