This preview will focus on the two prototype classes of LMP1 and LMP2. Porsche has won the last two years at Le Mans and the German manufacture will look to increase its all-time record in Le Mans victories to 19. This will be the Le Mans debut for the new global LMP2 formula, which sees four chassis manufactures all fitted with 4.2 L V8 Gibson Technology engines. This preview goes entry by entry and gives you each driver with their Le Mans appearances, including this year in parentheses, followed by that entry's result on the Le Mans Test Day and a little additional information on each entry.
LMP1
#1 Porsche Team Porsche 919 Hybrid
Drivers: Neel Jani (9th), Nick Tandy (5th), André Lotterer (9th)
Test Day Result: 5th
About This Team: Jani, Tandy and Lotterer each won overall at Le Mans the last three years. This is the only line-up in LMP1 with three former overall Le Mans winners. Last year, Jani joined Marcel Fässler as the second Swiss driver to win Le Mans overall. Tandy drove in GTE-Pro last year for Porsche. Last year was just the third time in eight Le Mans appearances Lotterer did not finish on the overall podium. Lotterer has never failed to finish on the podium in consecutive years.
#2 Porsche Team Porsche 919 Hybrid
Drivers: Brendon Hartley (6th), Timo Bernhard (11th), Earl Bamber (3rd)
Test Day Result: 4th
About This Team: This is the fourth consecutive year Hartley and Bernhard have been teammate at Le Mans and they have never been the top qualifying Porsche at Le Mans in their three previous appearances. Bamber has finished on the podium in three consecutive starts in an LMP1 car. Hartley and Bamber could be the first pair of New Zealanders to win overall at Le Mans since Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon in 1966.
Drivers: Oliver Webb (4th), Dominik Kraihamer (7th), Marco Bonanomi (4th)
Test Day Result: 6th
About This Team: ByKolles has had a few different driver line-ups as Robert Kubica and James Rossiter both withdrew from the car prior to Le Mans. Webb is the only returning driver for ByKolles from last year while Kraihamer makes his fifth consecutive appearance in LMP1 as he moves over from Rebellion Racing. Bonanomi returns to Le Mans for the first time since 2015.
#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota TS050 Hybrid
Drivers: Mike Conway (4th), Kamui Kobayashi (3rd), Stéphane Sarrazin (16th)
Test Day Result: 1st
About This Team: This line-up finished second overall last year. Sarrazin switched over to the #7 Toyota from the #9 Toyota in place of José María López after he was injured at Silverstone and was forced to miss Spa-Francorchamps. Sarrazin has finished second overall on four occasions. This is the third-time Conway and Sarrazin have been co-drivers at Le Mans.
#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota TS050 Hybrid
Drivers: Sébastien Buemi (6th), Anthony Davidson (10th), Kazuki Nakajima (6th)
Test Day Result: 2nd
About This Team: This team remains unchanged from last year's catastrophic failure on the final lap while leading. They have won the first two rounds of the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship season. Buemi also currently leads the Formula E championship.
#9 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota TS050 Hybrid
Drivers: José María López (1st), Yuji Kunimoto (1st), Nicolas Lapierre (10th)
Test Day Result: 3rd
About This Team: Toyota's third entry features two drivers making their Le Mans debut. Two years ago, Nico Hülkenberg and Earl Bamber both won on their Le Mans debut as co-drivers. If Toyota wins, regardless of entry, it will be the third time a Japanese driver has won Le Mans overall. José Frolián González is the only Argentine driver to win Le Mans overall. He did it in 1954 with Maurice Trintignant in a Ferrari 375 Plus. Lapierre has won the last two years at Le Mans in LMP2.
