The RK Motors company bought the Ford GT 40 Mk II that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966 with the goal of restoring it. The first car fabricated in the U.S. is intended to be presented at the Pebble Beach, California concours d'

The ultimate target of the Balance of Performance is always to ensure level playing field.

<p>The first few races of the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship season have shown differences between different LMH-spec cars competing in the Hypercar class to be greater than initially anticipated.</p>

<p>Considering these factors, and following an in-depth analysis of available data, the WEC Committee has decided that the goal of ensuring level playing field within the Hypercar class will be best achieved by implementing correction between, but also within, the LMH and the LMDh platforms.</p>

<p><br />
&nbsp;</p>

Joint FIA/ACO statement on 24 Hours of Le Mans Balance of Performance

Today, Wednesday 31 May, the 24 Hours of Le Mans Centenary Exhibition was officially opened by Pierre Fillon, Patrick Peter, Dominique Le Mèner, Véronique Rivron and Sébastien Bourdais. The world-exclusive exhibition of Le Mans cars will be open to the public from tomorrow, Thursday 1 June.

<p>The 24 Hours of Le Mans Centenary Exhibition comprises 80 superb cars that are part of the Le Mans legend, including 59 outright winners of our 100-year-old race.  The impressive fleet, on loan from 15 museums and 17 private collectors, is on display until 2 July to give visitors to the 24 Hours of Le Mans and Le Mans Classic the chance to see the gathering of so many exceptional cars under one roof.<br /><br />
No less than 28 makes are represented and the most iconic models from the 24 Hours of Le Mans are temporarily back where they made history. Among the stars are the 1924-winning Bentley, reigning Hypercar queen the Toyota GR010 Hybrid, the famous 1966 winning Ford GT40 Mk II, the Porsche 917 LH in its Gulf livery, the Mazda 787 B, the unique BMW Calder and the 1967 Ferrari 330 P4.<br /><br />
This unique array of historic race cars retraces 100 years of motoring, decade after decade, record after record, milestone after milestone. The exhibition will be open every day from 1 June to 2 July 2023 from 10:00 to 19:00, with special opening times during 24 Hours of Le Mans race week (5–11 June).<br /><br />
Race Week:<br />
- Monday 5 and Tuesday 6: 09:00 – 20:00<br />
- Wednesday 7: 09:00 – 22:00<br />
- Thursday 8: 09:00 – 23:00<br />
- Friday 9: 09:00 – 15:00<br />
- Saturday 10: 15:00 – 03:00<br />
- Sunday 11: 09:00 – 19:00</p>

The 24 Hours Of Le Mans Centenary Exhibition is officially open

24 HOURS CENTENARY – THE LE MANS EXCEPTION ⎮ In its 100-year history, the legend of Le Mans has been built on not only lasting technological innovation, but also on records that have wowed motorsport fans all over the world. Topping the list is the speed record in the Mulsanne Straight, held since 1988 by French constructor WM. Here is a look back at a performance called the "400 kph mission" as remembered by one of the engineers who lived it.

<p>The Mulsanne Straight, a&nbsp;six-kilometre inspiration&nbsp;for absolute speed, has&nbsp;stimulated&nbsp;imaginations and fueled many dreams of extraordinary performance, including&nbsp;reaching 400 kph since the 1970s.</p>

<h3>The Porsche 917&nbsp;</h3>

<p>When the 917 first appeared in 1969, the record was already on&nbsp;the mind of Ferdinand Pi&euml;ch, grandson of founder&nbsp;Ferdinand Porsche,&nbsp;the marque&#39;s sporting director at the time. He considered it just as important as winning, and&nbsp;never stopped fine-tuning the aerodynamics of the first Porsche to win at Le&nbsp;Mans. British driver Jackie Oliver reached a top speed of&nbsp;386 kph during the free practice in&nbsp;1971 and even though he &quot;failed&quot; by&nbsp;14 kph, the record held until 11 June&nbsp;1988.</p>

