ORECA 07 - GIBSON #13 and #31

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1 LM P2 CATEGORY

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3 VAILLANTE REBELLION (CHE) Team Manager: Bart Hayden Technical Director: Ian Smith Race Engineer (#13): Simon Cayzer Race Engineer (#31): Fabrice Roussel Location: Farnborough (UK) Website: ORECA 07 - GIBSON #13 and #31 Le Mans Series GT2 Team Champion, 2004 Le Mans Series GT2 Team Champion, 2005 Le Mans Series LMP1 Team Champion, 2011 Twice winner of Petit Le Mans, Five-time winner of the FIA Endurance Trophy for Private LMP1 Teams, FIA WEC results: 6 Hours of Silverstone: 5th (2nd in LMP2), Canal/Prost/Senna (FRA/FRA/BRA), #31 Oreca 07 Gibson 12th (9th in LMP2), Beche/Piquet Jr/Heinemeier Hansson (CHE/BRA/DEN), #13 Oreca 07 Gibson WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps: 8th (2nd in LMP2), Canal/Prost/Senna (FRA/FRA/BRA), #31 Oreca 07 Gibson 10th (4th in LMP2), Beche/Piquet Jr/Heinemeier Hansson (CHE/BRA/DEN), #13 Oreca 07 Gibson Sebah Racing, based near Guildford, was founded by the late Hugh Hayden (died 23 October 2010) in The name Sebah comes from the word for seven in Arabic, an allusion both to Hayden s professional activities when he was an entrepreneur in Africa and the Middle East, as well as the origins of the Caterham the Lotus 7. Sebah s international debut goes back to 2001, when the team entered a Porsche 911 in the ELMS and the Petit Le Mans. The following year, the English squad raced in the Sebring 12 Hours. In 2004, it hit the headlines by winning the LM GT title in the Le Mans Endurance Series, thanks to its consistent results. This success led to its Le Mans debut in 2005 when Nielsen-Thyrring-Ehret finished nineteenth overall. In 2006, Sebah took a year off as the team was unable to mount a programme in the right conditions. In 2007, Hugh Hayden took on a management role with the Felbermayr-Proton outfit. The following year, his meeting with Speedy Racing helped him relaunch his team, and the alliance between the two parties led to the entry of a Lola-Judd in LMP2 and a works Spyker in LM GT2. Their best result was eighth place in Barcelona (2nd in LMP2). The team changed its orientation in 2009 and the Spyker was abandoned in favour of a Lola- Aston Martin. Speedy Sebah was the only squad present in both LMP1 and LMP2. Belicchi/Fässler/N. Prost finished second in the Silverstone 1000 km. Kane/Leuenberger/Pompidou scored a victory in LMP2 in the same race, and finished the season in the runner-up spot in the category in the LMS. In 2010, the team took the name of its main sponsor, Rebellion Watches, and concentrated on LMP1 with a couple of V10 Lola-Judds rebadged as Rebellions. Neither finished the Le Mans 24 Hours: one retired with a broken gearbox (Andretti/Prost/Jani), and the other due to an accident (Boullion/Belicchi/Smith). The Rebellions finished the season in third and fifth places in the LMS.

4 In 2011, the Swiss team continued and expanded Hugh Hayden s work by entering a Lola powered by a V8 Toyota engine. It was driven by Neel Jani and Nicolas Prost backed up by Jeroen Bleekemolen in the Sebring 12 Hours and the Le Mans 24 Hours. Rebellion Racing also entered a second Lola-Toyota on other occasion, in the Le Mans 24 Hours in particular, for Belicchi/Boullion/Smith. At Le Mans, the #12 finished sixth overall and first of the petrol-engined cars while #13 was eliminated by an accident. In the following races, Rebellion Racing was always among the frontrunners and again finished first of the petrol-powered cars in the ILMC. In addition to its ILMC entry, the Swiss squad ran a second car in the Le Mans Series (Boullion/Belicchi) and won the teams title by one point from the Pescarolo squad. In 2012, Rebellion Racing entered the World Endurance Championship with a new livery (the famous Lotus black and gold) with the backing of Rebellion watches and Toyota as engine supplier. After a difficult debut at Sebring, the two LMP1s shone at Spa finishing in the wake of the unbeatable Audis. Two cars were again down to run at Le Mans, with #12 still in the hands of Prost and Jani backed up by ex-f1 driver Nick Heidfeld, while in #13 were Bellichi/Bleekemolen and former Aston Martin driver Harold Primat. The #12 finished fifth and first LMP1 privateer but the #13 finished eleventh overall having suffered technical issues. The Swiss team put on a stunning performance for the rest of the season, as it finished first on four out of five occasions in the LMP1 privateer category winning the 2012 FIA Endurance Trophy awarded to the privateer LMP1 teams. In addition, Rebellion Racing won the non-championship 2012 Petit Le Mans with Jani/Prost/Belicchi. For the 2013 season, the Swiss team decided to enter one car for the FIA World Endurance Championship and the other in the American Le Mans Series while running its two Lola B12/60 Coupe-Toyotas in carefully selected events. In the Sebring 12 Hours, Prost/Jani/Heidfeld clinched an amazing third place overall with the second car finishing fifth. In the World Endurance Championship, the Swiss team continued where it had left off in 2012 bringing home its two cars in the wake of the works entries in front of the other privateers. Prost/Jani/Heidfeld dominated the other trio of Belicchi/Beche/Cheng. In the USA, Heidfeld/Jani finished second at Laguna Seca and Long Beach and rounded off the season with a second win in the Petit Le Mans on the trot backed up by Nicolas Prost. Neel Jani recruited by Porsche during the summer left his team-mates on a high note. At Le Mans, the Rebellion Racing Lolas were beaten by the Strakka Racing HPD which stopped its season as an LMP1 privateer after this victory. The #12 Lola-Toyota continued in the championship to clinch a second FIA Trophy on the trot. In the Interlagos 6 Hours Nicolas Prost and Mathias Beche finished third behind the two Audi R18 e-tron quattros. The whole team was now looking forward to 2014 as it had announced the construction of the new Rebellion R-One by Oreca with Toyota supplying the engine. The car wasn t ready for the start of the 2014 season due to the huge demand for components from specialised manufacturers because of the major regulation changes in both F1 and endurance. However, Mathias Beche gave it a quick shakedown on the Paul Ricard circuit where Oreca is installed before the Silverstone 6 Hours. The two Lola-Toyotas were allowed to run one last time at Silverstone in the place of the Rebellion R-One whose debut was put back to Spa. Heidfeld/Beche/Prost in #12 finished seventh 10 laps behind the winner, while #13 driven by Kraihammer/Leimer/Bellichi used the race as a test session. This lasted 47 laps before the red and white car retired with gremlins in the electronics.