LMP2
#13 Vaillante Rebellion Oreca 07-Gibson
Drivers: Nelson Piquet, Jr. (3rd), Mathias Beche (5th), David Heinemeier Hansson (6th)
Test Day Result: 6th
About This Team: Heinemeier Hansson won in GTE-Am in 2014 with Aston Martin. He finished second in LMP2 at Le Mans in 2013. Prost technically has a Le Mans class victory as he was apart of the Rebellion Racing entry that took top honors in LMP1-L in 2014, a class that had only two participants. Piquet, Jr. made his Le Mans return last year a decade after he made his debut.
#17 IDEC Sport Racing Ligier JSP217-Gibson
Drivers: Patrice Lafargue (2nd), Paul Lafargue (1st), David Zollinger (2nd)
Test Day Result: 21st
About This Team: Patrice Lafargue makes his first Le Mans appearance since 2011 while Zollinger returns for the first time since 2010. Paul and Patrice Lafargue raced at Circuit de la Sarthe last year in the Michelin Le Mans Cup race last year.
#21 Dragonspeed - 10 Star Oreca 07-Gibson
Drivers: Henrik Hedman (1st), Ben Hanley (1st), Felix Rosenqvist (1st)
Test Day Result: 12th
About This Team: This is the only prototype on the grid featuring three rookies. Hedman and Hanley are contesting the European Le Mans Series full-time but their regular third driver, Nicolas Lapierre, is busy with Toyota LMP1 duty. Rosenqvist has split his time this year between Formula E and Super Formula and the Swede picked up his first Formula E victory last week in Berlin.
#22 G-Drive Racing Oreca 07-Gibson
Drivers: Memo Rojas (2nd), Ryō Hirakawa (2nd), Jose Gutiérrez (1st)
Test Day Result: 13th
Drivers: Memo Rojas (2nd), Ryō Hirakawa (2nd), Jose Gutiérrez (1st)
Test Day Result: 13th
About This Team: Rojas and Hirakawa won at Monza in ELMS and they lead the ELMS LMP2 championship. Gutiérrez has transitioned to sports cars the last two years after running in the Pro Mazda series. Gutiérrez won Petit Le Mans in the Prototype Challenge class last year with Tom Kimber-Smith and Robert Alon with PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports. This car is run in partnership with Dragonspeed.
#23 Panis Barthez Competition Ligier JSP217-Gibson
Drivers: Fabien Barthez (3rd), Timothé Buret (2nd), Nathanaël Berthon (4th)
Test Day Result: 17th
Drivers: Fabien Barthez (3rd), Timothé Buret (2nd), Nathanaël Berthon (4th)
Test Day Result: 17th
About This Team: Barthez and Buret team up for the second consecutive year in an LMP2 entry. In 13 ELMS starts, Barthez has finished seventh-place in class six times. Berthon finished fifth and sixth in LMP2 the last two years at Le Mans.
#24 CEFC Manor TRS Racing Oreca 07-Gibson
Drivers: Tor Graves (4th), Jonathan Hirschi (5th), Jean-Éric Vergne (1st)
Test Day Result: 2nd
Drivers: Tor Graves (4th), Jonathan Hirschi (5th), Jean-Éric Vergne (1st)
Test Day Result: 2nd
About This Team: Graves has failed to finish Le Mans in his last two attempts. Hirschi has not competed at Le Mans since 2013. Vergne is in his first year of sports cars and he has spent the last three years in Formula E, where he has finished second on four occasions and is still looking for his first victory. Vergne's most recent victory was in Formula Renault 3.5 at Circuit Paul Ricard on September 17, 2011.
#25 CEFC Manor TRS Racing Oreca 07-Gibson
Drivers: Roberto González (1st), Simon Trummer (3rd), Vitaly Petrov (3rd)
Test Day Result: 11th
Drivers: Roberto González (1st), Simon Trummer (3rd), Vitaly Petrov (3rd)
Test Day Result: 11th
About This Team: Trummer makes his LMP2 debut at Le Mans. Petrov finished third in class last year with SMP Racing. González's brother Ricardo won in LMP2 at Le Mans in 2013 and he went on to win the LMP2 title that year in WEC.
