24 Hours of Le Mans preview: LMP2
- Evan Veer
- Jun 11
- 7 min read
Written by Evan Veer, Edited by Aaron Carroll
Although the LMP2 class was removed from the World Endurance Championship (WEC) for 2024, the class still returns to the 24 Hours of Le Mans for its most prestigious race of the year. Each edition a minimum of 15 slots on the Le Mans entry list are reserved for the class, with a total of 17 entries making it to the grid for this year’s race.
Five teams won their entries through success in other championships, for example by winning the LMP2 championships in the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) or IMSA, while the remainder of the field was selected by the race organizers based on their contributions in and loyalty to the WEC and other championships.
All entries are required to have at least one silver ranked driver in their lineup, most of whom are young drivers at the start of their careers. Teams also have the choice to field a bronze ranked driver instead, who tend to be older semi-amateur drivers with a career outside of racing.
Any entry with a bronze driver in their lineup is automatically entered into the LMP2 Pro-Am subcategory which is recognized as its own class in the race results, rewarding the top 3 in this category with its own podium ceremony after the race. Out of the 17 LMP2 entries nine are part of the Pro-Am subcategory.
While the teams are allowed to use any of the four available LMP2 chassis manufacturers, every single entry on this year’s grid has opted for the dominant Oreca 07. This effectively turns the class into a spec category as every team uses the same chassis, engine, tyres, and fuel as the others.
Given that this LMP2 field is gathered for a one-off race only it is very hard to predict how the entries stack up against each other, especially since the cars themselves should roughly be equal across the field.
Most driver lineups are mixtures of drivers racing together in championships like the ELMS’ LMP2 category and drivers from other categories around the world who only run Le Mans as a one-off.
In numerical order the first pair of entries come from Proton Competition, with the No.11 under their own name and the No.9 in collaboration with Iron Lynx, both of which also compete in this year’s ELMS season.
The No.9 is driven by Jonas Ried, son of WEC veteran Christian Ried, and Maceo Capietto, while the third seat is filled by ELMS rival Reshad De Gerus for Le Mans only.
The No.9 is a Pro-Am entry driven by bronze driver Giorgio Roda and the usual lineup of René Binder and Bent Viscaal, both of whom have several seasons of LMP2 competition under their belts.
Next up is the only team that won its entry from LMP3 success with last year’s champions RLR M Sport, with the support of Vector Sport. The team’s mainstay bronze driver Michael Jensen is joined in the No. 16 Pro-Am entry by Ryan Cullen and Patrick Pilet, the two of whom raced at Le Mans together for Vector Sport the previous year.
The French team of IDEC Sport are definitely among the absolute favorites in the class this year, with the No.18 having won both ELMS races this year, while the team itself is ramping up to support the Genesis Hypercar project for next year.
The Genesis branded No.18 retains its pair of impressive young talents in Mathys Jaubert and Jamie Chadwick, while the third seat is filled by reigning Hypercar champion and three time Le Mans winner André Lotterer.
The No.28 in the traditional red and black IDEC colours features their full-season ELMS lineup of Paul Lafargue, Job van Uitert, and Sebastian Alvarez.
Then comes another pair of favorites in both the overall and the Pro-Am fields with a pair of entries from United Autosports. The team has built up an impressive record in the LMP2 class over the years, including several championship victories in both the WEC and ELMS and multiple class victories at Le Mans, including last year’s edition.
The No.22 that led the field on test day is filled with talent from outside the team, with Acura GTP factory driver Renger van der Zande and Haas Formula One reserve Pietro Fittipaldi being joined by the experienced silver-rated David Heinemeier Hanson.
The No.23 Pro-Am lineup carries over Daniel Schneider and Oliver Jarvis from its ELMS crew, with the third seat being filled by Ben Hanley.
As a mainstay in the ELMS it is only logical that the Nielsen team get a shot to prove themselves at Le Mans, though only Cem Bölükbaşı is carried over from the team’s full-season lineups.
He is joined in the blue No.24 by the relatively new bronze driver Navaneen Rao together with highly experienced Acura GTP driver Colin Braun.
After some financial struggles in recent years the Algarve Pro Racing team has fought its way back up to being a powerhouse in the LMP2 field, running cars in every LMP2 championship around the world.