5 The 2014 regulations authorised a fuel allocation per lap for the LMP1-Ls (light) to maintain their competitiveness against the Toyotas, Audis and Porsches equipped with hybrid energy harvesting systems. In the Le Mans 24 Hours, Rebellion Racing scored a stunning result as #12 driven by Nicolas Prost, Nick Heidfeld and Mathias Beche came home fourth, while #13 in the hands of Andrea Bellichi, Fabio Leimer and Dominik Kraihammer retired early on because of an accident. The Swiss team dominated the remainder of the season in the LMP1-L category. At the end of the year, Rebellion Racing decided that a turbo engine was the best solution for a private team for 2015 and swapped the normally-aspirated Toyota V8 for the twin-turbo AER V6. The change was quite an undertaking and the car was not ready for the first two races of the season. As the 24 Hours of Le Mans approached, there were many unanswered questions for the Swiss team. In practice and qualifying, the R-Ones showed their velocity but were then plagued by technical issues during the race. The Rebellion mechanics pulled out all the stops and were rewarded with the ESCRA prize for best technical support. Thanks to their work, both crews finished the race, in ninth (#13 Kraihamer/Abt/Imperatori) and tenth (#12 Beche/Heidfeld/Prost) place. After a dip in form in the wake of Le Mans, Rebellion Racing ended the season in style, winning the last three races. Once again, the Swiss took home the FIA Endurance Trophies for Private LMP1 Teams and Drivers. The 2016 FIA WEC season started well for Rebellion Racing, with third place at the 6 Hours of Silverstone and the 6 Hours of Spa for Tuscher/Kraihamer/Imperatori in the #13 Rebellion R-One. Over the season, the team won eight of the nine races in the FIA Endurance Trophy for Private LMP1 Teams with the #13 crew claiming seven victories. The #12 sister car took the other class win (6th in LMP1) at the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Prost/Piquet Jr/Heidfeld, with the #13 failing to finish. The #12 car s season was brought to a premature end after the fourth round at Nürburgring. The 2017 season marks a real turning point in the history of Rebellion Racing. Firstly, the team has been rebranded Vaillante Rebellion as a tribute to the famous French comic strip hero, Michel Vaillant, whose next album Rébellion will be released in time for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Swiss outfit is also switching from LMP1 to the more fiercely contested LMP2 class with two Oreca 07 Gibson prototypes for Nelson Piquet Jr, Mathias Beche and David Heinemeier Hansson (#13) and Bruno Senna, Julien Canal, Nicolas Prost (#31). The #31 crew got off to a great start to the season at Silverstone with a second place in LMP2. It repeated the feat a few weeks later at Spa-Francorchamps, and currently sits in third place in the standings for the Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Teams. The #13 had less luck at Silverstone, with a ninth place in class following contact with another competitor. Things went far more smoothly in Belgium though it placed fourth. With Rebellion s experience of Le Mans, these two high-flying crews will undoubtedly be among the frontrunners at the 85th running of the legendary race. And with comic-strip hero Michel Vaillant making his comeback, thousands of fans will be cheering them on.

6 IDEC Sport Racing (FRA) Owner: Patrice Lafargue Team Manager: Jean Noël Le Gall Race Engineer: Jérôme Plassard Location: Fontenay-Trésigny (France) Website: Ligier JS P217 Gibson # ELMS classification: 10th in LM P2 (19 points) 2017 ELMS results 4 Hours of Silverstone: 8th, Lafargue/Lafargue/Zollinger (FRA/FRA/FRA), Ligier JS P217 Gibson 4 Hours of Monza: 9th, Lafargue/Lafargue/Pla (FRA/FRA/FRA), Ligier JS P217 Gibson IDEC Group chairman Patrice Lafargue is at home on the ocean waves, competing in offshore races since 2002 with skipper Francis Joyon, as he is on the race track. In 2015, he created a new structure, IDEC Sport, to bring these two worlds together under the same banner with a common goal winning! Lafargue s first appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans dates back to 2011 when he joined up with Frédéric Da Rocha and Andrea Barlesi in an OAK Pescarolo Judd (#35). The three men ended the race in 25th place overall (7th in LM P2). Lafargue had also been driving for more than ten years for Ruffier Racing when he took over the structure from his friend Jean-Claude Ruffier in 2015, and renamed it IDEC Sport Racing. That year, IDEC Sport Racing entered the Endurance GT championship of the V de V series with a Porsche 911GT3-R for Lafargue, his son Paul, and Dimitri Enjalbert, and a Porsche Cup for Gabriel Abergel and Da Rocha. The team also contested the V de V Endurance Proto championship with two Ligier JS53 Evo2s for the two Lafargues and Enjalbert, and for Da Rocha and his son Nicolas, and William Cavailhès. IDEC Sport Racing secured three GT wins and two Prototype victories, and finished the season in second place in both championships. The team also entered the 24-Hour Series, including the 24 Hours of Barcelona and Dubai. By the end of the campaign, it had claimed three class wins and took the title with a Porsche 997. The Classic Endurance Racing series (CER) also featured on the French outfit s 2015 schedule. IDEC Sport Racing took on another dimension in 2016 by entering no fewer than four championships 23 races in 52 weeks! In V de V first of all, where the Ligier JS53 Evo2 of Lafargue/Lafargue/Enjalbert ended the Prototype championship season in sixth place and Da Rocha/Da Rocha/Delomier took second place. Once again, the team competed in the 24-Hour Series with Lafargue/Lafargue/Enjalbert in a Mercedes AMG GT3 (A6 Am class). The father and son combination scored a fine win at the 12 Hours of Mugello (Italy) and finished fourth in the championship. The Lafargues took the wheel of the same car in the 2016 Road To Le Mans, finishing 23rd. Meanwhile, the team fielded a Lola T270 in the CER Series (Classic Endurance Racing). And last but certainly not least, IDEC Sport Racing moved up a gear by entering the European Le Mans Series with a Ligier JS P2 entrusted to the Lafargues and Enjalbert. As their results indicate, the three men improved as the season progressed, signing off with a sixth place at the 4 Hours of Estoril. The final ELMS Teams Championship rankings showed IDEC Sport Racing in tenth place.