#26 G-Drive Racing Oreca 07-Gibson
Drivers: Romain Rusinov (8th), Pierre Thiriet (7th), Alex Lynn (1st)
Test Day Result: 4th
Drivers: Romain Rusinov (8th), Pierre Thiriet (7th), Alex Lynn (1st)
Test Day Result: 4th
About This Team: Despite G-Drive Racing's competitiveness at Le Mans the team has yet to win in LMP2 but the team has finished third and second the last two years and won pole position in class last year. TDS Racing is running this entry. Thiriet has twice finished runner-up in LMP2. Lynn attempts to become the first overall 12 Hours of Sebring winner to win a class at Le Mans since 2007 when Frank Biela, Marco Werner and Emanuele Pirro won both races overall with Audi.
#27 SMP Racing Dallara P217-Gibson
Drivers: Mikhail Aleshin (3rd), Sergey Sirotkin (1st), Viktor Shaitar (4th)
Test Day Result: 18th
Drivers: Mikhail Aleshin (3rd), Sergey Sirotkin (1st), Viktor Shaitar (4th)
Test Day Result: 18th
About This Team: This is the third consecutive year Aleshin will run at Le Mans. He finished seventh in LMP2 last year. Shaitar won in GTE-Am two years ago at Le Mans and he finished third in LMP2 last year. Sirotkin finished third in the GP2 Series the last two years and he is currently a Renault F1 reserve driver.
Drivers: Emmanuel Collard (23rd), François Perrodo (5th), Matthieu Vaxivière (1st)
Test Day Result: 7th
About This Team: For the 23rd consecutive year, Emmanuel Collard will participate in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He has two class victories including in LMP2 in 2009 with Team Essex driving a Porsche RS Spyder Evo to victory with Kristian Poulsen and Casper Elgaard. Perrodo and Collard have been co-drivers for the last four years and this is Perrodo's first year in LMP2. Vaxivière was six and a half months old when Collard made his Le Mans debut.
#29 Racing Team Nederland Dallara P217-Gibson
Drivers: Rubens Barrichello (1st), Frits van Eerd (1st), Jan Lammers (23rd)
Test Day Result: 16th
About This Team: The 45-year-old Brazilian and 50-year-old Dutchman van Eerd are each making their Le Mans debut. Lammers returns to Le Mans for the first time since 2011. His most recent class podium was in 1996 with Mario Andretti and Derek Warwick when they finished third in LMP1 in a Courage C36.
#31 Vaillante Rebellion Oreca 07-Gibson
Drivers: Nicolas Prost (10th), Bruno Senna (5th), Julien Canal (8th)
Test Day Result: 10th
About This Team: After two consecutive second-place finishes to start the WEC season, this trio is third in the Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Drivers. Canal is a three-time Le Mans class winner, including being apart of the final GT1 winning team driving a Saleen S7-R for Larbre Compétition. His other two class victories were in GTE-Am. Prost was apart of the Rebellion Racing entry that took top honors in LMP1-L in 2014, giving him a class victory at Le Mans. Senna has eighth consecutive podium finishes in LMP2.
#32 United Autosports Ligier JSP217-Gibson
Drivers: William Owen (1st), Hugo de Sadeleer (1st), Filipe Albuquerque (4th)
Test Day Result: 14th
About This Team: This team won the season opener of the ELMS at Silverstone. Albuquerque has finished on the podium in his last six WEC starts. Owen makes his Le Mans debut after spending three years in the Pro Mazda series. De Sadeleer competed the last three years in Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Series.