<p>Five years after Oliver&#39;s achievement, French constructor WM was created. <strong>Vincent Soulignac:</strong>&nbsp;<em>&quot;I joined&nbsp;WM in the summer of&nbsp;1976</em>. <em>At the time, I had been&nbsp;an engineer at Peugeot&#39;s research centre in&nbsp;La Garenne. We did our first&nbsp;24 Hours of Le&nbsp;Mans in 1976. At&nbsp;WM, we were amateurs in the truest sense of the term, none of us were salaried. We developed and entered our race cars at Le Mans as a hobby.&nbsp;I quickly took on the technical responsibilities and defined&nbsp;the entire mechanical architecture. G&eacute;rard Welter </em>(WM co-founder with&nbsp;Michel Meunier, Ed.)<em> supervised everything else and particularly the aerodynamics.&quot;</em></p>

<p>After the launch of the Group C prototypes class, Welter&#39;s focus on aerodynamics went to another level during the second half of the 1980s. <em>&quot;The&nbsp;FIA created Group&nbsp;C to attract constructors, which&nbsp;made budgets skyrocket</em>. <em>Around&nbsp;1985-1986, we started thinking about sponsors. The&nbsp;Heuliez company&nbsp;</em>(specialised in the transformation of road and utility vehicles, Ed.)<em>&nbsp;and owner&nbsp;G&eacute;rard Qu&eacute;veau agreed to join us in our attempts to establish a speed&nbsp;record at the&nbsp;24 Hours of Le&nbsp;Mans. Heuliez then took over the #52&nbsp;WM. Reaching 400 kph was a motivating endeavor for the entire team.&nbsp;You not only need a very low drag, but also total stability, because you don&#39;t launch one of your drivers at 400 kph without knowing what you&#39;re doing.&quot;</em></p>

<p>The&nbsp;WM entrusted to Heuliez underwent highly&nbsp;streamlined&nbsp;aerodynamic work. In addition to the technical requirements&nbsp;for a car considering such a record, one needs the proper&nbsp;speed measuring equipment.&nbsp;<em>&quot;You have to remember that back then, speed measurement on the roads was carried out by the Mesta 206 radar gun (built by the&nbsp;SFIM). They were set up&nbsp;trackside in the Mulsanne Straight at the 1987 and&nbsp;1988 24 Hours.</em>&nbsp;I<em>n 1987, no speeds were recorded above&nbsp;390 kph and when the WMs passed through, the Mesta 206 failed to record&nbsp;any speed, even though we had reached 410 kph. The 1987&nbsp;24 Hours ended without us having officially beat the speed&nbsp;record. We were disappointed of course, and decided to try again in 1988. So, I talked with&nbsp;the SFIM who agreed to supply different equipment.&quot;</em></p>

<h3>From&nbsp;407&hellip; to&nbsp;405 kph</h3>

<p>Since its first appearance in the 24 Hours in&nbsp;1976, WM had opted for&nbsp;an original PRV turbocharged V6 engine&nbsp;named after the association between Peugeot, Renault and Volvo for its production. That decision proved&nbsp;important in&nbsp;establishing the&nbsp;speed record&nbsp;on the triumphant day of 11&nbsp;June&nbsp;1988. <em>&quot;On Saturday night&nbsp;during the race, around&nbsp;22:00, an engineer from the&nbsp;SFIM told me they had a new radar gun, the&nbsp;Mesta 208</em>. <em>I called&nbsp;Roger </em>(Dorchy, one of the drivers in the #51&nbsp;WM, Ed.)<em>&nbsp;and asked him to put an extra 50 grams of boost pressure on the engine. After that, the car made it to&nbsp;407 kph. G&eacute;rard </em>(Welter, Ed.)<em>&nbsp;and I were both working for&nbsp;Peugeot, and it was agreed that, given the launch of the Peugeot 405, we would declare the speed record at 405 kph.&quot;</em></p>

<h3>Will the&nbsp;record be&nbsp;beat?</h3>

<p>For Dorchy&#39;s&nbsp;penultimate participation (he represented&nbsp;WM 11 times in 15 starts from&nbsp;1974 to&nbsp;1989), he&nbsp;entered the record books at the&nbsp;24 Hours of Le Mans. A little more than three months after that historic&nbsp;11 June&nbsp;1988, at the Paris Motor Show Peugeot presented&nbsp;a full-scale model of the first design of its 905, which would go on to&nbsp;win the race&nbsp;in 1992 and 1993.</p>