7 The team has planned a lighter schedule for However, it still includes the 24-Hour Series with the Mercedes AMG GT3 and the same driver line-up as in The ELMS is the other cornerstone of the team s season. This year, it is relying on a Ligier JS P217 Gibson (#28) and Enjalbert has given way to Olivier Pla in the core line-up. At Silverstone, however, with Pla committed to Ford in the FIA WEC, David Zollinger stepped in. The #28 car could do no better than eighth in LM P2. Pla, who worked on the development of the Ligier JS P217 at the end of the 2016 season, was back for the second round in Monza. Unfortunately, the car was slowed by a lack of fuel towards the end of the race which it concluded in ninth place. IDEC Sport Racing will be making its 24 Hours of Le Mans début with its Silverstone line-up. With Pla driving the #66 Ford GT of Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK in LM GTE-Pro, Zollinger will again be joining Patrice and Paul Lafargue. Zollinger, a four-time V de V champion, has already one appearance in the 24 Hours of Le Mans to his credit, in 2010 for Pegasus Racing (DNF).

8 DragonSpeed 10 Star (USA) Owner: Elton Julian Team Manager: Brian Bailey Track Engineer: Leon Gutfreund Location: Le Castellet (France) Oreca 07 - Gibson # ELMS classification: 4 th in LM P2 (1 win, 76 points) 2017 ELMS results : 4 Hours of Silverstone: 10 th, Lapierre/Hedman/Hanley (FRA/SWE/GBR), Oreca 07 Gibson 4 Hours of Monza: 2nd, Lapierre/Hedman/Hanley (FRA/SWE/GBR), Oreca 07 Gibson The American team was founded in 2007 by Elton Julian, whose racing career includes the 2005 and Hours of Le Mans. DragonSpeed has taken part in a variety of championships including the American Le Mans Series, the Rolex Grand-Am Series, the Blancpain Lamborghini Super Trofeo, the Pirelli World Challenge and the Ferrari Challenge. Julian usually combines the roles of driver, manager and team owner but in 2010, he concentrated on driving and raced in the IMSA, ELMS and FIA WEC. The following year DragonSpeed entered a Ferrari F430 GT in the Rolex 24 at Daytona and came an impressive 15th in class, the best-ever result for an F430. On the back of that performance, DragonSpeed was selected to provide technical support in the development of the Ferrari 458 Italia Grand Am. In 2012 they fielded the new Audi R8 LMS in the 24 Hours of Dubai and finished 11th overall (5th in A6-Am) in a grid of 80. Spurred on by that success, the team went on to take 17th place in the 12 Hours of Bathurst. For the next season, Julian took his team back to the states, running a campaign in the American Le Mans Series in the LMPC category (Oreca FLM09 Chevrolet) with Mirco Schultis, Renger Van Der Zande and Pierre Kaffer. The team was ranked 6th in the championship, on 54 points. In 2014, DragonSpeed took on the Pirelli World Challenge Series, running a Ferrari 458 GT3 Italia with Henrik Hedman at the wheel. Then, it was on to the Blancpain Endurance Series in 2015, with the same car. Julian and Hedman gave Ryan Dalziel and Anthony Lazzaro a share of the wheel. They finished 29th on just one point. Last year, DragonSpeed moved up to LM P2. First, the 12 Hours of Sebring with an Oreca 05 - Nissan driven by Hedman/Lapierre/Minissian who took a well-deserved fourth place, finishing just five seconds behind the winners. Lapierre and Hedman were joined by Ben Hanley for a full season of the European Le Mans Series with the Oreca 05 - Nissan. With two pole positions and a win at Spa- Francorchamps, the crew claimed fourth place in the championship and the team made the reserve list for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

9 The DragonSpeed driver line-up for this year s 24 Hours of Daytona was impressive: Henrik Hedman, Nicolas Lapierre, Ben Hanley and Loïc Duval, former world champion and winner of the hours of Le Mans. Yet the excitement was short-lived as a spin put an end to the team s free practice session. The car was repaired in time for the race but retired. DragonSpeed then focused on ELMS, fielding the same Oreca 07 - Gibson for Lapierre, Hanley and Hedman and providing logistical backup for G-Drive Racing (#22 Oreca 07 - Gibson, Léo Roussel/Memo Rojas/Ryo Hirakawa). At Silverstone, having lead the race, the car eventually only managed 10 th place in LM P2, much to the disappointment of the team. They made up for it in the next round at Monza where they came second overall. DragonSpeed will be making its Le Mans début this year. With Frenchman Lapierre hired by Toyota for the #9 TS050 Hybrid, Hanley and Hedman will be joined by Felix Rosenqvist. The F3 champion in 2015 and winner of the famous Macau Grand Prix in 2014 and 2015 has just completed a season in DTM with Mercedes AMG.

