Last weekend, with the Asian Le Mans Series mini-season closed, the grid of teams that earned an invitation to the next 24h of Le Mans was completed.
The latest names to buy tickets to attend the fourth event of the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship season, scheduled for the weekend of 10-11 June, are DKR Engineering, Graff Racing and Walkenhorst Motorsport.
DKR won the LMP2 class at Asian Le Mans and will therefore be able to take part in the same category on the Circuit de la Sarthe, as will Graff, titled in LMP3 and therefore entitled to the jump to the higher class.
#8 Graff Racing Ligier JS P320 – Nissan: Fabrice Rossello, Xavier Lloveras, Francois Heriau
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Walkenhorst has won the GT crown and will therefore be entitled to enter the LMGTE AM Class with a car fitted to the relevant specifications. The German team, which has long been associated with the BMW brand, will hardly put an M8 on the track as there is no longer any development by the Bavarian company for this vehicle, which appeared a couple of years ago in IMSA for the last time, so it is probable that it will have to choose between Ferrari, Porsche, Corvette and Aston Martin.
The three teams mentioned above are added to those already invited for the successes and placings achieved in the other championships selected by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, organizer of Le Mans. Tower Motorsports (thanks to the prize awarded to John Farano as best IMSA Bronze), Prema Racing (LMP2 Champion in the European Le Mans Series, adding a third car to the two already entered in the FIA WEC), Panis Racing (second in ELMS) will be able to compete in LMP2 ) and Cool Racing (first in LMP3 in ELMS).
#34 Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW M4 GT3: Chandler Hull, Nicky Catsburg, Richard Heistand
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
In LMGTE AM the first three GTEs of ELMS 2022 are also entitled to a place, namely Proton Racing, Kessel Racing and Iron Lynx, with GMB Racing (Michelin Le Mans Cup Champion) and Wright Motorsports with Ryan Hardwick, best Bronze driver of the IMSA GTD.
Finally, IMSA has also selected Action Express Racing to compete with the new Cadillac V-LMDh among the Hypercars, adding to the one already entered by Chip Ganassi Racing in the FIA WEC.
At the beginning of March the FIA and the ACO will announce the provisional entry list for the centenary edition of Le Mans.
