24 Hours of Le Mans Preview: LMP2

Credit: 24 Heures du Mans

Hypercars and LMGT3s have been the core of the World Endurance Championship (WEC) since 2024, but once a year a swarm of LMP2s join them at the Circuit de la Sarthe for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. 19 Oreca 07s will descend on the track for this years event.

Entry list

And what a stacked field of 19 cars it is. There are star names up and down this field, with plenty of talent to go with it.

The field is split into two sub-classes, LMP2 and LMP2 Pro-Am, the same way it is in the European Le Mans Series (ELMS). That makes nine Pro-Ams, and 10 regular entries.

Pro-Am

All of the Pro-Am cars must contain one Bronze rated driver in their three-driver line-ups, with the remaining two slots filled by Silver, Gold or Platinum drivers.

First on the list is the No.3 DKR Engineering car. This car can be spotted by a striking orange and blue livery, which is set to glow in the dark. Their Bronze driver is IMSA LMP2 regular John Farano. The Canadian has plenty of LMP2 experience in the North American series, winning the championship in 2022.

The Silver in this line-up is is Sebastián Álvarez, who drives alongside Farano in IMSA, and with DKR in the ELMS. The duo finished eighth in the Daytona 24 Hours this year, and also picked up a podium in Sebring. The Pro driver is another IMSA regular, Renger van der Zande. The Acura GTP driver brings a wealth of racing experience to the team, having raced Le Mans eight times before.

The No.4 Crowdstrike by APR car is the second on the entry list for this weekend. Crowdstrike CEO George Kurtz serves as the teams Bronze. He won the LMP2 Pro-Am category of this race in 2023, and this year also won the 24 Hours of Daytona in IMSA, as well as the Asian Le Mans Series (AsLMS) title.

He's joined by two pros in the form of Alex Quinn and Laurin Heinrich. Quinn joined Kurtz on the top step in Daytona, and has finished second the last two years running in the Pro-Am category of ELMS. Heinrich is Porsche's up and coming star, and overall winner of this years Daytona 24 and Sebring 12 Hours.

Next up in Pro-Am is the No.14 TDS Racing car. Their Bronze, Tobias Lutke is relatively new to racing, his first season being 2025 with Era Motorsport in IMSA. He'll have two Pros to guide him through his first Le Mans though, with Mathias Beche and Kevin Estre joining him.

The No.14 TDS Racing car in this years ELMS 4 Hours of Barclona I Credit: Stephen Power

Beche comes with years of LMP2 and LMP1 experience in IMSA, WEC and at Le Mans - winning the LMP1-L class with Rebellion back in 2014. Estre is one of the biggest names in Sportscar racing currently. He's won this race in a Porsche GTE-Pro car in 2018, and came second overall in last years race with Porsche. He's also previously won the 24 Hours of Spa, the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring and is a two time WEC champion (2019 in GTE and 2024 in Hypercar).

Then comes the No.25 Algarve Pro Racing (APR) car of Michael Jensen, Enzo Trulli and Jake Hughes. As the Bronze, Jensen's accolades include an AsLMS title in 2025 and an ELMS LMP3 title in 2024. Trulli (son of Jarno) started out in single seaters - winning the F4 UAE title in 2021 - and is still quite early in his sportscar career, but has seen some success in the ELMS.

Hughes would be best known for his exploits in single seaters too. A former Formula One test driver for Mercedes, former Formula E driver for McLaren and current simulator driver for McLaren in F1, Hughes comes to the sportscar world with plenty of experience.

The No.44 Proton Competition entry comes with a father and son duo. Horst Felbermayr Jr and his son, Horst Felix Felbermayr serve as the entries Bronze and Silver drivers respectively. They'll be joined by 21-year old Lorenzo Fluxa, who has almost solely driven LMP2 machinery in the last three years.

The No.48 RD Limited car is headlined by three-time Le Mans winner and 2016 WEC LMP1 champion Romain Dumas. The Frenchman also twice won the American Le Mans Series in a Porsche LMP2.

He'll be joined by another French veteran in Tristan Vautier. The former IndyCar driver was the 2018 Intercontinental GT Challenge winner, and has done a handful of races in Porsche and Acura machinery in IMSA's GTP class. The Bronze driver, Fred Poordad comes with plenty of experience, having previously driven almost every type of sportscar, including LMP2, GT3, GT4 and GTE.

The defending Pro-Am champions are next, the No.99 AO Racing car. Dane Cameron and PJ Hyett (Bronze) won this race last season alongside Louis Deletraz, but Deletraz got a late call up to Cadillac in Hypercar, so he will be replaced by 2023 ELMS champion James Allen.