10 G-DRIVE RACING (RUS) Team principal: Alexander Krylov Technical director: David Leach Team manager (#26): Xavier Combet Race engineer (#22): Paul Thomson Website: FIA WEC classification: 6th, FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Teams 2013 FIA WEC: classification: 3rd, FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Teams (132 points, 4 victories) 2014 FIA WEC: classification: 2nd, FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Teams (137 points, 4 victories) 2015 FIA WEC classification: 1st, FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Teams (178 points, 4 victories) 2016 FIA WEC classification: 3rd, FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Teams (164 points, 3 victories) 2016 ELMS classification: 1st in the Teams and Drivers championship (103 points, 20 victories) ORECA 07 GIBSON #22 ORECA 07 GIBSON # WEC results: 6 Hours of Silverstone: 8th (5th in LMP2) Lynn/Thiriet/Rusinvov (GBR/FRA/RUS), #26 Oreca 07 Gibson 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps: 8th (1st in LMP2) Lynn/Thiriet/Rusinvov (GBR/FRA/RUS), #26 Oreca 07 Gibson 2017 ELMS results: 4 Hours of Silverstone: 2nd Rojas/Hirakawa/Roussel (MEX/JAP/FRA), Oreca 07 Gibson 4 Hours of Monza: 1st Rojas/Hirakawa/Roussel (MEX/JAP/FRA), Oreca 07 Gibson Russian team G-Drive Racing embarked on its motorsports campaign in It takes its name from the fuel distributed by Gazprom Neft, the Russian oil company owned by Gazprom and Ioukos. G-Drive Racing began competing in endurance with Signatech-Nissan en An Oreca 03 - Nissan entered under G-Drive Racing colours took part in the full FIA World Endurance Championship season with drivers Pierre Ragues, Nelson Panciatici and Roman Rusinov. The #26 finished sixth in the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Teams. At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the team placed P4, just missing out on the podium, a highlight in a promising first season. The next year, G Drive Racing changed partner and paired up with Alan Docking Racing (known as ADR Delta). They again entered an Oreca 03 Nissan, driven by Roman Rusinov, Mike Conway and John Martin. The team took four wins in the LMP2 class (in São Paulo, Austin, Shanghai and Bahrain) and came third in the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Teams, just behind OAK Racing and their two Morgan LMP2s. At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the same line-up put in a dazzling performance in the Oreca 03 - Nissan and took the class win... but were later disqualified when their fuel tank was found to exceed the maximum permitted size. In 2014, G Drive Racing again opted for a new partner and this time, a new car too. Inspired by OAK Racing s performance, the Russian team entered a Morgan LMP2, with support from Onroak Automotive, in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Drivers Roman Rusinov, Julien Canal and Olivier Pla enjoyed a successful season, except at Le Mans where they were forced to retire after leaving the track, thus missing out on precious points. They finished the season second, behind SMP Racing, another Russian outfit.

11 After the 24 Hours of Le Mans run under the name G-Drive Racing by OAK, G-Drive replaced their Morgan with a Ligier JS P2 - Nissan, Onroak Automotive's latest weapon. Overall, the team claimed four LMP2 class wins: Silverstone, Spa, Shanghai and Fuji. The final round at São Paulo saw a fight for the title, but a brake problem on the Ligier JS P2 caused Olivier Pla to lose control and crash, meaning G Drive Racing had to make do with the runner-up spot in the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Teams. The team also competed in the Blancpain Endurance Series in G-Drive Racing renewed its partnership with OAK Racing in 2015, fielding two Ligier JS P2 - Nissan prototypes with technical support from the Le Mans-based constructor. In the meantime, Olivier Pla had joined Nissan s LMP1 campaign and was replaced in the #26 car by Sam Bird, alongside Roman Rusinov and Julien Canal. The season got off to a fine start with an LMP2 class win at Silverstone. The team ran into bad luck at the next race, however, forced to retire early after engine failure. Their fortunes then improved with a third place at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and three wins, one in the USA, one in Japan and one in Bahrain. Enough points for the G- Drive Racing crew in the #26 Ligier JS P2 to take the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Teams! The #28 Ligier JS P2 was steered by Luis Felipe "Pipo" Derani, Ricardo Gonzalez and Gustavo Yacaman, three talented drivers who triumphed at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. That car positioned fourth at Le Mans, just behind its sister car. Over the rest of the FIA WEC season, the trio scored several podiums but didn t manage another win. In the end, the #28 finished third in the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Teams2, 44 points behind the winners. There were several changes in 2016 with a major overhaul of the team and a new partnership between G- Drive and Jota Sport. An Oreca 05 - Nissan was chosen instead of the Ligier chassis. Still sporting #26, the team also made changes to its driver line-ups: Roman Rusinov was joined by Nathanaël Berthon, former GP2 Series driver and Murphy Prototypes driver in ELMS (LMP2), and René Rast, who raced the 24 Hours of Le Mans in an Audi R18 e-tron quattro (#9) in the LMP1 class in However, after the 24 Hours of Le Mans Test Day, Nathanaël Berthon was dismissed and replaced by Will Stevens (18 F1 Grand Prix). After claiming the LMP2 class pole, the trio finished the race in the runner-up spot, less than a lap behind the winner. After a somewhat complicated start to the FIA WEC season, the Rusinov/Rast crew, joined by Alex Brundle from the Nürburgring race onwards, finished the 2015 campaign in style with three wins in the last three rounds, finishing third in the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Teams. G-Drive Racing also competed in the European Le Mans Series in In fact, Jota Sport changed their name to G-Drive Racing, but the British outfit kept its own staff. The squad again entered its #38 Gibson 015S Nissan, driven by Harry Tincknell, Simon Dolan and Giedo van der Garde, a former Formula One driver who competed for Catherman F1 Team in They claimed two wins (Silverstone and Estoril) plus the ELMS title! At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Harry Tincknell competed in the LM GTE Pro class with Ford, leaving his seat in the #38 to Jake Dennis, a regular in Formula 3. Unfortunately the three men failed to make it to the chequered flag. And so to 2017 and another new partnership! This time, G-Drive Racing will get its logistics support from TDS Racing throughout the FIA WEC season. The team has entered an Oreca 07 - Gibson with Alex Lynn (GP3 Series champion), Pierre Thiriet and Roman Rusinov at the wheel. At Silverstone, the #26 took pole but had to make do with fifth place in the race, after problems with a door that kept opening on track! At Spa-Francorchamps, things went better with pole on Friday and victory during the race the next day. G-Drive Racing currently stands second in the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Teams rankings and hopes to triumph at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and come away with maximum points to move to the top of the standings before the flyaway races. Over in ELMS, G-Drive Racing has opted for a different logistics partner: DragonSpeed is taking charge of the #22 Oreca 07- Gibson raced by Memo Rojas, Ryo Hirakawa and Léo Roussel. The three drivers get on marvellously and were well on course for victory at Silverstone until the last lap when Ryo Hirakawa (with worn tyres) let Filipe Albuquerque (Ligier United Autopsorts) slip past. At Monza, Léo Roussel put in two excellent stints, placing the orange and black car in the lead. Despite a drive-through penalty for failing to comply with the pitlane speed limit, Ryo Hirakawa was first to cross the line. As they arrive in La Sarthe, the crew sits at the top of the ELMS standings. The two G-Drive Racing cars will take to the 24 Hours of Le Mans grid with their regular line-ups and the same goal: victory!

