Six cars for three manufacturers: Porsche, reigning world champion, Audi and Toyota will be on an equal footing for the full World Endurance Championship (WEC) and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, because the two VW-group marques will only be fielding two cars this time, compared to three last year. This means that none of the 2015 victors – Nico Hülkenberg, Earl Bamber and Nick Tandy – will be there to defend their title this year because they drove the third Porsche.

It also means that there are very few changes in the official driver line-ups, after fine performances all round last season. Following their record-breaking 17th Le Mans victory, Porsche are thus renewing their faith in WEC champions Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber, and in Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb, the formation that scooped the German manufacturer’s first WEC win in 2014.

Likewise, Audi have retained their three-time Le Mans winning trio of Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer, and the triptych (Loïc Duval, Le Mans winner in 2013, Lucas di Grassi and Oliver Jarvis) put together after the retirements of Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen.

The only change is at Toyota following Alexander Wurz’s retirement from the sport. The Austrian will instead be officiating as Grand Marshal at this year’s 24 Hours. He has been replaced in the cockpit by Kamui Kobayashi, previously the Japanese marque’s reserve driver. Kobayashi will be sharing the wheel with Stéphane Sarrazin and Mike Conway, while 2014 World Endurance Champions Sébastien Buemi and Anthony Davidson will team up with Kazuki Nakajima again.

The privateers are taking a similar approach with Rebellion Racing confirming the same crews as last year, namely Nick Heidfeld, Nicolas Prost, Mathéo Tuscher, Alexandre Imperatori, Dominik Kraihamer and Mathias Beche. However a question mark remains for the Le Mans 24 Hours because a partnership between the Swiss team and LM P2 outfit Thiriet by TDS Racing includes the “loan” of Beche to the French team who will be competing in the European Le Mans Series and the Le Mans endurance marathon. There has not been any announcement about his replacement so far.

We are also waiting for the name of the third ByKolles Racing Team driver. The Austrian team has named Simon Trummer as its designated driver (the World Endurance Championship (WEC) and 24 Hours of Le Mans regulations state that when teams submit an entry, they must name one designated driver) and has confirmed Pierre Kaffer as the second crew member, just like last year. The team’s CLM P1/01 car had its aerodynamics and suspensions modified last winter, leading to markedly improved performance and greater reliability, and the car has undergone another upgrade for the new season. Last year, it twice beat the R-Ones fielded by the team’s Swiss rival – once at Nürburgring and once at Circuit of the Americas in Texas.

To sum up, just two names are missing from the LM P1 driver lineups for the 24 Hours of Le Mans: the replacement for Mathias Beche who will be driving for partner Thiriet by TDS Racing in LM P2, and the third crew member for ByKolles Racing Team. Over in LM P2 however, there are still several places up for grabs... but that’s another story!

Cécile Bonardel / ACO | Translated from French by Clair Pickworth

PHOTO: Photo: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, SATURDAY 13 JUNE 2015, RACE. Most of the LM P1 drivers from last year’s Le Mans 24 Hours starting grid will be back in 2016.