<p>Could the&nbsp;405 kph record be beaten one day&nbsp;for a perfect mix of&nbsp;technological innovation and pure performance&nbsp;ahead of the use of&nbsp;hydrogen at the race?&nbsp;Soulignac thinks anything is possible: <em>&quot;I believe if someone wanted to design a car for that purpose, they could beat the record in&nbsp;the section of the Mulsanne Straight before the first chicane, and even in what I call the third straight&nbsp;</em>(between the&nbsp;Mulsanne and&nbsp;Indianapolis curves, Ed.)<em>. In fact, 400 kph is also a myth. That&#39;s 250 miles per hour...basically,&nbsp;round numbers are better&nbsp;</em>(laughs, Ed.)<em>.&rdquo;</em></p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>PHOTOS (Copyright - ACO/Archives): LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 1988 24 HOURS OF LE&nbsp;MANS. WM fielded two P87&nbsp;prototypes in 1988 entrusted to Roger Dorchy, Claude Haldi, Pascal Pessiot and&nbsp;Jean-Daniel Raulet. Both cars were forced to retire, but the #51 fulfilled its mission, establishing the current Mulsanne Straight speed&nbsp;record.</strong></p>

24 Hours Centenary – French marque WM's 400 kph mission

Twenty-four LMP2 cars will take the start in the 24 Hours Centenary, eight of which will be shared by a combination of professional and amateur drivers (Pro/Am). There are several contenders for victory in this highly competitive class.

<h2>PREMA RACING</h2>

<p>#9 &ndash; ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson &ndash; Bent Viscaal (NLD) &ndash; Juan Manuel Correa (USA) &ndash; Filip Ugran (ROU)<br />
#63 &ndash; ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson &ndash; Doriane Pin (FRA) &ndash; Daniil Kvyat &ndash; Mirko Bortolotti (ITA)</p>

<p>PREMA RACING</p>

<p>#9 &ndash; ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson &ndash; Bent Viscaal (NLD) &ndash; Juan Manuel Correa (USA) &ndash; Filip Ugran (ROU)<br />
#63 &ndash; ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson &ndash; Doriane Pin (FRA) &ndash; Daniil Kvyat &ndash; Mirko Bortolotti (ITA)</p>

<p>This Italian team earned a second place finish in LMP2 last year for&nbsp;its rookie participation and is fielding a&nbsp;Lamborghini in the&nbsp;Hypercar class this season. The marque&#39;s official drivers,&nbsp;Mirko Bortolotti and <a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/lamborghini-hires-daniil-kvyat-for-2024-hypercar-programme-57312">Daniil Kvyat</a>&nbsp;from&nbsp;Formula 1 (110 Grand&nbsp;Prix), will join forces with Doriane Pin (age 19) who&nbsp;distinguished himself in 2022 by winning the&nbsp;Trofeo Pirelli Europe in the Ferrari Challenge, the&nbsp;24 Hours of&nbsp;Spa and the 4 Hours of Portim&atilde;o in the&nbsp;ELMS. Three young drivers from the ELMS will take the wheel of the&nbsp;#9 sister car. This team&#39;s crews make it a contender for victory in the class.</p>

<h2>VECTOR SPORT</h2>

<p>#10 &ndash; ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson &ndash; Ryan Cullen (GBR) &ndash; Matthias Kaiser (LIE) &ndash; Gabriel Aubry (FRA)</p>

<p>This British team founded by former JOTA team manager Gary Holland will take its second start in the 24 Hours after finishing 22nd in&nbsp;LMP2 last year, a result that does not reflect its potential. Vector Sport and drivers&nbsp;Ryan Cullen, Matthias Kaiser and Gabriel Aubry hope to finish stronger at the Centenary all while remaining&nbsp;dedicated to the development of&nbsp;Italian marque Isotta Fraschini&#39;s Hypercar project. Gary Holland:<em>&nbsp;&quot;It&#39;s once again incredibly competitive, but we are confident that, with the lessons learned and experience gained in 2022, we will be in a strong position to challenge for the race wins this season. We have a solid package in place, a great team of people with relevant expertise, and we know exactly what we need to do to win.&quot;</em></p>