12 PANIS BARTHEZ COMPETITION (FRA) Owners: Olivier Panis, Sarah and Simon Abadie Team Principal: Olivier Panis Race Engineer: Joffrey Guillemat Location: Rouffiac-Tolosan (France) Website: LIGIER JS P2 - NISSAN # ELMS classification: 8th, LM P2 Teams Championship (27.5 points, one pole) 7th, LM P3 Teams Championship (30.5 points) 2017 ELMS results : 4 Hours of Silverstone: 9th, Berthon/Barthez/Buret (FRA/FRA/FRA), #23 Ligier JS P217 Gibson 20th (9th in LM P3), Debard/Gachet/Bean (FRA/FRA/USA), #16 Ligier JS P3 Nissan 4 Hours of Monza: 7th, Barthez/Buret (FRA/FRA), #23 Ligier JS P217 Gibson 24th (11th in LM P3), Debard/Gachet/Bean (FRA/FRA/USA), #16 Ligier JS P3 Nissan Two world class sports stars, racing driver Olivier Panis and footballer Fabien Barthez, joined forces to form Panis-Barthez Compétition. While Barthez takes the wheel, ex-formula One driver Panis (who also has four Le Mans appearances from 2008 to 2011 to his credit) remains in the wings as team manager. The aim of Panis- Barthez Compétition is to give a leg-up to young talent. Barthez will not be giving up his seat for anyone following the step-up from GT to a prototype last year. The former goalkeeper raced at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2014 and finished ninth in LM GTE Am with a Ferrari 458 Italia. Panis-Barthez Compétition relies on Tech 1 Racing for vehicle operation and technical aspects. Simon and Sarah Abadie s outfit has a remarkable record in launching careers in single-seaters. The late Jules Bianchi and F1 Red Bull Racing driver Daniel Ricciardo both started out with them. During the 2015 season, Panis son Aurélien competed in the Formula Renault 3.5 championship with Tech 1 Racing too. In the 2016 European Le Mans Series, Panis-Barthez Compétition fielded a Ligier JS P2 - Nissan in the LM P2 class and a Ligier JS P3 in LM P3. With Barthez, Paul Loup Chatin and Timothée Buret at the wheel of the Ligier JS P2, the new outfit finished eighth in the Teams championship, the highlight being the pole position achieved at the Red Bull Ring (Austria). In LM P3, Eric Debard, Simon Gachet and Valentin Moineault were on the 4 Hours of Imola podium and finished in seventh place in the Teams championship standings. For the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Panis-Barthez Compétition placed its faith in its ELMS LM P2 line-up. The team put in a spirited performance in its first 24-hour race to claim the overall 12th place and eighth in LM P2. There is little change for Panis-Barthez Compétition tried to enter a second Ligier JS P217 in the European Le Mans Series and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans but, finally, there is just the one for Nathanaël Berthon, Barthez and Buret. A Ligier JS P3 is again fielded in the LMP3 class, with Debard and Gachet partnered this year by young American, Theo Bean.

13 Both cars finished ninth in their respective classes at the 4 Hours of Silverstone, before moving on to Monza for the second round. With Berthon competing in a Blancpain Endurance Series race at Silverstone, the team had planned to replace him with Matthieu Vaxivière until injury ruled him out. Panis-Barthez Compétition stuck with the two-driver line-up of Barthez and Buret in the Ligier JS P217, finishing seventh, while the #16 LM P3 placed 24th (11th in class). At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the LM P2 crew of Berthon, Barthez and Buret will have their hearts set on at least equalling last year s performance.

