FIA WEC

28 cars announced for 2017 World Endurance Championship

4 Mins read
Credit: ALEXIS GOURE (ACO) - AUTOMOBILE CLUB DE L'OUEST

The full-time entry list for the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship has been released, with twenty-eight cars announced, down from the thirty-two that competed in 2016.

The LMP1 class has just five full-time entrants following the withdrawal at the end of last season of the Audi squad, with both the Porsche LMP Team and Toyota Gazoo Racing running two cars, while the only non-Hybrid entry comes from the ByKolles Racing Team following Rebellion Racing’s decision to move to LMP2.

There are ten entrants announced for the LMP2 class, including the two from Rebellion, with CEFC Manor TRS Racing, Signatech Alpine Matmut and Jackie Chan DC Racing all also running with two cars, while G-Drive Racing and TDS Racing both have a solitary entry, although they will run from the same stable.

The most notable absentees from LMP2 come in the form of Strakka Racing, who have switched to the Blancpain GT Series, SMP Racing, Extreme Speed Motorsport and RGR Sport by Morand, who all ran full-time in 2016 but are not on the entry list for this season.

The GTE Pro class will have eight full time entries, led by defending champions Aston Martin Racing, who will run two cars, while there are also twin entries from Ford Chip Ganassi Racing UK, AF Corse and the Porsche GT Team, who will bring their new-for-2017 mid-engined 911 RSR into the championship for the first time, a car that recently debuted in the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Just the five cars form the full-time GTE Am class, with a Ferrari each for the Spirit of Race and Clearwater Racing squads, while Dempsey-Proton Racing and Gulf Racing both return with Porsche backing. The final entry in the class comes from Aston Martin Racing.

“We approach our sixth WEC season in a very good position, with a solid base of manufacturer and stakeholder support, world-class partners and teams, and the best sportscar drivers in the world,” said Gerard Neveu, the CEO of the World Endurance Championship.

“The stability of our calendar offers relevance to the manufacturers in terms of their key markets outside Europe, such as North and Central America, China, Japan and the Middle East.  It also allows us to continue growing our fan base around the world, as witnessed already by the number of fans who have already purchased tickets in advance of the season.

“Motorsport enthusiasts know there will be entertainment for the whole family, great access to the cars and drivers and that, no matter where in the world they are, they will witness non-stop drama and competition on track.”

2017 24 hours of Le Mans Entry List

LMP1 (6 Entries)
1 – Porsche Team – Porsche 919 Hybrid – Neel Jani*
2 – Porsche Team – Porsche 919 Hybrid – Timo Bernhard*
4 – Team ByKolles – ENSO CLM P1/01 NISMO – Robert Kubica*
7 – Toyota Gazoo Racing – Toyota TS050 Hybrid – Mike Conway*
8 – Toyota Gazoo Racing – Toyota TS050 Hybrid – Sebastien Buemi*
9 – Toyota Gazoo Racing – Toyota TS050 Hybrid – Stephane Sarrazin

LMP2 (25 Entries)
13 – Vaillante Rebellion – Oreca 07  – Nelson Piquet Jr.*
24 – CEFC Manor TRS Racing – Oreca 07 – Tor Graves*
25 – CEFC Manor TRS Racing – Oreca 07 – Roberto Gonzalez*
26 – G-Drive Racing – Oreca 07 – Roman Rusinov*
28 – TDS Racing – Oreca 07 – Francois Perrodo*
31 – Vaillante Rebellion – Oreca 07 – Nicolas Prost*
35 – Signatech Alpine Matmut – Alpine A470 – Stephane Richelmi*
36 – Signatech Alpine Matmut – Alpine A470 – Nicolas Lapierre*
37 – Jackie Chan DC Racing – Oreca 07 – David Cheng*
38 – Jackie Chan DC Racing – Oreca 07 – Ho-Pin Tung*
17 – IDEC Sport Racing – Ligier JS P217 – Patrice Lafargue
21 – DragonSpeed 10 Star – Oreca 07 – Henrik Hedman
22 – G-Drive Racing – Oreca 07 – Memo Rojas
23 – Panis Barthez Competition – Ligier JS P217 – Fabien Barthez
27 – SMP Racing – Dallara P217 – Mikhail Aleshin
29 – Racing Team Nederland – Dallara P217 – Jan Lammers
32 – United Autosports – Ligier JS P217 – Will Owen
33 – Eurasia Motorsport – Ligier JS P217 – Chris Hoy
34 – Tockwith Motorsport – Ligier JS P217 – Nigel Moore
39 – Graff Racing – Oreca 07 – James Allen
40 – Graff Racing – Oreca 07 – Enzo Guibbert
43 – Keating Motorsports – Riley Mk. 30 – Ben Keating
45 – Algarve Pro Racing – Ligier JS P217 – Mark Patterson
47 – Cetilar Villobra Corse – Dallara P217 – Roberto Lacorte
49 – ARC Bratislava – Oreca 07 – Miro Konopka

GTE-Pro (13 Entries)

51 – AF Corse – Ferrari 488 GTE – James Calado*
63 – Corvette Racing – GM – Corvette C7.R – Jan Magnussen
64 – Corvette Racing – GM – Corvette C7.R – Oliver Gavin
66 – Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Team UK – Ford GT – Stefan Muecke*
67 – Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Team UK – Ford GT – Andy Priaulx*
68 – Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Team USA – Ford GT – Joey Hand
69 – Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Team USA – Ford GT – Ryan Briscoe
71 – AF Corse – Ferrari 488 GTE – Davide Rigon*
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 – Nicki Thiim*
97 – Aston Martin Racing – Aston Martin Vantage – Darren Turner*

GTE-Am (16 Entries)
54 – Spirit of Race -Ferrari 488 GTE – Thomas Flohr*
61 – Clearwater Racing -Ferrari 488 GTE – Weng Sun Mok*
77 – Dempsey Proton Racing -Porsche 911 RSR – Christian Ried*
86 – Gulf Racing UK -Porsche 911 RSR – Michael Wainwright*
98 – Aston Martin Racing -Aston Martin Vantage GTE – Paul Dalla Lana*
50 – Larbre Competition – Corvette C7.R – Ricky Taylor
55 – Spirit of Race – Ferrari 488 GTE – Duncan Cameron
60 – Clearwater Racing – Ferrari 488 GTE – Matt Griffin
62 – Scuderia Corsa – Ferrari 488 GTE – Cooper MacNeil
65 – Scuderia Corsa – Ferrari 488 GTE – Christina Nielsen
83 – DH Racing – Ferrari 488 GTE – Riccardo Ragazzi
84 – JMW Motorsport – Ferrari 458 GTE – Robert Smth
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
99 – Beechdean AMR – Aston Martin Vantage GTE -Andrew Howard

*Denotes full-season FIA World Endurance Championship entrant

Reserve Cars 
46 – RLR M Sport – Ligier JS P217 – John Farano (LMP2)
94 – Mentos-Proton Racing – Porsche 911 RSR – Egidio Perfetti (GTE-Am)

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