24h Le Mans
The teams invited to the 85th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans have revealed their line-ups over the two weeks since the grid was announced at the Automobile Club de l’Ouest web conference, but in the LM GTE Am class most of them have only released the name of their head drivers.
After the conference, just TF Sport's and Aston Martin Racing's trios were known. Since then, only the American team Scuderia Corsa has announced the composition of the driver line-ups for the two Ferrari 488 GTEs it will enter. The team holds two invitations to 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans, one for its win in the LM GTE Am class at last year's 24 Hours of Le Mans, the other by way of the IMSA in which Scuderia Corsa is a major player.
Townsend Bell and Bill Sweedler - with the Californian outfit since it first began competing in the 24 Hours - will return but this time the two American drivers will be joined in the #62 Ferrari by Cooper MacNeil who has already competed in two races with Scuderia Corsa overseas. The trio in the #65 sister car will not be 100% American, but Christina Nielsen and Alessandro Balzan, who won the GTD class in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2016 with Giacomo Mattioli's team, will be joined by Bret Curtis, who will be participating in his second 24 Hours of Le Mans.
This edition will be the third time in a row the driver line-up of Paul Dalla Lana-Pedro Lamy-Mathias Lauda will be on the starting grid at Le Mans in the #98 Aston Martin Vantage. The TF Sport team will debut at the 24 Hours thanks to its performances in the Michelin Le Mans Cup. Though official Aston Martin driver Nicki Thiim will lead the way for Salih Yoluc and Euan Hankey in the European Le Mans Series, at the 24 Hours of Le Mans the Danish driver will be replaced by another top GT driver, Rob Bell.
The 12 other driver line-ups are not yet finalized, but teams are allowed to submit the names of the remainder of their drivers until Thursday, May 11th at midnight, Paris time.
Photo (Copyright - Michel Jamin/ACO): Mathias Lauda, Pedro Lamy and Paul Dalla Lana, from left to right at the Drivers' Parade for the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans, will join forces for the third consecutive time at this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans.