14 CEFC MANOR TRS RACING (CHN) 2016 FIA WEC classification: 10 th FIA Endurance Trophy for LM P2 Teams (29 pts) ORECA 07 GIBSON #24 & # FIA WEC results: 6 Hours of Silverstone: 9 th Graves/Hirschi/Vergne (GBR/CHE/FRA), #24 Oreca 07 - Gibson (6 th LM P2) ; 10 th Gonzalez/Trummer/Petrov (MEX/CHE/RUS), #25 Oreca 07 - Gibson (7 th LM P2) 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps: 13 th Graves/Hirschi/Vergne (GBR/CHE/FRA), #24 Oreca 07 - Gibson (7 th LM P2); 14 th Gonzalez/Trummer/Petrov (MEX/CHE/RUS), #25 Oreca 07 - Gibson (8 th LM P2). John Booth founded Manor in 1990 when he retired as a driver from Formula Ford but was still keen to remain in the world of single-seater racing. Manor reaped victories in the British Formula Renault right from the first season but didn t claim the title until It was the first of nine! Several well-known drivers worked with Manor, namely Guy Smith who won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2013, Audi factory driver Oliver Jarvis, not to mention Formula One champions Kimi Räikkönen and Lewis Hamilton Meanwhile, in 1999, Manor began a Formula 3 campaign. The team s season-opener win was a good omen and they strode to victory, thanks to drivers Marc Hynes and Tor Graves who later joined the team at Le Mans in Manor then ventured into the Formula 3 Euros Series, with less success, and moved on to the GP3 Series and Formula One in Initially named Manor Grand Prix, the Formula One team quickly became known as Virgin, its sponsor s name. A regular at the back of the grid, Virgin Racing became Marussia F1 Team in In the winter of 2014/15, with no glimpse of a victory and still reeling from Jules Bianchi s fatal accident in Japan, Manor bordered on bankruptcy. But John Booth stuck his heels in and enlisted the help of engineer and entrepreneur Graeme Lowdon of Nomad Digital, a leading data management company in the transport field. The pair signed an agreement with businessman Stephen Fitzpatrick for the sale of Manor F1, but their diverging interests soon became apparent and Booth and Lowdon decided to make 2015 their last season in Formula One. They headed straight for endurance and put together a FIA World Endurance Championship campaign for The team rebranded under the original Manor name, bought a Nissan-powered Oreca 05 #44 and hired Tor Graves, who had competed at Le Mans twice, in 2012 and Manor quickly announced they would be running a second Oreca 05 (#45) in the FIA WEC, but it was too late to enter it for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The #45 therefore ran a full season with the exception of the French 24-hour race and the Mexican and US races. For his driver line-up, John Booth relied on old favourites from other disciplines but the crews were regularly changed throughout the season. The season-opener at Silverstone was frustrating. The #44 retired due to a transmission breakdown and the #45 took seventh place after a contact with another LM P2. However, the outcome was better at Spa-Francorchamps when the crew in #45 earned themselves third place. That was the only podium in a season plagued by retirements, most notably at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, repeated changes to the driver line-ups and disappointing results.

15 For the 2017 season, Manor has become CEFC Manor TRS Racing, competing under the Chinese flag, and has swapped the Oreca 05 for the Oreca 07 while revising its driver line-ups (Tor Graves, Jonathan Hirschi and Jean- Eric Vergne, former Toro Rosso F1 driver in the #24 car and Roberto Gonzalez, Simon Trummer and Vitaly Petrov, ex-renault F1, in the #25). Things have not got off to the best of starts, however. At Silverstone, the team achieved P6 and P7, and finished seventh and eighth at Spa-Francorchamps. Results that Graeme Lowdon s men put down to excessive tyre wear, even though all the cars in the LM P2 class are Dunlop-shod. Will the presence of its two star drivers be enough to take the team further up the rankings at the 24 Hours of Le Mans?

16 SMP RACING (RUS) Team Principal:Boris Rotenberg Team Manager: Farida Zadi Competing since: 2008 Technical director: Olivier Picquenot DALLARA P217 - GIBSON n ELMS classification: 8th LM P2 Teams Championship (28 pts in 3 races), 1st GTC Teams Championship (100 points 4 victories) 2014 ELMS classification: 1st LM GTE championship (85 points 2 victories) and GTC drivers championship 2014 FIA WEC classification: 1st FIA Endurance Trophy for LM P2 teams (146 points 1 victory) 2015 ELMS classification: 9th and 16th LM P2 Teams Championship (19 and 0 points) 2016 FIA WEC classification 6th and 8th LM P2 Teams Championship (71 and 62 points) 2016 ELMS classification: 3th and 13th LM P2 Teams Championship (83 and 10 points) SMP Racing was founded in 2013 by Boris Rotenberg, a member of the board of Russian bank SMP. SMP Racing s programme is to help young talented Russian drivers to take part in motor racing by developing their professional skills. The first step of this programme begins with Russian kart races, then come Formula 4, Formula Abarth and Formula Renault and finally Formula Renault 3.5 in the domain of single-seaters. SMP Racing relies on technical teams already in place in several championships, and it is also involved in the ELMS, GT Open and Blancpain Endurance Series entering no fewer than 12 cars in 2013! SMP Racing received the support of Italian squad AF Corse for its involvement in endurance. From the third round onwards an Oreca 03 was also entered in LM P2, the highest class in the ELMS. This entry prefigured the team s 2014 FIA WEC campaign with Oreca 03-Nissans and AF Corse still looking after the technical side of things. Nicolas Minassian, who knows the Oreca 03 like the back of his hand, was asked to set up the car and coach his Russian team-mates. They had an accelerated apprenticeship as the SMP Racing programme in 2014 included the FIA World Endurance Championship in the prototype category, the European Le Mans Series in GT in which three Ferrari F458 Italias were still entered as well as a brand new LM GTE. Loyal Ferrari driver Andrea Bertolini stepped up to join Viktor Shaytar and Sergueï Zlobin in the 458 Italia. Once again, SMP Racing produced promising results, beating G-Drive Racing to the FIA WEC team and driver trophies (Zlobin) and winning the ELMS in LM GTE and GTC.

