ELMS Promises Action Packed Racing in 2017

• 36 full season entries
• All three championship winning teams return to defend titles
• New era for LMP2 with Oreca, Ligier and Dallara going head to head
• LMP3 champions United Autosports add LMP2 Ligier to 2017 line up
• 2016 Michelin GT3 Le Mans Cup Champions TF Sport move up to LMGTE Class

The grid for the 2017 European Le Mans Series will once again feature a large entry of 36 cars across the three classes, with the teams and drivers announced representing twenty different nations from around the world.

LMP2: New regulations attracts diverse grid

LMP2 begins a new era in 2017 with new technical regulations.  Teams can choose from four different chassis manufacturers, which will all be powered by a Gibson engine.  The 2017 ELMS will feature three of these manufacturers with four Dallara P217s, five Ligier JSP217 and four Oreca 07s making up the 13 full season entries in the class.

2016 Champions G-Drive Racing return with the Oreca 07, with Mexico’s Memo Rojas being named as the lead driver.  The other teams running the Oreca chassis will be 2016 race winners Dragonspeed and LMP3 Vice Champions Graff moving up to LMP2 with two cars.

2016 LMP3 Champions United Autosports have entered a single Ligier JSP217 in the LMP2 class in which they will compete at the 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.  Panis Barthez Competition returns to the ELMS with French soccer legend Fabien Barthez back for his second season of prototype endurance racing in the new Ligier.  Algarve Pro Racing and IDEC Sport Racing return to the ELMS for another season with the new Ligier while Tockwith Motorsports move up from LMP3.

SMP Racing is one of four teams running the new Dallara chassis, with Mikhail Aleshin being named as the lead driver in the no27 car.  Italian team Cetilar Villorba Corse move up from LMP3 to LMP2 for the 2017 season with Dallara, while Jan Lammers returns with Racing Team Nederland and a new Danish team, High Class Racing, makes up the 13 strong LMP2 grid.

LMP3: Entry Level Prototypes That Provide Action and Drama

Large grids and action packed racing was the feature of LMP3 in 2016 and this looks set to continue in 2017 with 16 cars on the full season entry list.  Fifteen of the entries will run the title winning Ligier JS P3-Nissan while M-Racing-YMR are entering two cars, with one being the new Norma M 30 chassis, subject to the cars being homologated in time for the first race at Silverstone.

United Autosports will run a two car effort in defence of their 2016 title with Mark Patterson returning for another season of racing. Duqueine Engineering also return with two Ligier JS P3s after a successful first season in the category as do By Speed Factory from Spain, 360 Racing from the UK, Eurointernational from the USA, Inter Europol Competition from Poland, RLR Msport from the UK, Panis Barthez Competition and Ultimate both from France.

AT Racing is moving up to prototype racing in 2017 with the Austrian team running a single Ligier for Belarusian Alexander Talkanitsa.

LMGTE: Aston Martin v Ferrari v Porsche – What could be better?

The LMGTE grid features seven cars on the 2017 grid with three Ferraris, two Porsches and two Aston Martins fighting for class honours this season.  Reigning champions Beechdean AMR also return to defend their hard won title with Andrew Howard being named as the lead driver in the no99 Vantage.  Their chief rivals for the title last season also return with fellow British team JMW Motorsport lining up on the grid in the Ferrari 458 Italia with Rob Smith.

Two of the new Ferrari F488 GTEs will be on the ELMS grid in 2017 with Italian team Spirit of Race running the cars for Gianluca Roda in the no51 Ferrari and Duncan Cameron in the no55.  The two Porsche 911 RSRs will be run by Germany’s Proton Competition with Christian Ried in the no77 car and 2016 race winner Wolf Henzler in the no88 car.

2016 Michelin GT3 Le Mans Cup Team Champions TF Sport have entered the second of the two Aston Martin V8 Vantage with Turkey’s Salih Yoluc named as the lead driver.

Pierre Fillon, President of the ACO: “As the leading continental series for endurance racing, it is very pleasing to see such a strong grid for the 2017 European Le Mans Series.  The ELMS represents an important step in the ladder of endurance racing and it continues to attract top teams and top drivers from around the world to compete on six of the best circuits in Europe, with a return to Monza and Portimão this year. We are looking forward to the 2017 season.”

Gérard Neveu, CEO of the European Le Mans Series: “2017 marks the fifth season since the relaunch of the ELMS and the series continues to provide the best platform for endurance racing anywhere in the world.  The six race calendar provides a great mix of top class circuits across Europe to challenge the teams and drivers and provide some great action packed racing for the fans, both at the track and watching around the world on TV or via the live streaming.  We have a great mix of teams and manufacturers in the new LMP2 class with Dallara, Ligier and Oreca.  We have Aston Martin, Ferrari and Porsche in LMGTE and with 16 cars, the LMP3 class will provide some great drama in 2017.  This season has the potential to be the best yet in the long history of the European Le Mans Series.”

The opening round of the six European Le Mans Series races will take place on Saturday 15 April at Silverstone in the UK, followed by races in Italy (Monza), Austria (Red Bull Ring), France (Le Castellet), Belgium (Spa-Francorchamps) and Portugal (Portimão). The official pre season 2-day test, will take place at Monza on 28 and 29 March.

CLICK HERE to download the entry list.