24 Hours of Le Mans Preview: LMGT3
- Benjamin Crundwell
- 3 hours ago
- 7 min read
The 24 Hours of Le Mans has been the diamond encrusted crown of endurance racing since its first edition in 1923. Comparatively, the LMGT3 class is in its youth, having started in 2024, despite the Group GT3 regulations existing since 2006.
The class is for GT3 homologated race cars, which means each race car is modelled on a manufacturer's mass produced road car. For example, AF Corse race the Ferrari 296 GT3, which is modelled on the Ferrari 296 GTB.
When the class was first introduced in 2006, its purpose was to create a cheaper form of Grand Tourer (GT) racing, than the GT1 and GT2 categories of the time. Over a decade and a half later, the regulation's ethos is unchanged, LMGT3 replaced the LMGTE class to reduce costs for racing teams.
Entry List
The LMGT3 class is the biggest across the grid, as per usual, with 25 entries split across nine manufacturers. This means 75 drivers will compete in the class, their ratings ranging from bronze to platinum.
Per regulation, each car must have a bronze driver, a silver and the third driver can be any rating, but every entrant has gone for either a platinum or gold, except for Iron Lynx's No.79 Mercedes, which has two silvers.
For a race of such attrition, it's impossible to predict a winner before the race begins, but the favourites have to be the car which won the race in 2025, as well as the Drivers' Championship, the No.92 Bend Manthey Porsche. The car is continuing its run of form, as it currently leads this years championship too.
The German contender will be driven by Yasser Shahin, Riccardo Pera and Richard Lietz, the latter of who is making his 20th start at Le Mans. Since his debut in 2007 he has won in-class six times, three of which have come in the previous four years.
Manthey's biggest rivals may be from one of the full time World Endurance Championship (WEC) cars, such as the No.10 Garage 59 McLaren or the No.69 BMW, or it may be from one of the seven extra entrants, who are only competing in Le Mans.
As well as their regular TF Sport and Racing Team Turkey entries, Corvette are bringing two extra cars, one from 13 Autosport and the other also from TF Sport. Ferrari have gone a step further than their American rivals, bringing three extra cars (plus their usual two) - two by Kessel Racing and the third by Richard Mille AF Corse.
The purpose of bringing extra machinery to Le Mans is a simple case of statistics. If a manufacturer brings one race car, then it has a set probability of winning, and a higher probability of retiring. By bringing multiple cars (or five, in Ferrari's case), the chance of each individual car winning remains unchanged, however the probability of the manufacturer winning with one of the cars increases - for example if one Ferrari retires, there will still four left.
While Corvette and Ferrari are bringing extra cars to win the race, Mercedes and Iron Lynx are bringing a single extra car, aiming to score a good result, but a win might be far fetched. Last year was Mercedes' first Le Mans in 26 years, but the result was underwhelming, they finished 12th and 14th, with the third car retiring.
Championship Standings
A good result at Le Mans is not just about the bragging rights, the race is the only round on the WEC calendar which offers double points, so it can be a major turning point in the championship race.
Currently the reigning champions, the No.92 Bend Manthey Porsche, are leading again, having picked up two third places in the opening two rounds. The No.10 Garage 59 car sits in second place, having won the 6 Hours of Spa a few weeks ago, and the No.69 WRT BMW is in third place, having won the opening round in Imola.
Despite being the only cars to win a race so far this year, the No.10 and No.69 have failed to score points in the race which they didn't win.
The No.33 TF Sport Corvette is in fourth place. Nicky Catsburg and Jonny Edgar have raced with Blake McDonald this year, but McDonald will be replaced in Le Mans by Ben Keating, who has recovered from injury.
Last year's championship runners up, the No.21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari crew are currently fifth in the Championship, ahead of the No.27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin. The high competitiveness in the LMGT3 class is evident, six manufacturers hold the top six championship spots.
The No.91 Porsche is seventh, from the No.58 McLaren and the No.32 BMW. The top 10 is rounded out by the No.87 Lexus.
The Headlines
No.21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari
The No.21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari had to deal with finishing second to the No.92 Porsche in both the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Drivers' Championship last year, so will be determined to make 2026 about them. The Ferrari's lineup is unchanged from last year, François Hériau, Simon Mann and Alessio Rovera have continued to race the car this year.
The trio sit fifth in the Championship, with a fifth and fourth place, a solid two results to prepare them for Le Mans. Hériau and Mann have never won the race before, their only podium coming last year when the car finished second, which makes Rovera stand out as the most experienced of the three, as he won the LMGTE class on debut in 2021.
Iron Lynx and Mercedes
As mentioned earlier, last year was Mercedes' first time back at the French track in 26 years, and their debut in the WEC. The team had a disappointing year, with eight different drivers attempting to race the No.60, which failed to finish higher than tenth in any of the eight rounds, and retired at Le Mans.
The No.61 had a slightly better year with two eighth places and a surprise second place, but with three retirements. Although last year might have been one for Mercedes to find their feet, so far in 2026 the results are yet to come. Both cars have retired once, and sit 16th and 19th in the Championship.
The Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo is a strong competitor, proved by its results in other series, such as the Intercontinental GT World Challenge, where it has won the opening two rounds. Iron Lynx must get to the bottom of their performance issues to prove they are capable of running the Mercedes cars, and Le Mans is the perfect place to prove they have what it takes.
No.78 Akkodis ASP Lexus
Another poor performing car this year is the No.78 Lexus. The car finished ninth last year with a couple of strong results including a third place in Imola. This year however, Lexus has struggled for results. The car finished 14th in Imola and retired from Spa, putting it 17th in the Championship.
The sister Lexus has not performed much better, it retired in Imola (when both cars hit issues in the same lap), but managed to scrape sixth place at Spa, scoring points which could prove invaluable later in the season.
Lexus do not have a bad track record at Le Mans, despite the LFA RC F GT3 being nine years old. In 2024 they finished in sixth and eighth place, and in 2025 went one better to finish fifth while the other car retired.
Ones to watch
No.92 Bend Manthey Porsche
As the championship leader, reigning champion and recent winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the No.92 Bend Manthey Porsche has to be the bookmakers favourites this weekend. Not only did they win the race last year, they also finished second in a Porsche 1-2 in 2024, meaning no manufacturer other than Porsche has won Le Mans during the LMGT3 era.
No.10 Garage 59 McLaren
The No.10 Garage 59 McLaren sits in second place in the Championship, but most importantly it won the 6 Hours of Spa. Spa is the track most similar to Le Mans, as teams sacrifice downforce to prioritise low drag setups, in the same way they do at Le Mans.
This means cars will be running very similar packages and setups this weekend as they were in Spa. Since McLaren were so quick with this setup, it's likely they will be equally fast in Le Mans, posing a serious threat to the reigning champions.
No.77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang
It's a rogue choice, but the No.77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang could be a genuine challenger at Le Mans. The car was leading the 6 Hours of Spa in the opening hour, when Eric Powell made a mistake at Stavelot and finished the car's race in the gravel trap. The car did not retire, but could only recover to 16th. At Imola, the car was slightly more successful, but only finished 10th.
The Mustang is yet to win a race in the WEC, but it feels as though a win has been knocking on the door for a while. The car consistently picks up points finishes, and has a few podiums under its belt, including a third place at Le Mans in 2024.
The Mustang's grunt from its 5.4L V8 puts the American car in a strong position at Le Mans, as it has plenty of power to outpace its rivals on the Mulsanne Straight. Of course this may be nullified by Balance of Performance, but regardless, Ford still have a car well suited to Le Man's Circuit de la Sarthe.
The drivers will be relieved Le Mans is expected to stay dry this week, so their race will not be interrupted from the skies. The race will start at 16:00 local time (15:00 BST) on Saturday, and qualifying will be split across Wednesday and Thursday, with LMGT3's Hyperpole starting at 20:00 local time (19:00 BST) on Thursday.
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