The names of the six drivers who will represent the German manufacturer this year were announced on Porsche's Night of Champions this past December. Only one driver from the winning 2016 24 Hours trio will be returning: Neel Jani, whose car will boast the #1 given to World Endurance Champions, will be joined by 2015 Le Mans winner Nick Tandy, and André Lotterer, an Audi transplant and three-time winner at the 24 Hours.

Porsche will continue to put its confidence in Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley in the sister car, and has replaced newly-retired Mark Webber with Earl Bamber, who like Nick Tandy also won at Le Mans in 2015.

Like Porsche, Toyota has released the names of its driver line-ups, but has yet to reveal the 2017 version of the Toyota TS050 HYBRID. But unlike its German rival settling for two cars, the Japanese manufacturer will enter three prototypes at the 85th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 17th.

The third car, set to compete in the WEC Spa-Francorchamps round in May, will be entrusted to Stéphane Sarrazin (five podium finishes with Peugeot and Toyota at the 24 Hours of Le Mans), Nicolas Lapierre (back again after two consecutive wins in LM P2 at Le Mans) and Yuni Kunimoto, debuting at the 24 Hours.

Only one driver of the two Toyota TS050 HYBRIDS entered in the World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) will be debuting at Le Mans: José Maria Lopez, supporting Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi in the #7 car. The other driver line-up of Sébastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima (#8) will be returning.

The official presentation of the 2017 versions of the Porsche 919 Hybrid (at 2:00 p.m.) and Toyota TS050 HYBRID will take place on Friday, March 31st!

Photo (Copyright - Porsche): The six official drivers of the Porsche 919 Hybrid for 2017, from left to right, Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley, Earl Bamber, André Lotterer, Neel Jani and Nick Tandy.