IMSA: Significant series representation on 60-strong Le Mans entry list

Wednesday, 18 May 2016

IMSA The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship has a strong representation on the 60-car, 180-driver final entry list for the Le Mans 24 Hours, announced on Wednesday by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest. The United States leads the entry list for the prestigious endurance race on June 18-19 with 12 cars, 10 of which compete in the WeatherTech Championship.


Corvette Racing returns to defend its LM GTE Pro victory with a two-car entry driven by six WeatherTech Championships regulars, including 2015 winners Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Jordan Taylor in the No. 64 Corvette C7.R. Milner feels that the test day on Sunday, June 5 will be a key step towards defending the team’s Le Mans title.
“This year especially the test day is more important than it has been in years past,” Milner said. “We have a new rules package for GTE Pro. Now we go there with a car that will have quite a bit more downforce potentially. For us, having a good test with no mechanical issues makes race week that much less stressful.
“You can focus on the details of the race, getting all three drivers cycled through and not worrying about finding extra speed. That’s what we had last year. We had a Corvette that was comfortable and fast. Jordan came in and was on-pace right away, which is obviously good. Going back there with the same driver lineup leaves us feeling pretty confident that we can achieve that again.”


Ford Chip Ganassi Racing will field four Ford GTs, running its two-car WeatherTech Championship team in addition to its two-car British-based team that competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Also in GTE Pro, Risi Competizione will races its Ferrari 488 GTE, while the German-based Porsche Motorsport team will use six drivers that compete in the WeatherTech Championship, including 2015 GT Le Mans (GTLM) champion Patrick Pilet and 2015 Le Mans overall winners Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber.
The LM P2 entry includes full-time WeatherTech Championship competitors Michael Shank Racing – making its Le Mans debut – in addition to two cars from Extreme Speed Motorsports and an entry from Krohn Racing, team that race in the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup. Drivers in the class include 2016 Rolex 24 At Daytona and Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida overall winners Ed Brown, Scott Sharp, Pipo Derani and Johannes van Overbeek; 2016 Rolex 24 pole winner Mikhail Aleshin; and WeatherTech Championship regulars Ryan Dalziel, Ben Keating, Jeroen Bleekemolen, Marc Goossens, John Pew and Ozz Negri.


Scuderia Corsa will field a Ferrari 458 Italia, bringing back former team drivers and 2015 GT Daytona (GTD) champions Bill Sweedler and Townsend Bell. Also, the WeatherTech Championship Alex Job Racing team is partnering with German Proton Competition in entering a WeatherTech-sponsored Porsche for IMSA regulars Cooper MacNeil, Leh Keen and Marc Miller.
Current GTD points co-leader Christina Nielsen will drive a Ferrari for Denmark-based Formula Racing. She is one of two women on the Le Mans entry list, joining Ines Tattinger from France.