41 entered in the European Le Mans Series

In a few words, Pierre Fillon perfectly sums up the forces involved in the upcoming exercise. “ The European Le Mans Series continues to strengthen its position as the leading championship in theEndurance in Europe and we are very happy to see that 41 cars will be lined up in 2018, underlines the president of the ACO. The LMP3 category is still growing, the LMP2 category has never been better and quality teams and drivers are still attracted to the LMGTE category. With six of the most beautiful circuits in Europe on the 2018 calendar and some of the best drivers and teams in the world competing, theELMS once again promises to be action-packed. »

LM P2: Two favorites emerge

Seventeen LM P2s entered for the year at the ELMS, this is the major information from this entry list. A premier category which offers great diversity, since we will find four Dallara P217s, six Ligier JS P217s and seven Oreca 07s. No major new features to announce compared to our provisional list published this week (see Ah n°2151). SMP Racing, winner at Paul-Ricard, entered a Dallara P217, while IDEC Sport, as expected, has doubled its numbers and will field two Ligier JS P217s, just like United Autosports and G-Drive Racing, the title holder. Brooded by TDS Racing, the No. 07 Oreca 26 will see Jean-Eric Vergne, Matthieu Vaxivière and Roman Rusinov take turns. The other 07 defending the interests of the Russian entity, which bears the number 40, will be operated by Graff Racing.

As for the new arrivals, let us also note the presence of Racing Engineering with Norman Nato at the wheel in particular, in accordance with what we revealed to you last week (see Ah n°2151). Duqueine Engineering arrives with an Oreca 07 while AVF by Adrian Valles opted for a Dallara. In accordance with what is indicated in our provisional entry list, the good news comes from the registration of an 07 by the APR – Rebellion team for a trio associating Harrison Newey with Thomas Laurent with a driver to be designated. A car which will in fact be operated by Algarve Pro Racing. The Swiss team wishes to create a young sector in addition to its efforts deployed in the FIA ​​World Endurance Championship (WEC).

Two big favorites stand out, namely the Oreca 07 from APR – Rebellion and G-Drive Racing (#26). The latter took advantage of a very curious new article having appeared in the regulations. Indeed, since last winter, it has been possible to obtain an exemption regarding the classification of pilots. Thus, the Russian Oreca will see two Gold pilots (Roman Rusinov and Matthieu Vaxivière) and a Platinum pilot (Jean-Eric Vergne) take turns. Good luck to those who want to follow her.

LM P3: DKR Engineering in 1^re division

In LM P3, there are 18 entries, namely fifteen Ligier JS P3s and three Norma M30s. Outgoing champion, United Autosports fields two Ligier JS P3s, allowing the Sean Rayhall-John Falb pair to defend their title. As expected, DKR Engineering moves up to the ELMS as winner of the Michelin Le Cup, just like its runner-up Ecurie Scotland / Nielsen. The only new team comes from Great Britain: BHK Motorsport. She therefore joins Cool Racing, Nefis by Speed ​​Factory, 360 Racing, AT Racing, Oregon Team, Eurointernational, Inter Europol Competition, RLR MSport, Ultimate and M.Racing-YMR, who are leaving for a new campaign.

LM GTE: Duel Ferrari vs Porsche

Finally, six cars are expected in GTE, with Ferrari and Porsche both having three cars. Titled last year, JMW Motorsport is still there, as are Spirit of Race and Proton Competition. Crowned in the Michelin Le Mans Cup, Ebimotors is promoted and has therefore swapped its Lamborghini Huracan GT3 for a Porsche 911 RSR with Fabio Babini as first driver.

The Official Tests of the 2018 ELMS season will take place in Le Castellet on April 9 and 10 at the Paul Ricard circuit in France and will be followed by the first round of the season, the 4 Hours of Le Castellet on April 15.

List of entrants for the 2018 ELMS season

LMP2

21. Dragonspeed – Oreca 07-Gibson – Hedman-Hanley-Stone
22. United Autosports – Ligier JS P217-Gibson – Hanson-Albuquerque
23. Panis Barthez Competition – Ligier JS P217-Gibson – Buret
24. Racing Engineering – Oreca 07-Gibson – Nato
25. Algarve Pro Racing – Ligier JS P217-Gibson – Patterson-De Jong
26. G-Drive Racing – Oreca 07-Gibson – Rusinov-Vaxivière-Vergne
27. IDEC Sport – Ligier JS P217-Gibson – Patrice Lafargue
28. IDEC Sport – Ligier JS P217-Gibson – Paul Lafargue-Chatin
29. Duqueine Engineering – Oreca 07-Gibson – Klein
30. AVF by Adrian Valles – Dallara P217-Gibson – Tereschenko-Chaves
31. APR-Rebellion Racing – Oreca 07-Gibson – Newey-Laurent
32. United Autosports – Ligier JS P217-Gibson – Owen – De Sadeleer
35. SMP Racing – Dallara P217-Gibson – Shaitar
39. Graff – Oreca 07-Gibson – Cougnaud-Hirschi-Gommendy
40. G-Drive Racing – Oreca 07-Gibson – Allen-Guibbert-Gutierrez
47. Cetilar Villorba Corse – Dallara P217-Gibson – Lacorte-Sernagiotto-Belicchi
49. High Class Racing – Dallara P217-Gibson – Andersen-Fjordbach

LMP3

2. United Autosports – Ligier JS P3-Nissan – Falb-Rayhall
3. United Autosports – Ligier JS P3-Nissan – Wells-Bell
4. Cool Racing – Ligier JS P3-Nissan – Coigny-Alexander-Borga
5. Nefis by Speed ​​Factory – Ligier JS P3-Nissan – Boguslavskiy-Chuklin-Pronenko
6. 360 Racing – Ligier JS P3-Nissan – Woodward-Kaiser-Swift
7. Ecurie Scotland / Nielsen – Ligier JS P3-Nissan – Noble-Kapadia-Olsen
8. DKR Engineering – Norma M 30-Nissan – Toril-Glorieux
9. AT Racing – Ligier JS P3-Nissan – Talkanitsa-Talkanitsa Jr
10. Oregon Team – Norma M 30-Nissan – Mendez
11. Eurointernational – Ligier JS P3-Nissan – Capo-Van Berlo
12. Eurointernational – Ligier JS P3-Nissan – Dromedari-Hanratty
13. Inter Europol Competition – Ligier JS P3-Nissan – Smiechowski-Hippe
14. Inter Europol Competition – Ligier JS P3-Nissan – Scheuschner-Still
15. RLR MSport – Ligier JS P3-Nissan – Farano-Van Uitert-Garofall
16. BHK Motorsport – Ligier JS P3-Nissan – Dracone-Baratto
17. Ultimate – Ligier JS P3-Nissan – Lahaye-Heriau-Lahaye
18. M. Racing – YMR – Ligier JS P3-Nissan – Millara-Bihel
19. M. Racing – YMR – Ligier JS P3-Nissan – Ferrer

GTE

55. Spirit of Race – Ferrari F488 GTE – Cameron-Griffin-Scott
66. JMW Motorsport – Ferrari F488 GTE – Griffin
77. Proton Competition – Porsche 911 RSR – Cairoli
80. Ebimotors – Porsche 911 RSR – Babini
83. Krohn Racing – Ferrari F488 GTE – Krohn-Jönsson-Bertolini
88. Proton Competition – Porsche 911 RSR – Campbell