The No.25 runs the team’s usual black and blue livery and is entirely carried over from the ELMS, with silver driver Matthias Kaiser being joined by the two young talents of Théo Pourchaire and Lorenzo Fluxá.
The No.45 Pro-Am car features a Crowdstrike livery, with the company’s CEO George Kurtz as its bronze driver alongside the young Alex Quinn and experienced Corvette GT racer Nicky Catsburg.
Next up is a partnership of multiple teams covering two cars together, with the No.29 and No.48 both primarily operated by the French TDS racing team with support and branding from VDS racing, with the No.48 further being branded and supported by the Panis Racing outfit.
The neon yellow No.29’s Pro-Am lineup is carried over from the ELMS, with bronze driver Rodrigo Sales joined by Mathias Beche and Clément Novalak.
Meanwhile No.48 takes Oliver Gray and Esteban Masson from its ELMS squad, while the last seat is filled by Lamborghini factory driver Franck Perera.
2023’s underdog winners Inter Europol made their way onto the grid with two entries for this edition of Le Mans.
Impressively the Polish squad are the only team to obtain two guaranteed entries through wins in other championships last year, solidifying them as favourites before the track action even gets going.
The No.34 Pro-Am entry owes its grid slot to IMSA winning bronze driver Nick Boulle’s campaign with the team last season, with the other two spots being filled by the team’s ELMS lineup of Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer and Luca Ghiotto.
On the other hand the No. 43 earned its slot with a second place finish in last year’s ELMS championship and is driven by the team’s principal Jakub Smiechowski. The other two seats are filled by Acura GTP racer Nick Yelloly and former Vanwall driver Tom Dillmann.
From Switzerland we have the newly rebranded CLX Pure Rxcing team, run by the outfit formerly known as Cool Racing. Last year’s LMGT3 championship winning bronze Aliaksandr Malykhin returns, this time as a silver, taking the Pure Rxcing branding with him.
He is joined by Tom Blomqvist and Tristan Vautier, a pair of experienced drivers who have experience in both IMSA and IndyCar under their belts.
Last year’s Pro-Am winners AF Corse are back with a striking gold snakeskin livery that will be hard to miss on track. The No.183 is one of seven cars run by the AF Corse operation at Le Mans and features one of its most loyal bronze drivers in François Perrodo.
He races alongside former Alpine Hypercar driver Matthieu Vaxivière and Porsche Formula E driver Antonio Felix Da Costa.
Last on the list is the No.199 AO by TF Sport in its iconic purple “Spike the dragon” livery. The AO racing team has rapidly worked its way up from a new unknown team to the established name it is now, with a combination of fan-favorite liveries and strong showings on track.
The car is entered in the Pro-Am category with the team’s founder PJ Hyett as the bronze driver, joined by two drivers with top class experience: current Cadillac GTP driver Louis Delétraz and former Porsche factory driver Dane Cameron.
Though making strong predictions about the running order is nearly impossible ahead of time, some lineups make for stronger bets than others.
Among the overall category the No.18 IDEC Sport’s ongoing winning streak makes it an obvious favourite. The all-round experienced lineups of the No.22 United Autosports and No.43 Inter Europol, combined with their teams’ pedigrees, make for some strong contenders as well.
Alternatively the No.25 Algarve Pro Racing offers a mix of an established silver driver with two young talents eager to make their mark on the world stage.
Given the field of impressive pro drivers all over the Pro-Am field the deciding factor will likely be the strength and consistency of the amateur drivers, as the bronze is as important as the others in the car combined.
Compared to the rest of the field the bronze drivers tend to have a greater difference in pace between each other and are the ones most likely to make mistakes, making a strong bronze driver invaluable to most teams.
Considering this there is no way not to mention the No.183 AF Corse as a favourite, with Perrodo boasting a long history in the class including winning the Pro-Am category at Le Mans last year. Furthermore the No.199 AO by TF and No.34 Inter Europol also have strong lineups complemented by reliable bronze drivers and capable teams.
The No.45 Algarve Pro Racing could have an outside shot with a strong bronze and two talented pro drivers, though neither of them have the long list of LMP2 experience commonly found in the rest of the field.
In the end the factors that make the class so hard to predict are also what should make it great to watch come race day; every single car on the entry list has a reasonable chance at fighting for podium positions or the class win in their subclass.
No matter how good a team’s lineup may be, in the end the secret to success at Le Mans is staying out of trouble all the way through, something which is not always under your own control.
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