<h2>TOWER MOTORSPORTS</h2>

<p>#13 &ndash; ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson &ndash; John Farano (CAN) &ndash; Ricky Taylor (USA) &ndash; Ren&eacute; Rast (DEU) &ndash; Pro/Am</p>

<p>This Canadian team earned an invitation to the 24 Hours&nbsp;Centenary after clinching an LMP2 win&nbsp;in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and will&nbsp;join&nbsp;forces with TDS Racing. The #13 ORECA is expected to sport&nbsp;Vaillante&#39;s blue, white and red for its participation in LMP2 Pro/Am. John Farano:&nbsp;<em>&quot;To compete in the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans, and in particular this year&rsquo;s edition being the 100th year anniversary of the event, is a distinct honour and a dream that very few racers worldwide will have the privilege to be a part of. This is a race that every driver in the world wants to win, and I wholeheartedly believe that Tower Motorsports with TDS Racing has the resources to achieve this goal.&quot;</em></p>

<h2>NIELSEN RACING</h2>

<p>#14 &ndash; ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson &ndash; Rodrigo Sales (USA) &ndash; Mathias Beche (FRA) &ndash; Ben Hanley (GBR) &ndash; Pro/Am</p>

<p>British team&nbsp;Nielsen Racing is heading into its third participation after&nbsp;2020 and&nbsp;2022 after&nbsp;finishing&nbsp;16th in&nbsp;LMP2 last year with&nbsp;Rodrigo Sales and&nbsp;Ben Hanley already on board. The duo will welcome French driver&nbsp;Mathias Beche. The LMP2 Pro/Am car will be given&nbsp;a special paint scheme in honour of the Centenary:&nbsp;an artist has designed a livery that&nbsp;highlights the history of the race as well as iconic drivers and circuit corners.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>UNITED AUTOSPORTS</h2>

<p>#22 &ndash; ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson &ndash; Philip Hanson (GBR) &ndash; Filipe Albuquerque (PORT) &ndash; Frederick Lubin (GBR)<br />
#23 &ndash; ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson &ndash; Joshua Pierson (USA) &ndash; Tom Blomqvist (GBR) &ndash; Oliver Jarvis (GBR)</p>

<p>United Autosports is a mainstay&nbsp;of the&nbsp;LMP2 class and back for revenge after the #22 ORECA was catapulted into a&nbsp;gravel trap by WRT&#39;s&nbsp;#31 ORECA in the first seconds of the race last year. Both of the team&#39;s cars have a real chance of winning thanks to fast and experienced driver line-ups. Phil Hanson and&nbsp;Filipe Albuquerque (eight&nbsp;participations each) in the #22 have been teammates since&nbsp;2018 and will be joined by&nbsp;rookie Frederick Lubin (age 18). The #23 will be shared by&nbsp;Josh Pierson (one participation), Tim&nbsp;Blomqvist (two) and&nbsp;Oliver Jarvis (10, and 2017 LMP2 winner with Jackie Chan DC Racing). The&nbsp;#23 won the&nbsp;6 Hours of Portim&atilde;o ahead of the #22 this season.</p>

<h2>JOTA</h2>

<p>#28 &ndash; ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson - David Heinemeier Hansson (DNK) &ndash; Oliver Rasmussen (DNK) &ndash; Pietro Fittipaldi (BRA)</p>

<p>While this British team gives&nbsp;the Hypercar class a try with a&nbsp;Porsche 963, it will retain a car in LMP2. JOTA claimed the top step on the class podium last year and will be seeking a second win in a row with&nbsp;David Heinemeier Hansson (nine&nbsp;participations), Oliver Rasmussen (one) and Haas F1 reserve driver&nbsp;Pietro Fittipaldi (one). The outfit is currently 8th in the FIA Endurance LMP2 Teams Championship standings.</p>

<h2>DUQUEINE TEAM</h2>

<p>#30 &ndash; ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson &ndash;&nbsp;Neel Jani (CHE) &ndash; Ren&eacute; Binder (AUT) &ndash; Nicolas Pino (CHL)</p>

