Racing Team Turkey has revealed its driver crew for the centenary edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours in June. For the event, the ELMS full-season TF Sport-run team will compete with the trio of Salih Yoluç, Tom Gamble and Dries Vanthoor.
The team’s #923 Oreca 07 Gibson will compete for LMP2 Pro/Am honours as part of the bumper 24-car P2 field, which this year is made up solely of Oreca chassis for the first time. It will also race in a special livery (above) to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Turkish Republic.
“This is a very exciting challenge for us, the opportunity to race at Le Mans is extraordinary,” says TF Sport owner Tom Ferrier. “Although it is the first time we will be racing an LMP2, we hope to use some of the knowledge we gained in GTE that brought us so much success at Le Mans. Salih has proven time and time again that he is one of the strongest, if not the strongest bronze drivers, and with Dries and Tom I feel we have a great chance to fight for the class win.”
The team hopes that the addition of Gamble and Vanthoor will make this entry a contender for Pro/Am sub class victory.
Briton Tom Gamble joins the effort in the wake of being appointed as a McLaren factory driver earlier this month.
“I am really excited to return to Le Mans and to join Racing Team Turkey for the first time,” Gamble said. “I believe that with my teammates, Salih and Dries, who have achieved fantastic results over the past few seasons, we have a great chance to bring home the win in the Pro/Am category and to achieve a good overall result in the LMP2 category.
“I would like to thank the team for the incredible opportunity and also McLaren for allowing me to participate. I can’t wait to get started!”
Vanthoor, is a BMW factory driver, who will use this opportunity to gain experience for a potential Hypercar class drive that may arise for him next year when Team WRT steps up to the WEC’s top category with an LMDh chassis. He already has a Le Mans class win to his name, having won GTE Am with JMW Motorsport back in 2017.
“I am happy to be back at Le Mans again this year to fight for the win in LMP2 with Salih and Tom, we think we have a strong line-up and with TF Sport I think we have a good chance to fight for a good result! I would also like to thank BMW for allowing me to participate in this race!”
For Yoluç, this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours will be his fifth career start in the race and in a TF Sport-run car. His previous appearances all were all in the GTE Am field, with his most recent trip to the Circuit de la Sarthe in 2020 resulting in a class win.
“I am very happy to welcome Dries and Tom to the team,” adds Yoluç. “This is a very important year for Turkey, as it is the centenary of our Republic and we have a proper line-up for this important year. The only goal is to achieve a good overall result and class victory.”
Racing Team Turkey’s Le Mans effort adds to its full-season campaign in the European Le Mans Series’ LMP2 category which begins next month. For the six-round championship the team is set to compete with a different driver line-up, as Yoluç will be joined by Charlie Eastwood and Luis Deletraz in the team’s Oreca.
TF Sport meanwhile, is set to run four cars in the 2023 Le Mans 24 Hours. Along with the Team Turkey Oreca, TF will also run the WEC full-season D’Station Racing and ORT by TF Aston Martin GTE Am Vantage AMRs and its #72 TF Sport example that is entered in the ELMS.
Featured image courtesy of Racing Team Turkey