#33 Eurasia Motorsport Ligier JSP217-Gibson
Drivers: Jacques Nicolet (9th), Pierre Nicolet (1st), Erik Maris (4th)
Test Day Result: 25th
Drivers: Jacques Nicolet (9th), Pierre Nicolet (1st), Erik Maris (4th)
Test Day Result: 25th
About This Team: At 61 years old, Jacques Nicolet looks for his first career class victory at Le Mans and he will do it with his son Pierre. The Nicolets ran in the LMP3 class in ELMS last season for OAK Racing as did Maris. Maris has been running at the finish every year he has competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
#34 Tockwith Motorsports Ligier JSP217-Gibson
Drivers: Philip Hanson (1st), Nigel Moore (2nd), Karun Chandhok (5th)
Test Day Result: 19th
Drivers: Philip Hanson (1st), Nigel Moore (2nd), Karun Chandhok (5th)
Test Day Result: 19th
About This Team: Tockwith Motorsports surprisingly won the Asian Le Mans Series LMP3 championship to earn this entry. Hanson and Moore are contesting the European Le Mans Series full-time. This is Moore's first Le Mans appearance since 2009 when he drove a Ginetta-Zytek in LMP1 with Lawrence Tomlinson and Richard Dean. Chandhok has finished in the top six in class in three of his four previous Le Mans starts. Hanson makes his Le Mans debut at 17 years old and he turns 18 years old on July 5th.
#35 Signatech Alpine Matmut Alpine A470-Gibson
Drivers: Nelson Panciatici (6th), Pierre Ragues (11th), André Negrão (1st)
Test Day Result: 1st
Drivers: Nelson Panciatici (6th), Pierre Ragues (11th), André Negrão (1st)
Test Day Result: 1st
About This Team: This car topped the time sheet on the test day. Ragues has failed to finish five of his previous ten starts. Panciatici's only WEC LMP2 victory was Shanghai 2015. Ragues has never won in WEC. Negrão finished sixth in the Indy Lights championship last year, which saw him finish on the podium five times.
#36 Signatech Alpine Matmut Alpine A470-Gibson
Drivers: Romain Dumas (17th), Gustavo Menezes (2nd), Matt Rao (2nd)
Test Day Result: 8th
Drivers: Romain Dumas (17th), Gustavo Menezes (2nd), Matt Rao (2nd)
Test Day Result: 8th
About This Team: One of last year's overall winner Dumas pairs with one of last year's LMP2 winners Menezes as the Frenchman replaces Nicolas Lapierre. This is Dumas' first Le Mans appearance in LMP2. Besides his two overall victories Dumas won in GTE-Pro in 2013. Menezes also won the Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Drivers last year with Lapierre and Stéphane Richelmi. Rao competed at Le Mans last year with Manor.
#37 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca 07-Gibson
Drivers: David Cheng (4th), Tristan Gommendy (8th), Alex Brundle (4th)
Test Day Result: 3rd
Drivers: David Cheng (4th), Tristan Gommendy (8th), Alex Brundle (4th)
Test Day Result: 3rd
About This Team: Brundle returns to Le Mans for the first time since 2014. He finished second in LMP2 in 2013. Brundle won the final three LMP2 races in WEC last year with G-Drive Racing on top of his ELMS championship with United Autosports. Cheng's best finish at Le Mans was seventh in class in 2014. Gommendy finished second in class in 2014.
#38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Racing Oreca 07-Gibson
Drivers: Ho-Pin Tung (5th), Thomas Laurent (1st), Oliver Jarvis (7th)
Test Day Result: 5th
Drivers: Ho-Pin Tung (5th), Thomas Laurent (1st), Oliver Jarvis (7th)
Test Day Result: 5th
About This Team: This team currently leads the Endurance Trophy for LMP2 drivers in the WEC after a victory at Silverstone and third at Spa-Francorchamps. This is Jarvis' first Le Mans appearance in LMP2. Tung has never finished better than seventh in class in his previous four Le Mans starts. Laurent ran for M.Racing - YMR in LMP3 in ELMS last year and he won the season finale in class at Estoril.
