Unlike other continental championships whose winners earn an automatic invitation, the American series chooses two of its competitors. In 2016, that will be Scuderia Corsa, ranked third in the LM GTE Am class in 2015 at Le Mans, and Michael Shank Racing, having entered a Ligier JS P2 in the Prototype (P) class in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Though Scuderia Corse already announced its return to Le Mans, Michael Shank Racing waited until an official testing session leading up to the Rolex 24 at Daytona to reveal its plans. In addition to the full WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season with John Pew - who won the Trueman trophy given to the best semi-professional driver, in 2015 - and Ozz Negri, the outfit based in Ohio will cross the Atlantic to compete at the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the very first time.

The Pew-Negri duo will have the support of Laurens Vanthoor who debuted at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2015 in a Ligier JS P2-Honda entered by OAK Racing, the constructor branch of Ligiers for Onroak Automotive. Despite a retirement, the Belgian made a strong impression on Michael Shank, founder of the outfit carrying his name.

Michael Shank, team owner: "This is a big announcement and a very big project for my entire organization,” said Team Owner Mike Shank. I’m very excited about having everything come together to make this possible, it is the biggest challenge we’ve taken on as a group and we are very, very motivated to do well."

John Pew, driver: "When I first started with Michael Shank Racing in 2007, I never thought that this all would eventually lead to a 2016 Le Mans entry in an LMP2 car,” said Pew. “Le Mans is the pinnacle in the world of sports car racing. What an honor it will be just to race there. Last year we went to Le Mans just to observe and what an awesome event! The crowds, the track, the complete ambience. It is great to partner with Onroak in the Ligier P2 and with Honda. Not only is it an awesome car, but they have Le Mans experience which we hope to draw from."

The announcement relative to the 24 Hours of Le Mans came the day after the officialization of Olivier Pla, official Ford driver in the World Endurance Championship (WEC), for the four long races in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, grouped within the North American Endurance Cup.

Cécile Bonardel / ACO (quotations from team press release) - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO

PHOTO: DAYTONA BEACH (FLORIDA, U.S.), DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY, WEATHERTECH SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIP, ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONA, FRIDAY JANUARY 8 2016, PRESS CONFERENCE. Michael Shank, the three drivers (John Pew, Ozz Negri, Laurens Vanthoor), Ed Bennett (IMSA), Philippe Dumas (Onroak Automotive) and Steve Eriksen (HPD) attended the press conference.