Ginetta’s motorsport director Mike Simpson has hailed the signing of new customer DKR Engineering for the 2025 European Le Mans Series and Le Mans Cup season with the G61-LT-P3 Evo as a “milestone moment” for the Yorkshire-based sportscar manufacturer.
Multiple title-winning team DKR’s shift from Duqueine to Ginetta was the most significant surprise to come from the 2025 ELMS entry list reveal earlier this month. The Luxemborg-based outfit brings four Le Mans Cup titles and an ELMS LMP3 championship to Ginetta’s customer stable, at a time when it has been pushing to regain a foothold in the hotly contested LMP3 marketplace.
It also adds welcome variety to what will be a new-look ELMS LMP3 grid in 2025, with three of the four chassis suppliers (Ligier, Duqueine and Ginetta) represented for the start of the new turbo-powered era for the category.
“The team’s success in LMP3 competition speaks for itself and we’re delighted that they have decided to make the switch to Ginetta and take us back to the top level. We both enter this new partnership with one goal; to win,” Simpson said.
“Progress has been fantastic with the new car. Lawrence Tomlinson (Ginetta’s CEO) and Clive Seddon (Ginetta’s technical director) had a strict technical design brief to maximise the efficiency for the new turbo engine package without compromising aerodynamic performance, and it’s all been hugely encouraging so far.
“To be returning to the European Le Mans Series grid for the first time since 2015 is a milestone moment for us and it’s just the beginning.”
The link to DKR for Ginetta came via its European partner CMR and Yann Belhomme, previously of Duqueine, who is now a Ginetta G56 GTA customer and a CMR partner. Simpson explained to DSC that the G61-LT-P3’s performance in recent tests that DKR attended proved enough to seal the deal.
“Ginetta appointed CMR as an LMP3 partner in Europe, so we’ve been testing the new car with them and test driver Nico Prost,” he said. “It’s been a challenge through testing, development and homologation and deadlines have been looming. So we looked at gaps in the market and we saw that Ligier teams are embedded, it would be hard to pry them away, so maybe there was a chance to attract Duqueine customers.
“You then look at DKR as a prime target, as they’ve been so successful all the way back ot the Norma days. So we made sure they saw the car in testing.
“They tested with Duqueine, Ginetta and Ligier and we had to perform. We backed ourselves and took our car to Magny Cours, Ligier was there and our car was right up there. We then consolidated that with another two-day test at Paul Ricard and that was enough to get them to move.
“We’ve still got a lot more to unlock from the car, and I think DKR are motivated by that challenge. They see it as a project, they know that if we’ve done our bit they will be in good shape. Going forward we want more customers, but we won’t go massive on volume because this is a special project for Ginetta. It can work for us though, and this is just the start.
DSC understands that DKR has signed up to a multi-year deal with Ginetta to run the G61-LT-P3 Evo, and is set to resume testing this weekend in Portugal upon returning home from the Asian Le Mans Series opening weekend in Malaysia.
Ginetta meanwhile, is currently working on a further expansion of its customer base for the Le Mans Cup next year, with at least one additional car expected to be confirmed for 2025. It has just committed to building an additional pair of chassis in time for the 2025 season opener, in anticipation of new customers coming on board.
