Ben Keating has decided to honor the invitation to the 24 Hours of Le Mans (in the LMGTE Am class) that his team Keating Motorsports received thanks to the Bob Akin Award (given to the best competitor in the GTD class in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship). He will drive a Ferrari F488 GTE under his team's banner, supported by Risi Competizione with whom he has entered into an agreement. Keating will join forces with his friend, Jeroen Bleekemolen (winner at the 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMP2 class at the wheel of a Porsche RS Spyder).  

Risi Competizione has an excellent track record at Le Mans. With eight participations in the 24 Hours, the outfit based out of Houston in the U.S. has won Le Mans three times: in 1998 (in the LMP1 class with a Ferrari 333 SP), and in 2008 and 2009 (in GT2 with a Ferrari F430 GT). The team's last appearance, in the LMGTE Pro class, was less successful, ending in an incident at the first Hunaudières chicane after nearly six hours of racing (read Toni Vilander interview).

Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen will share a car for the fourth consecutive time, and this will be their second participation in LMGTE Am after driving SRT Riley Motorsports' Viper GTS-R (retirement) in 2015. Last year, the two buddies competed in LMP2 with the only Riley MK30 Gibson fielded (with Ricky Taylor, 22nd in the class). The third man rounding out the driver line-up will be announced in the near future.