Though it's still too early to announce the driver line-ups who will compete in the European championship, which Thiriet by TDS Racing won in 2012 in the LM P2 class, or Asian either, the outfit based in the south of France is already in the process of revealing its double program with a Norma LM P3 called M30.

Xavier Combet, team manager: "We decided to enter Norma M30s and are delighted to work alongside Norbert Santos on the new LM P3 project. We strongly believe that with the Norma M30, competitiveness will be in our hands. Our objective is to train drivers and to prepare cars to win races, as we have done in the past in different motorsport disciplines such as World Series by Renault or GT3. We will start this new programme in Asia this coming winter and go on in the 2017 ELMS. We want to create a true driver training pyramid to help them succeed at the highest level of endurance racing. Our six-year experience in endurance and our know-how in LM P2 will certainly be an advantage in this new adventure, and surely will contribute to help us to perform well in this new growing category."

The French constructor helmed by Norbert Santos (the "nor" in Norma, the "ma" coming from the second founder, Marc Doucet) was hired in March by the ACO to become the seventh constructor of prototypes in the LM P3 class, joining the European Onroak Automotive, Oreca, ADESS AG, Ginetta, the American Riley Technologies and the Japanese Dome.

Recently, Norma won the Pikes Peak hillclimb for the second time thanks to Romain Dumas, two-time 24 Hours winner, in 2010 and 2016. This year at Le Mans the Thiriet by TDS Racing team, having previously claimed the second step on the LM P2 podium, was forced to retire following an accident caused by a steering rack break.

Quotation from team press release.

Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO

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