Credit: AO Racing

Hyett and Cameron have been a winning partnership for the last two years, with an IMSA and ELMS title - both with AO in LMP2 - to go alongside their Le Mans victory.

The penultimate Pro-Am entry is the No.183 AF Corse car. Francois Perrodo is their Bronze, and has a very impressive track record. He has won Le Mans twice in class, and has four WEC championships to his name. He has also so far dominated the Legends of Le Mans LMP2 class, even sometimes challenging the quicker LMP1 cars in his Porsche.

Matheiu Vaxiviere is the teams Gold driver, and brings experience as a former Alpine Hypercar driver from 2021-2024. He is also a two-time LMP2 Pro-Am champion in the ELMS with AF Corse. The Platinum, Ben Barnicoat is known for his driving in a Lexus GT3 car, but won this race in 2024 with AF Corse.

The final Pro-Am car is the No.222 United Autosports car. Daniel Schnieder (Bronze) has been driving with United in the LMP2 Pro-Am class of the ELMS so far this season, and has experience in the class before too.

He'll be joined by Ben Hanley and Oliver Jarvis. Hanley has won Pro-Am at Le Mans before, in 2021, and Jarvis was a part of the Jackie Chan Racing LMP2 that finished second overall back in 2017. The 42 year-old Briton is also an IMSA DPi champion.

LMP2

To be classified for the main LMP2 class, teams need a Silver driver, and any combination of Silver, Gold and/or Platinum drivers for their line-ups.

The first car on the list is the No.9 Proton Competiton with SevenXSeven Racing car of Jonas Reid, Kaku Ohta and Harry King. King has been making a name for himself in LMP2, and also has a good history in one-make Porsche racing. Ohta is best known for his Super Formula career, a championship he currently leads.

Then is the No.22 United Autosports car of Rasmus Lindh, Gregoire Saucy and Mikkel Jensen. Both Saucy and Jensen have been named as McLaren Hypercar drivers for next season, as well as Laurens Vanthoor who tested this car on Sunday, and is listed as the official reserve driver.

The No.22 United Autosports car in this years ELMS 4 Hours of Barcelona I Credit: Stephen Power

The No.24 Nielsen Racing car will be piloted by David Heinemeier Hansson, Edward Pearson and Jack Doohan. Doohan is well known for his stint in F1 with Alpine, and has now made the full-time switch to LMP2 racing. Hansson won this race and the WEC title back in 2014, in an Aston Martin GTE.

Ryan Cullen, Vladislav Lomko and Pietro Fittipaldi will pilot the No.26 Vector Sport car. Irishman Cullen has been racing with Vector at Le Mans since 2022, while Fittipaldi brings experience from NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula E and F1 as well as his own three Le Mans starts.

There'll be a lot of eyes on IDEC Sports entry after their tumultuous time last year with a double DNF. They return with the No.28 car, driven by Paul Lafargue, Valerio Rincella and Job van Uitert. Lafargue and Uitert pilot the No.28 in the ELMS (currently 6th overall), while Rincella is a regular of the sister No.18 car.

Reigning ELMS champions, Forestier Racing by Panis come to Le Mans and one of the favourites. The trio of Louis Rousset, Oliver Gray and Esteban Masson sit third in the ELMS standings after a win in the opening round, and pole for the second round that unfortunately ended in a non-score.

The No.30 Duqiene car is one full of big names. Reigning F1 Academy champion Doriane Pin will be joined by Porsche star Julien Andlauer and RIchard Verschoor, known for his days spent in Formula 2. Pin and Verschoor currently lead the LMP2 Pro-Am championship in the ELMS alongside Giorgio Roda after two third place finishes.

The No.37 CLX crew hope to be catching headlines as the youngest driver line-up on the grid. With Adrein Closmenil (19), Ian Aguilera (19) and Theodor Jensen (19) the trio of teenagers hope youth can bring them fortune. Jensen and Closmenil dominated the LMP3 class of the ELMS, taking five wins in six races.

The No.43 InterEuropol entry is another big contender with Jakub Smiechowski, Tom Dillmann and Nick Yelloly at the wheel. Last years winners return with an unchanged line-up, and an unchanged attitude to the race.

The same can be said for the attitude of the sister No.343 car. Bijoy Garg, Reshad De Gerus and Nico Müller will be at the wheel of this one. Garg won his only start at Le Mans back in 2024, and comes this year with the goal of keeping his 100% record. De Gerus has raced here four times in an LMP2, while Müller brings Hypercar experience from his days with Peugeot and Porsche.

19 cars and a whole lot of unanswered questions is the story for this LMP2 field heading into the race weekend. One thing that is for certain though, there will be plenty of action during the 24 hours on Saturday and Sunday, as there always is in class.