<p>Twenty-sixth in LMP2 last year, Duqueine Team is hoping for a podium finish, perhaps even to reach&nbsp;the top step. With 2016 winner with Porsche&nbsp;Neel Jani, Ren&eacute; Binder (four&nbsp;participations) and&nbsp;Nicolas Pino (age 18), it could happen. The outfit kicked off the European Le Mans Series season with 2nd place at the&nbsp;4 Hours of&nbsp;Barcelona.</p>

<h2>TEAM WRT</h2>

<p>#31 &ndash; ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson &ndash; Sean Gelael (IND) - Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen (AUT) - Robin Frijns (NLD)<br />
#41 &ndash; ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson &ndash; Rui Andrade (AGO) &ndash; Robert Kubica (POL) &ndash; Louis Del&eacute;traz (CHE)</p>

<p>Ahead of its involvement in Hypercar with&nbsp;BMW in 2024, the Belgian team would like to secure another class win (the first was in&nbsp;2021 with the #31 entrusted to Robin Frijns and&nbsp;Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen)&nbsp;after losing to&nbsp;JOTA last year. The teammates will welcome Sean Gelael. The #41 sister car will be driven by&nbsp;2021 ELMS champions Robert Kubica and&nbsp;Louis Del&eacute;traz, and&nbsp;Rui Andrade.</p>

<h2>INTER EUROPOL COMPETITION</h2>

<p>#32 &ndash; ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson &ndash; Mark Kvamme (USA) &ndash; Jan Magnussen (DNK) &ndash; Anders Fjordbach (DNK)<br />
#34 &ndash; ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson - Jakub Smiechowski (POL) &ndash; Albert Costa (ESP) &ndash; Fabio Scherrer (CHE)</p>

<p>For its fifth participation, Inter Europol Competition received two&nbsp;invitations. The&nbsp;double entry will give the Polish team an advantage in its goal for&nbsp;a class podium. The #34 is entered full-time in the FIA WEC and finished 4th at the&nbsp;1000 Miles of&nbsp;Sebring, 10th at the&nbsp;6 Hours of&nbsp;Portim&atilde;o and&nbsp;3rd at the TotalEnergies 6 Hours of&nbsp;Spa-Francorchamps.</p>

<h2>ALPINE ELF TEAM</h2>

<p>#35 &ndash; ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson - Andr&eacute; Negr&atilde;o (BRA) &ndash; Memo Rojas (MEX) &ndash; Oliver Caldwell (GBR)<br />
#36 &ndash; ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson &ndash; Matthieu Vaxiviere (FRA) &ndash; Julien Canal (FRA) &ndash; Charles Milesi (FRA)</p>

<p>Determined&nbsp;to be&nbsp;successful&nbsp;in the Hypercar class, Alpine Elf Endurance Team has&nbsp;confirmed&nbsp;its commitment to motorsport&nbsp;by fielding two prototypes&nbsp;in the&nbsp;24 Hours and FIA WEC this year.&nbsp;Launched in&nbsp;2013, Alpine&#39;s recent programme in&nbsp;endurance racing has earned the marque two European trophies, two world titles and three class wins at Le Mans.&nbsp;Team manager Philippe Sinault:&nbsp;<em>&quot;We are racers, and it was unthinkable for Alpine not to be part of the 24 Hours of Le Mans Centenary celebrations. We absolutely wanted to be a part of it as competition runs in our blood and DNA, and it also allows us to get ourselves in working order with most of the technical staff who will take up the challenge that awaits us in 2024.&quot;&nbsp;</em></p>

<p>La #35 est pilot&eacute; par Andr&eacute; Negr&atilde;o (six participations), Memo Rojas (six participations) et Oliver Caldwell, ancien pilote de monoplace et membre de l&rsquo;Alpine Academy. La #36 est confi&eacute;e &agrave; Matthieu Vaxiviere (six participations), Julien Canal (13 participations) et Charles Milesi (trois participations).</p>

<h2>COOL RACING</h2>

<p>#37 &ndash; ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson &ndash; Nicolas Lapierre (FRA) &ndash; Alexandre Coigny (CHE) - Malthe Jakobsen (DNK) &ndash; Pro/Am<br />
#47 &ndash; ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson &ndash; Reshad de G&eacute;rus (FRA) &ndash; Vladislav Lomko &ndash; Simon Pagenaud (FRA)</p>

