Millennium Racing pulls out of Le Mans

Millennium Racing has officially pulled out of the 24 Hours of Le Mans after skipping the first two rounds of the World Endurance Championship and the test last weekend.

They had originally planned to enter two Oreca 03-Nissans into the LMP2 class but withdrew from the event in late April. A fee weeks ago in May, it was revealed that their No. 22 machine would replace Lotus who suddenly decided that they would not be able to honor their invitation to the June racing spectacle.

The Millennium Racing saga ends with this team walking away from a chance at Le Mans glory due to financial reasons. The drivers who were scheduled to race for them were Fabien Giroix, John Martin and Oliver Turvey.

There will be no teams called up to fill the void left by Millennium's decision, so we will only see 55 cars on the grid. There could have been a chance that a AF Corse Ferrari could have taken their place with another car, but the rest of their fleet is in Portimao for the International GT Open race. With scrutineering this weekend in Le Mans, it would be impossible.

The team waited so long to make the call because they were hoping that the funds they were waiting on would arrive in time for them to keep their Le Mans endeavor alive.

The last time we saw less than 56 cars present for the race was back in 2009.