With the ‘final’ 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours entry now released it’s time for an update on some late changes and updates from the provisional (and incomplete) line-ups released earlier.
LMP1
In LMP1 there are few surprises.
No changes whatsoever for either Audi or Porsche (though Fred Makowiecki is apparently now the nominated LMP1 reserve driver for Porsche).
Kazuki Nakajima is still named at Toyota after his fractured vertebra suffered at Spa, a surgical procedure to effectively ‘superglue’ the fracture appears to have had remarkable success, Kamui Kobayashi is till on standby.
All three Nissan GT-R LMs are listed, though there has been a reshuffle in the driver line-up with Marc Gene stepping back to an advisory role.
That move has seen Max Chilton step up to the full season #23 car and Mark Shulzhitskiy step into the Le Mans only #21, the third GT Academy winner to join the LMP1 squad. Shulzhitsky made his Le Mans debut last year in LMP2.
Rebellion Racing’s pair of R-One AERs are confirmed too with their pre-announced driver line-ups.
ByKolles Racing meanwhile confirm their entry with Simon Trummer and Pierre Kaffer joined by Portugese ex F1 man Tiago Monteiro, making his fifth Le Mans 24 Hours appearance (and a third in LMP1, below in the Oreca Courage AIM in 2009)
LMP2
Again no major surprises, SMP Racing’s two car BR01 Nissan entry is confirmed, as too is the sole SARD Morand Morgan Evo (though it is increasingly clear that SARD are no longer involved in this effort.
The arrivals of Messrs Barbosa (Krohn Racing) and Tung (Pegasus Racing) have been covered already here on DSC.
LM GTE Pro
Confirmed as third drivers for AF Corse are Giancarlo Fisichella (#51) and Olivier Beretta (#71).
Manthey’s factory Porsche line-ups are confirmed as Richard Lietz, Michael Christensen and Jorg Bergmeister (#91), Patrick Pilet, Fred Makowiecki and Wolf Henzler.
As at Spa Rob Bell is third man in the #97 Aston Martin.
The Corvette squads are: Jan Magnussen, Ryan Briscoe and Antonio Garcia #63 , Oliver Gavin, Jordan Taylor and Tommy Milner #64.
LM GTE Am
A number of previously unannounced seats are confirmed here.
The full six man Team AAI squad is confirmed:
Sometime Murphy Prototypes racer 9and Dubai 24 Hours class winner Alex Kapadia (below) gets his first chance at a Le Mans 24 Hours start aboard the #67 Porsche 997 GT3 RSR alongside Xavier Maassen and Jun-San Chen (more in the separate story on DSC).
The #68 Porsche 911 RSR meanwhile sees Mike Parisy and Gilles Vannelet confirmed alongside Han-Chen Chen, all three men making their Le Mans 24 Hours debut.
Bill Sweedler and Townsend Bell are joined by Jeff Segal in the #62 Scuderia Corsa.
Abdulaziz Al Faisal races at Le Mans with JMW Motorsport for the second time and will be joined by the GB Autosports pairing of Michael Avenatti and Kuba Giermaziak.
Reserve List
With no further confirmed withdrawals (we’ve only lost the #39 SARD Morand Morgan Evo from the initially announced entry).
The remaining reserve list entries also now have full driver line-ups for the top three of the listed five:
The #49 LMP2 KCMG car is still listed as an Oreca 03R Judd (rather than the second 05 Nissan Coupe that the team have available), Christian Klien is listed alongside Japanese Tomonobu Fuji and Satoshi Hoshino.
The #60 LM GTE Am Formula Racing Ferrari lists Christina Nielsen alongside fellow Danes Johnny Laursen and Mickel Mac Jensen.
The #86 Gulf Racing UK Porsche 911 RSR lists Michael Wainwright with Adam Carroll and Phil Keen.
The #65 Proton Competition Porsche is listed (though the team’s third car is now with Team AAI) and the reserve list is completed with the #44 Ibanez racing Oreca 03R Nissan.