17 At Le Mans the Russian squad ran two LM P2s (Oreca 03-Nissans) and a Ferrari in LM GTE AM, but the results were disappointing due to numerous problems: retirements for the no. 72 Ferrari (accident) and the no. 37 Oreca (oil leak), 37th overall for the other Oreca 03-Nissan (12th out of 12 classified finishers), despite which it won the WEC LM P2 category bagging 50 crucial points! In preparation for 2015, SMP Racing began building its own LM P2, named the BR01, after Boris Rotenberg. The machine was powered by Nissan and designed by SMP s sister organisation BR Engineering, led by the highly respected expert Paolo Catone who was behind the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in The new car skipped the FIA WEC for 2015 but entered the ELMS. The BR01 was not ready for the season-opener at Silverstone and joined the competition from the 4 Hours of Imola, finishing modestly in 8th (#37) and 27th (#27) place. The same driver line-ups will be in the cars at Le Mans, and they will have their work cut out to mix it with the front-runners in the baby prototype category in which the overall level has never been higher (Minassian/Markozov/Mediani (#27) and Aleshin/K. Ladygin/A. Ladygin (#37)). SMP Racing suffered from a lack of experience in the highly competitive LM P2 class and had to be content with both cars finishing. The #27 came sixth in class but the #37 came in last. However, the Ferrari saved the day by winning the LM GTE Am class. In the ELMS it was the other way round: the #37 finished last with an empty score card and the #27 came ninth in LM P2 thanks to a third place at the 4 Hours of Red Bull Ring. SMP Racing returned to the World Endurance Championship in 2016 with two BR01s, the #27 for Nicolas Minassian, Maurizio Mediani and David Markozov and the #37 for ex-f1 driver Vitaly Petrov, Kirill Ladygin and Victor Shaytar. The #27 finished eighth and the #37 was classed sixth thanks to an impressive performance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where the crew took third place in LM P2, the first Russian team ever to do so. SMP Racing also entered the 2016 European Le Mans Series. Two BR01s were present at Silverstone, the #32 for Andrea Wirth, Stefano Coletti and Julien Leal and the #44 for Antonio Giovinazzi, Mitch Evans and Sean Gelael. The #44 only ran at Silverstone, while the #32 went on to complete a successful season, with two second places at Silverstone and Le Castellet which earned them third place in the championship (83 points). The team also fielded a Ferrari 488 GT3 in the Michelin GT3 Le Mans Cup, with Aleksey Basov and Viktor Shaytar at the wheel. It turned out to be a good move as the team was runner-up in the Teams Championship. The Russian outfit also spread its wings beyond endurance, with entries in the GP2 Series, the Auto GP, Formula Renault 3.5 and Formula Renault 2.0. In 2017, SMP Racing ran a Ferrari 488 GT3 in the Blancpain Endurance Series for Victor Shaytar, Miguel Molinar and Davide Rigon who drives for AF Corse in the WEC. The team continued in ELMS with a Dallara P217 but skipped the first two rounds, meaning the 24 Hours of Le Mans will be its first outing of the season. The crew will be composed of IndyCar Series driver Mikhaïl Aleshin, Victor Shaytar and Sergey Sirotkin, the third Renault F1 driver. This will be the fourth Le Mans 24 Hours for the Russian team.

18 TDS RACING (FRA) Co-owners: Xavier Combet and Jacques Morello Team Manager: Xavier Combet Technical Director: Jacques Morello Engineer: Jacques Morello Location: Saint-Aunès (FRA) Website: Oreca 07 Gibson # LMS classification: 3rd, LMP2 Teams Championship (38 pts) 2012 ELMS classification: 1st, LMP2 Teams Championship (94 pts, 2 wins) 2013 ELMS classification: 2nd, LMP2 Teams Championship (77 pts, 2 wins) 2014 ELMS classification: 7th, LMP2 Teams Championship (35 pts, 1 wins) 2015 ELMS classification: 2nd, LMP2 Teams Championship (91 pts, 2 wins) 2016 ELMS classification: 2nd, LMP2 Teams Championship (96 pts, 3 wins) 2017 WEC results 6 Hours of Silverstone: 6th (3rd in LMP2), Collard/Perrodo/Vaxivière (FRA/FRA/FRA), Oreca 07 Gibson WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps: 15th (9th in LMP2), Collard/Perrodo/Hanley (FRA/FRA/GBR), Oreca 07 Gibson TDS Racing (Top Drive Services) was founded in 2004 by two young businessmen, Xavier Combet and Jacques Morello, to enter the 2005 World Series by Renault. Over the following six years in the Renault Eurocup Mégane Trophy, TDS Racing picked up no fewer than six Driver titles and two Team titles. In 2011, Combet and Morello decided that the time was right for a new, bigger challenge. TDS Racing switched to the Le Mans Series in the LMP2 class with an Oreca 03 chassis powered by a Nissan engine. The strategy paid off as TDS Racing claimed pole position on its first outing at Le Castellet and then trumped that by winning the second round at Spa-Francorchamps, counting towards the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup (ILMC). The 2011 season proved to be a highly successful one: third overall in the Le Mans Series and top rookie team thanks to its trio of drivers Pierre Thiriet, Mathias Beche and Jody Firth. TDS Racing and frozen food firm Thiriet Surgelés joined forces in 2012 to create Thiriet by TDS Racing. The twin objective for the season was to win the European Le Mans Series and take part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The team kept faith with Beche and Thiriet, and the LMP2-class Oreca 03 Nissan. Ahead of Le Mans, the outfit lined up at the 6 Hours of Le Castellet where it achieved the hat-trick of pole position (Beche), fastest lap in the race (Beche again) and victory! At Le Mans, Beche and Thiriet were joined by the experienced Christophe Tinseau, who was making his eleventh appearance in the race. The team s début was outstanding: an overall eighth place and a runner-up spot in the LMP2 standings after giving the winners a good run for their money! The rest of the season was just as remarkable as the team scooped the ELMS Teams and Drivers titles (Beche and Thiriet) after a second place in Donington and a class win at Petit Le Mans (USA), again with the help of Tinseau.

