Matching the GTE Pro class, LM GTE Am sees 17 cars take to the grid. This class is the only class to see at least one entry come from every feeder series, as well as one 24 Hours of Le Mans-only entry.
The Keating Motorsport Ford takes the title as the Le Mans-only entry; the one car on the entire grid that has not come from a different series. This car will also act as a good test for Ford to see how they perform as a customer team for next season.
WeatherTech Racing come in as the only IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. After topping the class timing board during the Le Mans test, the trio of Cooper MacNeil, Robert Smith and Toni Vilander will be feeling good ahead of the 24-hour event.
They led the charge for the Ferrari-running teams, who looked to have the advantage on all the other manufacturers. Locking out the top six positions in class, Ferrari had a dominant showing at the Test Day. With very little shift to the Balance of Performance ahead of the blue-riband event, Ferrari teams will be feeling confident about their prospects next weekend.
Having won their class in the Asian Le Mans Series, the #57 Car Guy Racing earned themselves automatic entry to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and are the only ALMS representatives in this class. Alike the sole IMSA entry, they too are running a Ferrari 488 GTE for the 87th rendition of the event. Kei Cozzolino, Takeshi Kimura and Come Ledogar will share responsibility of the wheel.
Kessel Racing bring across two Ferrari’s from the European Le Mans Series, whilst other fan favourites of Proton Competition and JMW Motorsport also come from the European championship. The last of the six Am Ferraris races under the full season FIA World Endurance Championship banner MR Racing. Olivier Beretta, Eddie Cheever III and Motoaki Ishikawa will round off their Super Season together with the Super Finale at Le Mans. The trio sit tenth in the WEC Am championship standings, but although the title is out of reach for them there is still a battle at the top of the points board.
Team Project 1 lead the way in LM GTE Am, as they have since the 2018 6 Hours of Fuji where they took their maiden class victory. The Dempsey-Proton Racing WEC duo of cars had been running off into the distance with the championship, but after an investigation brought to light a data logger was transmitting false data the team was stripped of all points for their cars up to that moment in the championship. This meant that the teams lost all the points from their victory scored at last year’s Le Mans.
They will need a lot to go their way, but there is a very slim chance that Matt Campbell and Christian Ried in the #77 could still take the Am championship. If they did, it would be the comeback story of the season. They certainly are deserving of the title, having consistently ended on the podium and taken more victories than any other team in the class, currently sitting on a hat-trick of wins over the last three races.
Dempsey-Proton will once again field three cars in this class (two WEC cars and one ELMS car – the #99).
The Spirit of Race #54 sits just 23 points behind current leaders Jorg Bergmeister, Patrick Lindsey and Egidio Perfetti with the strongest chance of taking the battle to the Porsche-running #56. A Porsche-Ferrari fight between the pair for the championship would be a great story to bring to the 87th Le Mans and something that would definitely have us on the edge of our seats.
Last year’s class champions, Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda sit 36 points behind the Team Project 1 trio. Like the #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche (sitting 30 points behind the class leaders), the #98 Aston Martin Racing car would need a lot to go their way to take the Am crown from the German outfit, but it is still mathematically possible.
With five teams in with a chance of taking the class podium, and 17 cars ready to battle it out wheel-to-wheel for class honours, Am will definitely be one of the classes to keep an eye on the live points positions of all of the cars, as the championship positions could swing and change drastically throughout the 24 hours of racing.
Car Number | Team | Driver 1 | Driver 2 | Driver 3 |
54 | Spirit of Race | Francesco Castellacci | Giancarlo Fisichella | Thomas Flohr |
56 | Team Project 1 | Jorg Bergmeister | Patrick Lindsey | Egidio Perfetti |
57 | Car Guy Racing | Kei Cozzolino | Takeshi Kimura | Come Ledogar |
60 | Kessel Racing | Claudio Schiavoni | Sergio Pianezzola | Andrea Piccini |
61 | Clearwater Racing | Luis Perez Compac | Matteo Cressoni | Matt Griffin |
62 | WeatherTech Racing | Cooper MacNeil | Robert Smith | Toni Vilander |
70 | MR Racing | Olivier Beretta | Eddie Cheever III | Motoaki Ishikawa |
77 | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Julien Andlauer | Matt Campbell | Christian Ried |
78 | Proton Competition | Vincent Abrill | Louis Prette | Philippe Prette |
83 | Kessel Racing | Rahel Frey | Michelle Gatting | Manuela Gostner |
84 | JMW Motorsport | Rodrigo Baptista | Wei Lu | Jeff Segal |
85 | Keating Motorsports | Jeroen Bleekemolen | Felipe Fraga | Ben Keating |
86 | Gulf Racing | Ben Barker | Thomas Preining | Michael Wainwright |
88 | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Matteo Cairoli | Satoshi Hoshino | Gianluca Roda |
90 | TF Sport | Charlie Eastwood | Euan Hankey | Salih Yoluc |
98 | Aston Martin Racing | Paul Dalla Lana | Pedro Lamy | Mathias Lauda |
99 | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Niclas Jonsson | Tracy Krohn | Patrick Long |