The special liveries of two Oreca 07s were unveiled in the Panis Racing and PR1 Motorsports Mathiasen garage. Artist Laurent Minguet added the final touches to the bonnet of the cars himself: a red heart and his signature.

The liveries feature a rough lumber or marble background with streaks of colour applied to the whole body to accentuate the notion of speed. “I wanted it to be a real artistic endeavour.  I started by painting pictures of each car to determine the aesthetic design and the end look. I used my hallmark artistic techniques, which use a wood or marble background, streaks, and highly realistic brushwork. The Oreca 07 is the work of art here. That’s why I started off by doing a painting that then became the car,” Minguet explained.

Panis Racing has given the multidisciplinary artist and designer from Toulouse the chance to follow in the footsteps of other illustrious artists who have produced an art car for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, such as Jeff Kons, Hervé Poulain, Fernando Costa and Andy Warhol. “For someone as passionate as me, it’s magical, simply amazing to follow on from them. I’ve tried to make my work as personal as possible. I haven’t seen the cars in motion yet, so I can’t wait to see them on the track,” said the artist.

Twenty-four prints have been made of each of the two original paintings, which are on sale at the official 24 Hours of Le Mans store. Profits from the prints will go to the Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque charity that enables underprivileged children with heart malformations to be operated on in France.

More photos of the livery reveal:

The #24 Oreca 07-Gibson fielded by PR1 Motorsports Mathiasen will be driven by Patrick Kelly, Gabriel Aubry and Simon Trummer and the #65 fielded by Panis Racing will be driven by Julien Canal, Will Stevens and James Allen.