The opening round of the 2024 Michelin Le Mans Cup season in Barcelona has attracted a strong 38-car grid across the two classes.
The list features 26 teams and 76 drivers from 19 different nations, with 29 cars in LMP3 and nine cars in GT3.
The LMP3 grid will see a full complement of 29 cars, with 25 Ligier JS P320s and a quartet of Duqueine M30-D08.
Reigning champion Team Virage returns to defend its title with a pair of Ligiers but neither Julien Gerbi nor Gillian Henrion who won the 2023 championship return.
Instead, British racer Jamie Falvey and reigning Ligier European Series champion Mihea Stefan will compete in the #44 Ligier, while Oscar Bittar from Paraguay will join Brazil’s Ricardo Gracia Filho in the #59 Ligier.
2023 LMP3 Vice Champions Team Thor on the other hand, returns with an unchanged driver lineup of Audunn Gudmundsson and 2021 Driver’s Champion Colin Noble for another crack at the title in 2024.
2022 Champion Racing Spirit of Leman will enter a single car for French duo Marius Fossard and Christophe Lapierre.
2021 title winner Nielsen Racing has entered a single car for MLMC LMP3 Champion Tony Wells and ELMS LMP3 Champion Wayne Boyd, with a programme that will run alongside its ELMS LMP2 effort.
In addition to Team Virage and CD Sport, COOL Racing, ANS Motorsport, Rinaldi Racing, MV2S Racing, Inter Europol Competition and Bretton Racing are all entering a pair of cars each for the race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
The Duqueine M30-D08s are being operated by British GT4 title winner Steller Motorsport, Murphy Prototypes, Haegeli by T2 Racing and French team R-ACE GP.
The LMP3 grid is completed by six teams running the Ligier JS P320s. French teams M Racing and IDEC Sport, British team P4 Racing, GG Classics, which is the first Australian team to enter the MLMC, which aims to build on its debut in the Asian Le Mans Series over the winter, High Class Racing and More Motorsport from the Netherlands.
Meanwhile, the GT3 field in Barcelona will run with nine cars from four manufacturers: Audi, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche.
Unlike the ELMS’ new LMGT3 class, the Le Mans Cup GT category continues to run to a standard GT3 ruleset, meaning teams racing with brands not represented in the FIA WEC LMGT3 class are eligible.
Former champion Kessel Racing has a two-car entry, with Spain’s Fran Rueda Mateos joining Andrew Gilbert in the #74 Ferrari 296 run by the Swiss team.
AF Corse will also run a pair of 296 GT3s with Alessandro Balzan and Mathew Kurzejewski set to share its #51 Ferrari and Italian Riccardo Agostini and Custodio Toledo from Brazil in the #88 296. Spain’s Biogas Motorsport will run the fifth 296 on the grid.
Steller Motorsport adds to its LMP3 effort with the Audi R8 LMS that scored a debut victory at Spa-Francorchamps last season.
There will be two Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) on the grid, with Danish team High Class Racing running one of the cars for British teammates Nick Jones and Scott Malvern, while Proton Huber Competition will run the other for German crew Manuel Lauck and Joerg Dreisow.
Following a withdrawal from Leipert Motorsport, Iron Dames will be running the only Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO on the MLMC grid in Barcelona, with Celia Martin and Karen Gaillard sharing the driving duties this year.
The Barcelona Round of the 2024 Michelin Le Mans Cup will take place on 12/13 April in support of the European Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Barcelona.
