The 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship entry list has been revealed today. It features 37 cars across the two classes, with 19 cars in Hypercar and 18 cars confirmed for the first season of LMGT3.
In the top class, of the teams previously in the championship, Ferrari AF Corse, Peugeot TotalEnergies, Porsche Penske Motorsport and Toyota Gazoo Racing all return with two-car efforts.
They are joined by a single Cadillac Racing V-Series.R, a single Proton Competition Porsche 963 and a privately-entered AF Corse Ferrari 499P.
Initially, there were suggestions that the third 499P would be entered via a collaboration with Richard Mille, following his GTE Am effort with AF Corse this season. However, it appears that Richard Mille backing for the car is now off the table.
The car is set to race with #83, the number campaigned by Francois Perrodo in the FIA WEC in both LMP2 and GTE Am over the years, with Robert Kubica, who signed with AF Corse last week, the only driver listed. DSC believes Yifei Ye will join the Polish racer. Multiple sources suggest that the full-season trio will be completed by Robert Shwartzman.
In addition, HERTZ Team JOTA adds to the Privateer pack, bringing a pair of 963s to the championship, scaling up from its single-car effort in 2023 which got underway at Spa-Francorchamps back in May.
The second Porsche will sport #12 (a nod to team backer Tom Brady’s NFL shirt number) and has Will Stevens listed against it. The #38 sister car meanwhile has Oliver Rasmussen as the only named driver, the Dane carrying over from JOTA’s 2023 LMP2 programme.
Adding to that, Iron Lynx brings a single Lamborghini SC63 to the championship, Alpine Racing has entered a pair of A424s, BMW Team WRT will run two M Hybrid V8s and Isotta Fraschini will be represented by a single Tipo 6 LMH Competizione.
The Lamborghini will race with #63, associated with the year that the Italian brand was founded (1963). Mirko Bortolotti is the only driver on the entry, but Iron Lynx confirmed that Daniil Kvyat will join him next season shortly after the list was published.
WRT’s BMWs feature Dries Vanthoor and Sheldon van der Linde in their line-ups. That means that both Vanthoor and van der Linde brothers will race next year, as Laurens Vanthoor is confirmed in the #6 Penske Porsche and Kelvin van der Linde is listed at AKKODIS ASP in LMGT3. Elsewhere at Penske, Matt Campbell moves over from IMSA to join the #5 crew in the seat filled by Dane Cameron last season.
The only other notable driver confirmations come at Isotta Fraschini, with 2023 ELMS LMP3 champion Alejandro Garcia and Isotta test regular Jean-Karl Vernay listed.
Notably, news broke ahead of the entry list revealed that Isotta’s Tipo 6 will not be run by Vector Sport next year, following a breakdown in the relationship between the two parties. French LMP2 outfit and LMP3 chassis supplier Duqueine Engineering has been named as the programme’s sporting partner instead.
As a result, Vector will not have a presence in the FIA WEC next season and instead shift its focus to a planned ELMS LMP2 campaign.
Also absent from the list is the Vanwall Racing Vandervell 680, which underperformed throughout 2023 and has been denied an entry due to the 37-car cap and the late addition of a third Ferrari 499P.
LMGT3 meanwhile, features 18 cars spread across nine two-car teams from as many manufacturers.
Of the manufacturers with Hypercar programmes, BMW (Team WRT), Corvette (via Cadillac with TF Sport), Ferrari (Vista AF Corse), Lamborghini (Iron Lynx and Dames), Porsche (Manthey Racing and Manthey PureRxcing) and Lexus (via Toyota with AKKODIS ASP Team) all bring cars to the category.
The remaining OEMs represented are Aston Martin, which brings a car apiece for Heart of Racing and D’Station Racing, Ford with Proton Competition and McLaren with United Autosports.
A number of drivers have been confirmed too.
At Aston Martin, Ian James is listed with Heart of Racing and Marco Sorensen is down to race with D’Station Racing in the #777.
The WRT BMW line-ups are incomplete, though Augusto Farfus will race in the #31 M4 GT3 and Moto GP legend Valentino Rossi is now fully confirmed as part of the programme, the Italian down to race in the #46.
“I am very excited to compete in the FIA WEC,” said Rossi. “It is the next step for me to participate in a world championship, not only in Europe but to race globally again. I am already familiar with the car after this season, but the format with three drivers from three different performance categories will be new for me. Overall, I believe we will be very well positioned.”
Vincent Vosse, the team principal at BMW M Team WRT added: “Starting with Valentino Rossi in the FIA WEC is something truly special. We talked about this at our very first meetings. Now, this circle is closing, and it feels like we’ve already ticked most of the boxes we discussed back then.”
Both Ferraris, which will run under the Vista AF Corse banner, have complete line-ups. Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci and Davide Rigon return as a trio in the #54. Simon Mann, Francois Heriau and Alessio Rovera will compete in the #55.
There is an interesting name at Proton Competition, as GR Racing FIA WEC regular Ben Barker is down to drive the #77 Mustang GT3, while Ryan Hardwick, who won the 2023 ELMS GTE title, will race in the sister car.
United’s confirmed drivers are also down to race, with Grégoire Saucy in the #59 and Marino Sato in the #95. #59 and #95 are both significant numbers for McLaren’s return to Le Mans in 2024. The winning McLaren F1 GTR ran with #59 when it won the race overall, in 1995!
There is one complete line-up at Porsche, with Manthey PureRxcing’s 911 GT3 R set to race with Aliaksandr Malykhin, Joel Sturm and Klaus Bachler. Only Richard Lietz is listed in the #91 sister machine.
Interestingly, PureRxcing has already qualified for Le Mans via an automatic invitation earned from its Bronze title in World Challenge. It is also competing in the Asian Le Mans Series over the winter and could claim another auto invitation by winning the GT class.
Lexus and Toyota both have previously confirmed drivers named, with Jose Maria Lopez and newly confirmed AKKODIS ASP racer Kelvin van der Linde placed against an RC F GT3 and Charlie Eastwood and Daniel Juncadella set to race in TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs.
There are no surprises at Lamborghini either, with Claudio Schiavoni listed to race in the Iron Lynx Huracan and Michelle Gatting set to return to the WEC with Iron Dames.
With just 18 spots up for grabs, two manufacturers believed to have filed entries have missed out.
Mercedes is understood to have attempted to get in with GetSpeed, and Audi Sport hoped its planned two-car R8 LMS GT3 EVO II effort with Team Sainteloc would get over the line. Neither made the cut.
For Sainteloc and Audi, this decision is believed to have come as a shock. Neither party is believed to have been informed until after it completed a three-day endurance test with Goodyear and other prospective manufacturers at Monteblanco just last week.
