As the regulations state, each team must designate a head driver during the invitation validation. It is not surprising that Jeroen Bleekemolen - victorious in the LM P2 class at the 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans with the Van Merksteijn outfit's Porsche RS Spyder - was named since he is competing in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship in the GTD class with the American team whose second car won in its class at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the first round of the season, in January.

In fact, it is one of the winners of the 24-hour race in Florida, Ben Keating, who will join Bleekemolen. The duo shared the wheel of a Dodge Viper all of last year in the GTC class of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship with two wins - at Mosport in Canada, and at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas.

As Bleekemolen is a "Platinum" driver and Keating is ranked as a "Silver" driver, the Riley Motorsports-Ti Auto outfit had to enter a "Bronze" driver to be in complaince with the regulations concerning LM GTE Am class driver line-up composition. The American team has chosen Marc Miller, a competitor in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, a supporting race of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. The American driver, who like Keating will experience his first 24 Hours of Le Mans, posted on his Twitter feed: "This would be an opportunity of a lifetime for any driver, so I am truly blessed amd focused on exceeding all expectations. Also, thank you to my gf, family and friends for the massive support and especially CJ Wilson and my team that are so supportive of all this. This is a huge undertaking by the team and the effort going into trying to win the world's biggest race with an American brand and team.."

Now before heading to Le Mans, Ben Keating and Marc Miller will now need to take care of the simulator session that is mandatory for all drivers never having done the race before...

Cécile Bonardel / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO

PHOTO: DAYTONA BEACH (FLORIDA, USA), DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY, TUSC, 24 HOURS OF DAYTONA, SUNDAY 25 JANUARY 2015, PODIUM.