Forty Five Cars for Season Opener at Le Castellet

There are also champions, both past and present, taking part in what promises an action packed encounter to get the 2018 ELMS season off to a great start in the south of France.

LMP2: Largest Ever LMP2 Grid – Quality AND Quantity

The LMP2 grid is the largest for the category in the history of the European Le Mans Series with 19 cars forming a mouth watering line up of world leading teams and drivers. The grid will feature no less than four world title holders.

Reigning LMP2 FIA World Endurance Driver Champions Bruno Senna and Julien Canal will be racing in Le Castellet but with different teams. Senna will be racing with Phil Hanson in the no22 United Autosports Ligier and Canal in the no23 Panis Barthez Competition Ligier with Timothé Buret and Will Stevens. 2013 FIA World Endurance Drivers Champion Loïc Duval will join fellow French drivers Matthieu Vaxiviére and François Perrodo in the TDS Racing Oreca. 

2015 LMP2 FIA WEC Drivers’ Champion Roman Rusinov will be racing the no26 G-Drive Racing Oreca alongside Andrea Pizzitola and Alexandre Imperatori as the Russian team begin the defence of the 2017 ELMS LMP2 team title.

Multiple 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Nicolas Lapierre will once again line up for DragonSpeed in the no21 Oreca-Gibson alongside his 2017 teammates Henrik Hedman and Ben Hanley.

With 22 French drivers and 7 cars flying the Tricolor flag, the local fans in Le Castellet will have plenty to cheer. Ford factory driver Olivier Pla will race with Paul Petit and Norman Nato in an all French line up for Spanish team Racing Engineering. 

Former ELMS Champions Paul Loup Chatin and Nelson Panciatici will be at the start of the 4 Hours of Le Castellet. Chatin will be racing for IDEC Sport alongside 2017 ELMS Champion Memo Rojas and Paul Lafargue, while Panciatici will join fellow Frenchmen Nicolas Jarmin and Pierre Ragues at Duqueine Engineering. 

2014 ELMS team Champions Signatech Alpine also make a welcome return with the Alpine A470 joining the Oreca 07, Ligier JSP217 and Dallara P217 chassis on the ELMS grid. The French team will run André Negrão and 2012 ELMS Champion Pierre Thiriet in Le Castellet.

LMP3: The Stars of tomorrow

With a bumper grid of 18 cars the LMP3 category continues to prove to be a great success in providing a great first step on the Le Mans Prototype career ladder for both drivers and teams.

2017 LMP3 Champions United Autosports return to defend their European title with the winning drivers from last year, Sean Rayhall and John Falb, also returning to form an all-American line-up.

Two French teams, Ultimate and M Racing YMR, return to the LMP3 grid for another attempt at the ELMS crown and the grid will feature seven French drivers. Both the P3 chassis manufacturers that will feature in the 4 Hours of Le Castellet are French, with 14 Ligier JS P3s being joined by 4 Norma M30.

The no17 Ultimate Norma and the no18 M Racing-YMR Ligier will both feature an all French driver line up.

Nicolas Ferrer will be joined by two Swiss drivers, David Droux and Lucas Légeret in the no19 M Racing-YMR Norma M30 while the seventh French driver will be Clément Mateu in the no10 Oregon Team.

Reigning Michelin Le Mans Cup Champions DKR Engineering have progressed to the European Le Mans Series in 2018, with reigning driver champions Alex Toril and Jean Glorieux beginning joined by Alex’s brother Miguel.

LMGTE: Ferrari v Porsche – Battle of the Giants

The two biggest names in GT racing, Ferrari and Porsche, will go head to head in the 2018 European Le Mans Series. As in previous seasons the LMGTE grid is smaller than the prototype classes but the quality of the teams and drivers who will line up in Le Castellet indicate the GTE category will once again provide some of the best racing action at each of the ELMS rounds.

Reigning LMGTE champions JMW Motorsport return with a changed driver line up. Britain’s Liam Griffin will race alongside the highly experienced duo of Alex MacDowell and Miguel Molina as the British team begin the defence of their hard-won title in the Ferrari F488.  Spirit of Race will enter two F488s with Thomas Flohr and FIA GT3 European Champion Francessco Castellacci in the no54 Ferrari and 2017 ELMS race winners Duncan Cameron, Matt Griffin and Aaron Scott in the no55 F488.

The fourth and final Ferrari will be a familiar sight to ELMS fans as the bright green Krohn Racing 488 returns to the grid with Tracy Krohn and Niclas Jonsson being joined by 24 Hours of Le Mans winner and former FIA GT1 World Champion Andrea Bertolini.

Proton Competition return with both of their Porsche 911 RSRs.  Christian Ried, Joel Camathias and Dennis Olsen will run in the no77 car, while Gianluca Roda, Giorgio Roda and Matteo Cairoli will form an all Italian line up in the no88 911.  Gulf Racing also return to the ELMS with Michael Wainwright, Alexander Davison and Ben Barker racing for the British team.

2017 Michelin Le Mans Cup GT3 Champions Ebimotors have also stepped up to the ELMS, swapping their GT3 Lamborghini for a GTE spec Porsche 911 RSR. 

The 4 Hours of Le Castellet will take place on Sunday 15 April 2018 at the Circuit Paul Ricard.  The race weekend will be preceded on Monday 9 and Tuesday 10 April by the official pre season test at the same venue.

CLICK HERE for the entry list for the 4 Hours of Le Castellet