The ACO and FIA have announced today at the entry list conference in Le Mans that 28 cars are set for the full WEC season in 2017.
Here’s a look at each class:
LMP1: Down but by no means out
While it’s still disappointing to see Audi and Rebellion off the LMP1 entry this year, it’s still going to be a fascinating season, with Porsche and Toyota going hammer and tongs to win the Le Mans 24 Hours and WEC titles.
Porsche and Toyota are entering two cars apiece this season once again, with the exception that Toyota will have a third car for Spa and Le Mans. The Japanese brand clearly more motivated than ever to win at La Sarthe.
Just one privateer effort remains now, as ByKolles’ CLM P1/01 will be back again, but with a Nissan engine this time and with the new regs behind it that should see it closer than ever to the factory cars. It’s lead driver Robert Kubica is also a surprise, this after the Polish ex-F1 star tested with the team at Bahrain after the season finale in 2016.
LMP2: Orecas galore
LMP2 has numbers, and better than many would have predicted, with 10 cars entered for the season.
The only qualm is that the entire field is set to be standard Orecas, with Alpine will once again running an Oreca re-badged. There will be no Rileys, Dallaras or Ligiers racing this year. The only time the WEC field will see such variety is at Le Mans.
In terms of teams though, it’s a quality field with four two-car efforts from Rebellion Racing – which is down in LMP2 once again – the returning Manor outfit, Signatech Alpine and Jackie Chan DC Racing which has partnered with Jota Sport for the year.
TDS Racing will also field a pair of 07s, but with one entered as G-Drive Racing in a joint effort.
GTE Pro: Porsche joins the fray
GTE Pro meanwhile is set to be better than ever, with eight entries, eight of which are factory efforts.
The big news is the addition of Porsche Team bringing two brand new 911 RSRs to the series as expected, which brings the car count to eight, after Dempsey Proton’s single Porsche effort last season.
Outside of that, Ford, AF Corse and Aston Martin return with two cars apiece, with the big surprise here being Pipo Derani being confirmed as a Ford driver in the #67 with Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell until Le Mans.
It’s going to be quite a season for the Pro runners.
GTE Am: Power of five
GTE Am has five entries this time around, with Proton Competition (under the Dempsey banner this time), Aston Martin Racing and Gulf Racing the returnees from 2016. They will each run a single car in the title race.
That leaves two newcomers, one being AsLMS 2015/16 GT champion Clearwater Racing which impressed mightily at Le Mans last year, and a Spirit Of Race AF Corse-run Ferrari 488 with Thomas Flohr as the lead driver, the Swiss outfit jumping up into the WEC after racing in the Michelin GT3 Le Mans Cup’s during its inaugural season.
Of the absentees from last year, no Larbre Corvette on either GTE entry is a surprise, the team touted by some as fielding a Pro C7.R for the season with Ricky Taylor as its lead driver. But it seems that effort will only be for Le Mans this time.
While GTE Am this season won’t have the most numbers, it’s certainly a high-quality top to bottom.
