With the shock departure of rivals Audi from the series leaving Porsche as the sole factory supported marque in the LMP1 class, the Japanese brand has entered a third TS050 Hybrid for former World Touring Car champion Jose Maria Lopez, GP2 and Indycar star Mike Conway, and former Sauber Formula 1 pilot Kamui Kobayashi.
The two remaining TS050's will once again be driven by Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Anthony Davidson, with former WRC and F1 driver Stéphane Sarrazin so far the only confirmed entry for the team's third car.
Brought back to life in 2011 as a replacement for the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, the nine-round 2017 season will commence on April 16th at Silverstone followed by Spa (6 May), Le Mans (17-18 June), the Nurburgring (16 July), Autodromo Hermanos Rodriquez in Mexico (3 September), Circuit of the Americas (16 September), Fuji (15 October), Shanghai (5 November) and Bahrain (18 November).
Le Mans 24 hours
Meanwhile, Le Mans organisers, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), have released the preliminary entry list for the 85th running of the French classic, with a number of drivers still to be announced.
|
LMP 1 |
|||
| No |
Team |
Car |
Drivers |
|
1 |
Porsche Team |
Porsche 919 Hybrid |
Neel Jani |
|
2 |
Porsche Team |
Porsche 919 Hybrid |
Brendon Hartley |
|
4 |
ByKolles Racing Team |
ENSO CLM P1/01-Nismo |
Robert Kubica |
|
7 |
Toyota Gazoo Racing |
Toyota TS050 Hybrid |
Mike Conway |
|
8 |
Toyota Gazoo Racing |
Toyota TS050 Hybrid |
Anthony Davidsson |
|
9 |
Toyota Gazoo Racing |
Toyota TS050 Hybrid |
Stephane Sarrazin |
|
LMP2 |
|||
|
13 |
Vaillante Rebellion |
Oreca 07-Gibson |
Nelson Piquet |
|
17 |
IDEC Sport Racing |
Ligier JS P217-Gibson |
Patrice Lafargue |
|
21 |
Dragonspeed |
Oreca 07-Gibson |
Henrik Hedman |
|
22 |
G-Drive Racing |
Oreca 07-Gibson |
Memo Rojas |
|
23 |
Panis Barthez Competition |
Ligier JS P17-Gibson |
Fabien Barthez |
|
24 |
CEFC Manor TRS Racing |
Oreca 07-Gibson |
Tor Graves |
|
25 |
CEFC Manor TRS Racing |
Oreca 07-Gibson |
Roberto Gonzalez |
|
26 |
G-Drive Racing |
Oreca 07-Gibson |
Roman Rusinov |
|
27 |
SMP Racing |
Dallara P217-Gibson |
Mikhail Aleshin |
|
28 |
TDS Racing |
Oreca 07-Gibson |
Emmanuel Collard |
|
29 |
Racing Team Nederland |
Dallara P217-Gibson |
Rubens Barrichello |
|
31 |
Vaillante Rebellion |
Oreca 07-Gibson |
Nicolas Prost |
|
32 |
United Autosports |
Ligier JS P217-Gibson |
Will Owen |
|
33 |
Eurasia Motorsport |
Ligier JS P217-Gibson |
Chris Hoy |
|
34 |
Tockwith Motorsports |
Ligier JS P217-Gibson |
Nigel Moore
|
|
35 |
Signatech Alpine |
Alpine A470-Gibson |
Stephane Richelmi |
|
36 |
Signatech Alpine |
Alpine A470-Gibson |
Nicolas Lapierre |
|
37 |
Jackie Chan DC Racing |
Oreca 07-Gibson |
David Cheng |
|
38 |
Jackie Chan DC Racing |
Oreca 07-Gibson |
Ho-Pin Tung |
|
39 |
Graff |
Oreca 07-Gibson |
James Allen |
|
40 |
Graff |
Oreca 07-Gibson |
Enzo Guibbert |
|
43 |
Keating Motorsports |
Riley Mk.30-Gibson |
Ben Keating |
|
45 |
Algarve Pro Racing |
Ligier JS P217-Gibson |
Mark Patterson |
|
47 |
Cetilar Villorba Corse |
Dallara P217-Gibson |
Roberto Lacorte |
|
49 |
ARC Bratislava |
Oreca 07-Gibson |
Miroslav Konopka |
|
LMGTE-Pro |
|||
|
51 |
AF Corse |
Ferrari 488 GTE |
James Calado |
|
63 |
Corvette Racing |
Chevrolet Corvette C7-R |
Jan Magnussen |
|
64 |
Corvette Racing |
Chevrolet Corvette C7-R |
Oliver Gavin |
|
66 |
Ford Chip Ganassi Racing |
Ford GT |
Stefan Mucke |
|
67 |
Ford Chip Ganassi Racing |
Ford GT |
Andy Priaulx |
|
68 |
Ford Chip Ganassi Racing |
Ford GT |
Joey Hand |
|
69 |
Ford Chip Ganassi Racing |
Ford GT |
Ryan Briscoe |
|
71 |
AF Corse |
Ferrari 488 GTE |
Sam Bird |
|
82 |
Risi Competizione |
Ferrari 488 GTE |
Toni Vilander |
|
91 |
Porsche GT Team |
Porsche 911 RSR |
Richard Lietz |
|
92 |
Porsche GT Team |
Porsche 911 RSR |
Michael Christensen |
|
95 |
Aston Martin Racing |
Aston Martin Vantage GTE |
Nicki Thiim |
|
97 |
Aston Martin Racing |
Aston Martin Vantage GTE |
Darren Turner |
|
LMGT-Am |
|||
|
50 |
Larbre Compétition |
Chevrolet Corvette C7-R |
Ricky Taylor |
|
54 |
Spirit of Race |
Ferrari 488 GTE |
Thomas Flohr |
|
55 |
Spirit of Race |
Ferrari 488 GTE |
Duncan Cameron |
|
60 |
Clearwater Racing |
Ferrari 488 GTE |
Matt Griffin |
|
61 |
Clearwater Racing |
Ferrari 488 GTE |
Weng Sun Mok |
|
62 |
Scuderia Corse |
Ferrari 488 GTE |
Cooper MacNeil |
|
65 |
Scuderia Corse |
Ferrari 488 GTE |
Christina Nielsen |
|
77 |
Dempsey-Proton Racing |
Porsche 911 RSR |
Christian Ried |
|
83 |
DH Racing |
Ferrari 488 GTE |
Riccardo Ragazzi |
|
84 |
JMW Motorsport |
Ferrari 488 GTE |
Robert Smith |
|
86 |
Gulf Racing |
Porsche 911 RSR |
Mike Wainwright |
|
88 |
Proton Competition |
Porsche 911 RSR |
Wolf Henzler |
|
90 |
TF Sport |
Aston Martin Vantage GTE |
Salih Yoluc |
|
93 |
Proton Competition |
Porsche 911 RSR |
Patrick Long |
|
98 |
Aston Martin Racing |
Aston Martin Vantage GTE |
Paul Dalla Lana |
|
99 |
Aston Martin Racing |
Aston Martin Vantage GTE |
Andrew Howard |