#39 Graff Oreca 07-Gibson
Drivers: Eric Trouillet (1st), Enzo Guibbert (1st), James Winslow (3rd)
Test Day Result: 20th
Drivers: Eric Trouillet (1st), Enzo Guibbert (1st), James Winslow (3rd)
Test Day Result: 20th
About This Team: Trouillet and Guibbert won twice in LMP3 in ELMS and they have moved up to the LMP2 class this year in ELMS. Winslow replaces the Paul Petit as the third driver. Winslow has been a regular in the Asian Le Mans Series the last two years.
#40 Graff Oreca 07-Gibson
Drivers: James Allen (1st), Richard Bradley (4th), Franck Matelli (1st)
Test Day Result: 9th
Drivers: James Allen (1st), Richard Bradley (4th), Franck Matelli (1st)
Test Day Result: 9th
About This Team: Bradley won in LMP2 two years ago with KCMG. This team finished fourth and eighth in the first two rounds of the ELMS season.
#43 Keating Motorsports Riley MK30-Gibson
Drivers: Ben Keating (3rd), Jeroen Bleekemolen (12th), Ricky Taylor (4th)
Test Day Result: 23rd
Drivers: Ben Keating (3rd), Jeroen Bleekemolen (12th), Ricky Taylor (4th)
Test Day Result: 23rd
About This Team: This is the lone Riley entered for this year's race. Keating and Bleekemolen will partner for the third consecutive year and Taylor becomes their third different partner. Bleekmolen won in LMP2 in 2008 with Van Merksteijn Motorsport in a Porsche RS Spyder Evo with Peter Van Merksteijn, Sr. and Jos Verstappen. Like Lynn, Taylor could become the first overall Sebring winner to win a class at Le Mans since 2007. Taylor enters having won five consecutive races in IMSA this year.
#45 Algarve Pro Racing Ligier JSP217-Gibson
Drivers: Mark Patterson (5th), Matt McMurry (2nd), Vincent Capillaire (4th)
Test Day Result: 22nd
Drivers: Mark Patterson (5th), Matt McMurry (2nd), Vincent Capillaire (4th)
Test Day Result: 22nd
About This Team: Patterson has been running at the finish of all four of his Le Mans starts. McMurry makes his second Le Mans appearance at 19 years old, three years after becoming the youngest driver to ever compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Capillaire finished fourth in LMP2 in 2014 with Sébastien Loeb Racing. Algarve Pro Racing earned this spot by winning the Asian Le Mans Series championship.
#47 Cetilar Villorba Corse Dallara P217-Gibson
Drivers: Andrea Belicchi (9th), Roberto Lacorte (1st), Giorgio Sernagiotto (1st)
Test Day Result: 15th
Drivers: Andrea Belicchi (9th), Roberto Lacorte (1st), Giorgio Sernagiotto (1st)
Test Day Result: 15th
About This Team: Belicchi returns to Le Mans for the first time since 2014. His previous five Le Mans starts came with Rebellion Racing. An Italian driver has never won the LMP2 class at Le Mans. Laporte and Sernagiotto ran in LMP3 last year in ELMS and they improved their finishing position in every race with the duo finishing eighth in the finale at Estoril.
#49 ARC Bratislava Ligier JSP17-Gibson
Drivers: Miroslav Konôpka (3rd), Konstantīns Calko (1st), Rik Breukers (1st)
Test Day Result: 24th
Drivers: Miroslav Konôpka (3rd), Konstantīns Calko (1st), Rik Breukers (1st)
Test Day Result: 24th
About This Team: Calko could become the first Latvian driver to participate in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Breukers is a regular competitor in the 24H Series. Konôpka returns to Le Mans for the first time since 2010 and this will be his first appearance in the LMP2 class.
Practice begins Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. ET. After the four-hour practice session, a two-hour qualifying session will take place at 4:00 p.m. ET. A two-hour practice will be held at 1:00 p.m. ET on Thursday with one final two-hour qualifying session scheduled for 4:00 p.m. ET. A warm-up session will be held at 3:00 a.m. ET on Saturday with the start of the race taking place at 9:00 a.m. ET.