<p>This Swiss team is writing&nbsp;a new chapter with two cars this year, and the arrival of 2019 Indy 500 winner&nbsp;Simon Pagenaud is a real coup at every level: technical, experience and speed. The outfit&#39;s&nbsp;motto is&nbsp;&quot;passion, ambition and youth.&quot;&nbsp;Veteran driver&nbsp;Nicolas Lapierre (15 participations), who had a hand in developing the Alpine Hypercar, will team up with Alexandre Coigny (one participation) and rookie&nbsp;Malthe Jakobsen. Reshad de G&eacute;rus (Alpine Elf Team reserve driver), Vladislav Lomko and&nbsp;Pagenaud will share the #47 sister car.</p>

<h2>GRAFF RACING</h2>

<p>#39 &ndash; ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson &ndash; Roberto Lacorte (ITA)&nbsp;&ndash; Giedo van der Garde (NLD) &ndash; Patrick Pilet (FRA) &ndash; Pro/Am</p>

<p>Since its rookie&nbsp;start&nbsp;in 1980 with Jean-Philippe Grand, Graff has racked up 17 participations and has competed in LMP2 every year since&nbsp;2017. Pascal Rauturier&#39;s team earned an&nbsp;invitation by&nbsp;winning in the&nbsp;Asian Le Mans Series&nbsp;this past winter and will be looking to repeat its 2018 performance with a&nbsp;2nd place finish in&nbsp;LMP2. Roberto Lacorte will join forces with Giedo van der Garde and&nbsp;Patrick Pilet to clinch a victory in&nbsp;Pro/Am.</p>

<h2>DKR ENGINEERING</h2>

<p>#43 &ndash; ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson &ndash; Tom Van Rompuy (BEL) &ndash; Ugo de Wilde (BEL) &ndash; Maxime Martin (BEL) &ndash; Pro/Am</p>

<p>DKR Engineering nabbed an&nbsp;invitation to the&nbsp;Centenary by winning the LMP2 title in the Asian Le Mans Series. The Luxembourg team&nbsp;is also taking part in the&nbsp;2023 European Le Mans Series season. Tom Van Rompuy and&nbsp;Ugo de Wilde are both rookies set to benefit from the experience of 2022 LMGTE Pro winner with Aston Martin, Maxime Martin (six participations).&nbsp;DKR Engineering is considered a contender for victory in LMP2 Pro/Am.</p>

<h2>ALGARVE PRO RACING</h2>

<p>#45 &ndash; ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson &ndash; George Kutz (USA) &ndash; James Allen (AUS) &ndash; Colin Braun (USA) &ndash; Pro/Am</p>

<p>This Portuguese team is navigating&nbsp;a busy season, competing in both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCars Championship and European Le Mans Series. It claimed the top step on the LMP2 podium at the Rolex 24 at Daytona thanks to James Allen&#39;s stunning finish, and came in 3rd in the 2023&nbsp;Asian Le Mans Series behind&nbsp;DKR Engineering and&nbsp;COOL&nbsp;Racing. Algarve is seeking a top spot under the chequered flag in LMP2 Pro/Am at the Centenary. George Kutz is a rookie, Allen has taken five starts in the race and Colin Braun one.</p>

<h2>IDEC SPORT rACING</h2>

<p>#48 &ndash; ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson &ndash; Paul Lafargue (FRA) &ndash; Paul-Loup Chatin (FRA) &ndash; Laurents H&ouml;rr (DEU)</p>

<p>IDEC SPORT Racing changed principal engineer by recruiting Nicolas Drouelle and is competing in the 2023 European Le Mans Series. Drivers&nbsp;Paul Lafargue and&nbsp;Paul-Loup Chatin are back and will team up with&nbsp;Laurents H&ouml;rr. The German driver has&nbsp;extensive&nbsp;experience in endurance racing, winning in&nbsp;the&nbsp;Michelin Le Mans Cup twice&nbsp;(2019 and&nbsp;2020). The team also participated in the 2022&nbsp;24 Hours with&nbsp;DKR Engineering.</p>

