As announced during the Automobile Club de l'Ouest press conference in early February, Timothé Buret will continue his collaboration with Panis-Barthez Compétition for the third year in a row. The young French driver will share the wheel with two veterans, both previous class winners at the 24 Hours of Le Mans: Julien Canal and Will Stevens.

Julien Canal won the GT class at Le Mans three times for his first three participations before moving up to LMP2 in 2014. After a podium finish at the 24 Hours with G-Drive Racing in 2015, with a Ligier, last season the Le Mans native - a McDonald's restaurant manager during the week and a driver on the weekends - won in the World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) with the Rebellion Racing team's ORECA.

Like Julien Canal, Will Stevens was also a member of the Russian outfit G-Drive Racing with whom he reached the second step on the 24 Hours of Le Mans podium in 2016 (ORECA), before moving up a spot the following year in LMGTE Am at the wheel of JMW Motorsport's Ferrari 488 GTE.

With a gentleman-driver of Julien Canal's caliber, both reliable and fast, and two young drivers from single-seaters - Timothé Buret, who did not hesitate to cross the Atlantic in 2015, and former F1 driver Will Stevens - there is no doubt the Panis-Barthez Compétition team of Fabien Barthez and Olivier Panis will be a serious contender for victory in the LMP2 class at the 86th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 16th and 17th.

PHOTO (Copyright - ACO): Will Stevens (at left), with his teammate Dries Vanthoor, won the LMGTE Am class at the 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans.