Sebastien Loeb Racing will give FIA GT Series champion Laurens Vanthoor his Le Mans debut this year at the hands of their ORECA 03-Nissan.
Vanthoor, 22, will share the #24 ORECA with René Rast, a fellow WRT Audi driver, for the twice around the clock endurance classic at the Circuit de la Sarthe.
“Since I have been a GT driver, I have taken part in several endurance races, like Spa and Nurburgring, but Le Mans is even bigger,” said Vanthoor. “Participating in this race has been one of my objectives. I have been working for it for several years and I am happy to now achieve it.
“I know René well. We are colleagues; we’ve driven together on several occasions, including the 24 Hours of Spa this year and the 12 Hours of Bathurst. It was fun to see that we had the same idea of Le Mans. We are good friends, we know what the other wants, and we have gained experience together. These are important things. It’s positive to be part of this project.”
“Laurens’s performances have not gone unnoticed these last couple of years and we clearly observed them last year when fighting against him in the FIA GT Series,“ said Dominique Heintz, team manager of Sebastien Loeb Racing.
“He is young, talented and ambitious and just like René, he embodies the team’s values. They know each other quite well, they both have an experience of 24 hour races, and they have been team-mates before. Those were important factors for us.”
The team have yet to announce a silver rated driver for the 24 Hours, as required by the ACO.