<p>After demonstrating remarkable speed and reclaiming the top step on the podium last year, IDEC SPORT Racing has high hopes for this season. Sporting Director Nicolas Minassian: <em>&quot;[We hope to] be satisfied with our work. And then results will follow.&quot;</em></p>

<h2>PANIS RACING</h2>

<p>#65 &ndash; ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson &ndash; Manuel Maldonado (VEN) &ndash; Tijmen van der Helm (NLD) &ndash; Job van Uitert (NLD)</p>

<p>Oliver Panis&#39; team has consistently improved over the last few seasons, finishing runner-up in the 2022 European Le Mans Series. It will count on sharp engineers well-trained on the ORECA&nbsp;07&nbsp;and efficient refuelling mechanics. The French outfit is seeking as many wins as possible this season with a solid driver line-up of&nbsp;Job van Uitert (four&nbsp;participations), Tijmen van der Helm (one) and&nbsp;Manuel Maldonado (one).</p>

<h2>AF CORSE</h2>

<p>#80 &ndash; ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson &ndash; Fran&ccedil;ois Perrodo (FRA) &ndash; Ben Barnicoat (GBR) &ndash; Norman Nato (FRA) &ndash; Pro/Am</p>

<p>A pillar&nbsp;of the GT class,&nbsp;AF Corse has&nbsp;also been competing in&nbsp;LMP2 since&nbsp;2022. Last year, the car finished 19th in the class. Fran&ccedil;ois Perrodo is back (nine&nbsp;participations) and will be joined by&nbsp;Ben Barnicoat (two) and&nbsp;Norman Nato (five).</p>

<h2>RACING TEAM TURKEY</h2>

<p>#923 &ndash; ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson &ndash; Salih Yoluc (TUR) &ndash; Tom Gamble (GBR) &ndash; Dries Vanthoor (BEL) &ndash; Pro/Am</p>

<p>Racing Team Turkey is the first team from the country to win an endurance racing&nbsp;championship, becoming&nbsp;European Le Mans Series Pro/Am champion in 2022. This will be the outfit&#39;s rookie start,&nbsp;seeking nothing less than a win in the Centenary.</p>

<p><u>The&nbsp;Top 5 FIA Endurance LMP2 Teams classification ahead of the 2023&nbsp;24 Hours of Le Mans</u>:</p>

<p>1. #22 United Autosports&nbsp;&ndash; 66 points<br />
2. #41 Team WRT &ndash; 58 points<br />
3. #23 United Autosports&nbsp;&ndash; 45 points<br />
4. #63 Prema Racing&nbsp;&ndash; 41 points<br />
5. #34 Inter Europol Competition&nbsp;&ndash; 40 points</p>

<p>Click for the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans&nbsp;<a href="http://assets.lemans.org/explorer/pdf/courses/2023/24-heures-du-mans/entry-list-24-heures-du-mans-2023.pdf">ENTRY LIST</a>.</p>

2023 24 Hours of Le Mans – Everything you need to know about the LMP2 class

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<p style="text-align: justify;">Ford announced at the Detroit Motor Show the GT&#39;s renaissance in celebration of the 50-year anniversary of its historic one-two-three in La Sarthe. The original version, the No. 2 P/1046 GT was to undergo a 20-month rejuvenation in Charlotte, North Carolina in RK Motors&#39; workshops, to regain its original appearance.</p>

<p style="text-align: justify;">Indeed, after its win in the hands of Chris Amon and Bruce McLaren, the auto developed by Caroll Shelby and entered by the Shelby-American, Inc. team was modified to compete in the Rolex 24 at Daytona in 1967. Unfortunately, the No. 1046 chassis had an accident following gearbox issues. Thereafter, the car changed hands several times before reappearing at the Le Mans Classic in 2006 for the 40th anniversary of its win.</p>

<p style="text-align: justify;">Looking to Pebble Beach in 2016 for the opportunity to appreciate a legendary American car.</p>

<p style="text-align: justify;">C&eacute;cile Bonardel / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO</p>

<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>PHOTO: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, JUNE 18 &amp; 19 1966, RACE. The No. 2 Ford GT crossed the finish line in first place.</strong></p>

24H LE MANS

1966 24 Hours of Le Mans - The winning Ford GT40 is being restored

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