The LM P3 philosophy carries with it a two-fold goal: to offer gentlemen-drivers the opportunity to race at lower costs, and to give access to young drivers a path specific to endurance prototypes, also at lower costs. The first constructor to answer the call to the new class was British constructor Ginetta who dominated the 2015 ELMS season with the LNT team, a Nissan partner and winner of four out of five rounds. The first LM P3 champions were Charlie Robertson and Scottish former circuit cycling Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy: at 18 years old, the first won a title in his first endurance season, and the second (39 years of age) has the objective, with Nissan's support, of taking the start at his first 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2016.

The LM P3 class didn't take long to attract other constructors. Onroak Automotive presented its Ligier JS P3 on Friday, June 11th, the day before the 83rd edition of the 24 Hours. The new car claimed a podium finish at its very first appeance in the ELMS at the closing round in Estoril (Portugal) thanks to French team Graff Racing. The Ligier JS P2 scored its first win in the class at the Fuji circuit (Japan) at the opening round of the Asian Le Mans Series season, with also third place overall - a performance achieved by the team of David Cheng, who in 2014 was a member of the very first 100% Chinese driver line-up at the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It was also in the Asian Le Mans Series that ADESS, the third constructor involved in LM P3, made its debut. Aftet this promising debut, the presence of LM P3 prototypes seems to be on the road to growing even more in 2016.

Jean-Philippe Doret / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO

Photo: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, SUNDAY MAY 31 2015, TEST DAY. The presence of the LM P3 prototypes at the 2015 Test Day allowed former Olympic circuit cycling champion Sir Chris Hoy to do the 10 laps mandatory for all drivers looking to compete at his/her first 24 Hours of Le Mans.