The Michelin Le Mans Cup grid is once again full to capacity with a huge 41-car grid for the second race of the 2024 season in the South of France at Le Castellet.
The grid will consist of 30 LMP3 and 11 GT3 cars, with 28 teams and 82 drivers representing 20 different nations, including five French teams and 19 French drivers racing at the first of two home events.
High Class Racing travels to Le Castellet as the championship leaders after Jens Moller and Tommy Foster won the opening race in Spain in its #20 Ligier.
The Danish team will face some hard competition from many quarters at Le Castellet including from R-Ace GP, the French team finishing second in Barcelona on their Michelin Le Mans Cup debut after Fabien Michal claimed the first pole position of the season earlier on race day, with his French teammate Hadrien David bringing the car home just seven seconds behind the leader.
Inter Europol Competition claimed its first MLMC podium in Spain, after reigning Asian Le Mans Series LMP3 Driver’s Champion Alexander Bukhantsov and his Dutch teammate Rik Koen finished less than half a second ahead of the #87 COOL Racing Ligier of Adrien Closmenil and James Sweetnam.
French teams ANS Motorsport and MV2S Racing will both run a two-car effort, with ANS Motorsport featuring an all-French driver line-up in both of their cars.
M Racing and IDEC Sport will run a car apiece, with both crews also running under the French Tricolour.
French drivers will also feature heavily in other teams, including former champions Racing Spirit of Leman, the Swiss team’s no10 Ligier line-up of Marius Fossard and Christophe Lapierre.
Willyam Gosselin will race in the #2 CD Sport Ligier, while his compatriot Franck Chappard will race the #11 Ligier for the Spanish team.
Sylvain Guintoli will be in the #42 Steller Motorsport Duqueine and reigning ELMS LMP3 Driver’s champion Adrien Chila will be racing alongside David Droux in the #97 COOL Racing Ligier.
Reigning LMP3 Team Champions Team Virage will once again field a two-car entry as will Rinaldi Racing and Bretton Racing.
Last year’s vice champions Thor Racing, with Audunn Gudmundsson and Colin Noble will be looking for a better run at Le Castellet, as will former champions Nielsen Racing with Tony Wells and Wayne Boyd.
More Motorsport, GG Classics, Haegeli by T2 Racing and P4 Racing are all entering a single car each.
There are also two race-by-race entries at Le Castellet with Reiter Engineering and Graff both entering a Ligier-Nissan for the race at Le Castellet.
The GT3 grid sees a boost to 11 cars at Le Castellet.
British team Blackthorn is set to make a delayed MLMC debut with a pair of new Aston Martin Vantage GT3 after supply chain issues prevented the team from racing at Barcelona. It heads to France having taken part in the British GT Silverstone 500 last weekend.
And there will be an emotional welcome to the paddock for the Proton Huber Competition team, with Manuel Lauck and Joerg Dreisow due to race the team’s Porsche 911 GT3 R after the team withdrew from Barcelona in the wake of the tragic paddock accident that claimed the life of team manager Gerhard Freundorfer.
The remaining eight cars contested the opening round in Spain.
After securing victory on their debut, Round 1 winners Matthew Kurzejewski and Alessandro Balzan will be looking for another top three finish at Le Castellet in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3, the win taken in a close-knit battle that saw the podium covered by just 3.5 seconds at the end of the 110-minute race. The #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari was second, just ahead of the #88 AF Corse 296 GT3 in a Ferrari podium sweep.
Kessel Racing will again field a second Ferrari with French driver Frederic Jousset in the #12 296 alongside Daniel Cleto Fumanelli. Celia Martin and Karen Gaillard had a strong run on their debut with the Iron Dames Lamborghini.
Danish team High Class Racing will again run a Porsche 911 GT3 R for British duo Nick Jones and Scott Malvern, while 2023 MLMC race winners Steller Motorsport will be running the only Audi R8 LMS on the grid with only Darren Malkin listed at this stage.
New team Biogas Motorsport meanwhile, will be hoping for better luck in France after the Spanish team were forced to withdraw from its home event after the engine of its Ferrari 296 suffered an significant issue in Free Practice.
The Le Castellet Round, Round 2 of the 2024 Michelin Le Mans Cup, will take place on Saturday 4 May, with qualifying on Saturday morning preceded by two Free Practice sessions on Friday 3 May.
