Le Mans: 62 cars start, of which 16 hypercars

This year is the anniversary of the legendary 24 hours of Le Mans marathon, because in May 1923 such a race was held for the first time on the ring of Sarte, when 37 teams took part. One hundred years later, on June 10 at 4:00 PM local time, the French national flag will be waved and the 91st race will start on this classic circuit.

On Monday, the FIA ​​released the official entry list, which features a number of interesting and important additions. A total of 62 cars are on the line, including 16 hypercars, 24 cars from the LMP2 class, 21 cars from the LMGTE Am category and one special car, which belongs to the so-called “Innovative” class. Ten teams are also on the reserve list.

So far the names of all riders, which should be 186, have not been mentioned yet, but it is already known that there will be at least 12 winners of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in recent years and five women among the participants.

The latest addition to the hypercar class are the three latest Cadillac V-Series.R sports prototypes. Two of these cars will be from the factory Cadillac Racing team and another will be made available to Action Express Racing.

For the first time in half a century, Ferrari returns to the highest endurance category with the impressive 499P built in Maranello. The Ferrari AF Corse team is represented by two teams, numbered 50 and 51.

In general, there are many debutants this year: these are the Porsche 963 Hybrid hypercars, the Peugeot 9X8 and the Vanwall Vandervell 680 – this car will be driven by Jacques Villeneuve along with two partners.

Of course, the Toyota Gazoo Racing factory team, which won Le Mans five years in a row, remains the favourite, but the spirit and capabilities of its rivals should not be underestimated. All hypercars, except Vanwall and the American Glickenhaus SCG 007C, have hybrid powerplants.

Overall, there haven’t been that many teams in the higher WEC category at Le Mans for a long time: there were only more in 2011, when 17 LMP1 class cars entered the grid.

In the Innovative Car category, the Chevrolet Camaro LZ1 of American team Hendrick Motorsports is declared out of the official standings – this is perhaps the rarest case in Le Mans history when a NASCAR car starts, although it has undergone all the necessary changes to to go with the road course and withstand the strain of the daily marathon.

This crew will get a lot of attention, thanks in part to the amazing cast: Jenson Button, 2009 World Champion, Mike Rockenfeller, 2010 Le Mans winner, and Jimmie Johnson, seven-time NASCAR champion.

And Russian fans will probably be most interested in the success of Daniil Kvyat, who will make his WEC debut this year as part of the Prema Racing squad, where he will be teammates with veteran Italian Mirko Bortolotti and the 19- year-old Frenchwoman. Doric pin. Daniil will compete in the LMP2 class, which for the first time in Le Mans history consists of only Oreca 07 sports prototypes fitted with naturally aspirated 4.2-litre Gibson GK428 engines.

In less than two weeks, the participants of the World Endurance Championship will experience their first showdown: on March 11 and 12, the so-called “prologue” will take place at the American circuit in Sebring, and the first leg of the WEC will start on March 17.