ELMS reveals record 44-car grid for 2016
The European Le Mans Series will boast a mammoth 44-car grid in 2016, including no fewer than 20 cars in the LMP3 class.
Photo by: XPB Images
In the largest entry the championship has enjoyed since it was relaunched in 2013, there will be 15 LMP2s, 20 LMP3s and nine GTE cars, with the GTC class for GT3 cars being scrapped for 2016.
Five different manufacturers are represented in the LMP2 class – Gibson, ORECA, Ligier, Morgan and BR01 – with Nissan powering 12 of the 15 entries and Judd the remainder.
Defending champion outfit Greaves Motorsport headlines the entry list, with Gary Hirsch piloting its existing Gibson 015S-Nissan and Mexican sportscar racing stalwart Memo Rojas joining in a Ligier JS P2.
The LMP3 class is dominated by Ligier, which accounts for 19 of the 20 cars, with only Murphy Prototype’s sole AR-2 machine breaking the trend. All 20 cars are Nissan-powered.
Aston Martin has a works car entered in the GTE class for former British GT champion Andrew Howard, with TDS Racing entering a second Vantage for Eric Dermont.
WEC squads AF Corse (Ferrari) and Proton Competition (Porsche) have two cars entered apiece, while AT Racing, Formula Racing and JMW Motorsport also each will have a single Ferrari 458.
Full entry list:
N° | Team | Car | Confirmed drivers |
LMP2 |
|||
1 | Greaves Motorsport | Gibson 015S - Nissan | Gary Hirsch |
21 | DragonSpeed | ORECA 05 - Nissan |
Henrik Hedman Nicolas Lapierre |
22 | SO24 by Lombard Racing |
Ligier JS P2 - Judd |
Vincent Capillaire Olivier Lombard |
23 | Panis Barthez Competition |
Ligier JS P2 - Nissan |
Fabien Barthez |
25 | Algarve Pro Racing | Ligier JS P2 - Nissan |
Michael Munemann |
28 | IDEC Sport Racing | Ligier JS P2 - Judd |
Patrice Lafargue |
29 | Pegasus Racing | Morgan - Nissan |
Ines Taittinger |
32 | Courage |
BR01 - Nissan |
Andreas Wirth |
33 | Eurasia Motorsport | ORECA 05 - Nissan |
Pu Jun Jin Nick de Bruijn Tristan Gommendy |
34 | Race Performance | ORECA 03R - Judd |
Nicolas Leutwiler |
38 | G-Drive Racing | Gibson 015S - Nissan |
Giedo van der Garde Simon Dolan Harry Tincknell |
40 | Krohn Racing | Ligier JS P2 - Nissan | Tracy Krohn |
41 | Greaves Motorsport | Ligier JS P2 - Nissan | Memo Rojas |
46 | Thiriet by TDS Racing | ORECA 05 - Nissan |
Pierre Thiriet Mathias Beche |
48 | Murphy Prototypes | ORECA 03R - Nissan | Greg Murphy |
LMP3 |
|||
2 | United Autosports | Ligier JS P3 - Nissan |
Alex Brundle Mike Guasch |
3 | United Autosports | Ligier JS P3 - Nissan |
Mark Patterson Matt Bell |
4 | OAK Racing | Ligier JS P3 - Nissan |
Jean-Marc Merlin |
5 | By Speed Factory | Ligier JS P3 - Nissan | Jesus Fuster |
6 | 360 Racing | Ligier JS P3 - Nissan | Terrence Woodward |
7 | Villorba Corse | Ligier JS P3 - Nissan |
Roberto Lacorte Giorgio Sernagiotto |
8 | Race Performance | Ligier JS P3 - Nissan | Nicolas Leutwiler |
9 | Graff | Ligier JS P3 - Nissan |
Eric Trouillet Paul Petit Enzo Guibbert |
10 | Graff | Ligier JS P3 - Nissan |
John Falb Sean Rayhall Bob Corliss |
11 | EuroInternational | Ligier JS P3 - Nissan | Constantino Peroni |
12 | EuroInternational | Ligier JS P3 - Nissan | Jay Palmer |
13 | InterEuropol Competition | Ligier JS P3 - Nissan | Jakub Smiechowski |
14 | Murphy Prototypes | Riley AR-2 - Nissan |
Tony Ave Doug Peterson |
15 | RLR Msport | Ligier JS P3 - Nissan |
Ossy Yusuf Ross Warburton Morten Dons |
16 | Panis Barthez Competition | Ligier JS P3 - Nissan | Eric Debard |
17 | Ultimate | Ligier JS P3 - Nissan | Jean-Baptiste Lahaye |
18 | M.Racing - YMR | Ligier JS P3 - Nissan | Thomas Laurent |
19 | Duqueine Engineering | Ligier JS P3 - Nissan | David Hallyday |
20 | Duqueine Engineering | Ligier JS P3 - Nissan | TBA |
24 | OAK Racing | Ligier JS P3 - Nissan | Jacques Nicolet |
LMGTE |
|||
51 | AF Corse | Ferrari 458 Italia |
Piergiuseppe Perazzini |
55 | AF Corse | Ferrari 458 Italia | Duncan Cameron |
56 | AT Racing |
Ferrari 458 Italia | Alexander Talkanitsa |
59 | TDS Racing | Aston Martin Vantage V8 |
Eric Dermont |
60 | Formula Racing | Ferrari 458 Italia |
Christina Nielsen Mikkel Mac Johnny Laursen |
76 | JMW Motorsport |
Ferrari 458 Italia |
Robert Smith |
77 | Proton Competition |
Porsche 911 RSR |
Marco Seefried |
88 | Proton Competition | Porsche 911 RSR |
Gianluca Roda |
99 | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin Vantage V8 |
Andrew Howard |
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