19 In comparison, 2013 was not such a good year. The team remained in the ELMS spotlight with Thiriet and Hirschi finishing third at Silverstone, before Beche returned to partner Thiriet for the remainder of the season. The pair moved up the standings with wins at Imola and Red Bull Ring, before mechanical issues proved costly in the final two rounds. Thiriet by TDS Racing finished the season in an honourable second position. At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Thiriet was joined by BMW works driver Maxime Martin, and Ludovic Badey, making his third appearance in the race. After Thiriet crashed in practice, the team had to battle against the clock to rebuild the Oreca 03 Nissan in time for the start. The race itself went smoothly until the 23rd hour. A storm surprised several of the racers between Arnage and the Porsche Curves. Badey, lying sixth in the LMP2 class, was one of the drivers to be caught out as he hit the barrier, forcing the team to retire. Alongside its ELMS campaign, TDS Racing competed in the 2013 Blancpain Endurance Series with a BMW Z4 GT3. In its début season, the French outfit finished fifth in the Pro-Am championship with Henry Hassid and Badey. TDS Racing entered the same car in the French GT championship too. During the close season, the decision was made to join forces with Onroak Automotive. In a bid to reclaim its ELMS crown, Thiriet by TDS Racing began the 2014 season with a Morgan Nissan, before swapping at the 24 Hours of Le Mans for a brand new Ligier JS P2 Nissan. The season s driver line-up of Badey, Thiriet and Tristan Gommendy got off to a tremendous start by winning at Silverstone. They were shaping up for a good result at Imola in the second round of the ELMS season too when brake disc failure put paid to the Morgan Nissan s chances. After switching to the Ligier JS P2 Nissan, the team enjoyed a successful Le Mans. A lightning-fast time from Gommendy in qualifying saw the team start from pole position. Twenty-four hours later, the #46 crossed the finish line in second place in the LMP2 class (sixth overall). The 2014 season went downhill from that point as the Ligier JS P2 was affected by technical issues on several occasions and the team had to settle for seventh place in the final ELMS standings. After its promising opening season, TDS Racing decided to double up in the Blancpain Endurance Series by fielding two BMW Z4 GT3s, one for Hassid and Nick Catsburg, and the other for Nicolas Armindo, Eric Clément and Benjamin Lariche. Two wins including the season finale at the Nürburgring took TDS Racing to second place in the championship. For the 2015 ELMS season, Thiriet by TDS Racing switched from the Ligier JS P2 to the new Oreca 05 Nissan, but kept to the same driver line-up of Thiriet, Badey and Gommendy. The crew scored its first win at Imola and was in with a chance of the title down to the final race in Estoril. The squad scored its first win at Imola and was in with a chance of the title down to the final race in Estoril where Gommendy was replaced by Nicolas Lapierre. Despite winning the race, the team failed to secure a new ELMS title, finishing just two points behind the champions. At the Hours of Le Mans, the trio clocked the sixth-fastest time in qualifying but, following an incident on the track, the team had to change the car s body. The #46 Oreca 05 Nissan made the starting line after a race against the clock and moved up into the top three in the opening laps. It remained in the podium places until Gommendy was struck by an LM GTE around 5.00 in the morning. The car managed to limp back to the pits but the damage was too great. The race was over. TDS Racing abandoned the Blancpain Endurance Series that year in favour of the ELMS GTC class (in addition to the LMP2 campaign), entering its BMW Z4 GT3 for Dino Lunardi, Eric Dermont and Franck Perrera.

20 With two victories at Silverstone and Le Castellet, the trio won the title with a total of 101 points and the team was rewarded with an invitation to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Plans were made to honour the invitation with an Aston Martin Vantage in the LMGTE Am class, but the project was abandoned. The 2016 season was one of continuity (same Nissan-powered Oreca 05) and change with a considerably modified driver line-up following Mathias Beche s return to the fold. Beche and Thiriet were partnered by talented Japanese youngster Ryo Hirakawa who had joined Toyota s young driver training programme. After a poor start at Silverstone (DNF), the team won three successive races at Imola, Red Bull Ring and Le Castellet. At Spa, Thiriet by TDS Racing could only come third and lost all hope at Estoril with an overall 28th place. The French outfit ended the ELMS Teams championship in second place, seven points behind the winners. Billed as one of the favourites for the LMP2 crown at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the trio of Beche/Hirakawa/Thiriet ran a superb race until Thiriet drove off track on Sunday morning, forcing the team to retire. This season, with Pierre Thiriet having joined G-Drive Racing, the team has returned to its original name of TDS Racing. The outfit now fields an Oreca 07 Gibson (#28) for François Perrodo, Emmanuel Collard (winners of the 2016 FIA Endurance Trophy for LMGTE Am Drivers in FIA WEC) and Matthieu Vaxivière. TDS Racing got its inaugural FIA WEC season off to a bright start with a third place in the LMP2 class in the opening round at Silverstone. Three weeks later at Spa, with Ben Hanley in for the injured Vaxivière, the #28 finished ninth in class after Perrodo drove off, requiring the team s mechanics to change the bonnet. This year will see the sixth 24 Hours of Le Mans appearance for the team from the south of France. Invariably one of the favourites to take the LMP2 title, can it finally come good and win the legendary race?

21 RACING TEAM NEDERLAND (NLD) Owner: Frits van Eerd Team Managers: Mark Koense and Robert van Ulden Race Engineer: Davy Lemmens Location: Katwijk (Netherlands) Website: racingteamnederland.nl DALLARA P217 - GIBSON # ELMS results : 4 Hours of Silverstone: 18th (11th in LM P2), Lammers/van Eerd (NL/NL), Dallara P217 Gibson 4 Hours of Monza: 10th (10th in LM P2), Lammers/van Eerd (NL/NL), Dallara P217 Gibson Racing Team Nederland was founded last autumn by Jan Lammers, winner of the Hours of Le Mans in a Jaguar XJR9, shared with Andy Wallace and Johnny Dumfries. Lammers made 22 appearances in the French endurance marathon between 1983 and He also started 41 Formula One Grands Prix from 1979 to Lammers created Racing For Holland in 2001, enabling the driver to field Dome S101 Judds in the FIA Sportscar Championship, taking the title in 2002 and 2003, and the Le Mans Series. Racing for Holland also entered its Dome S101 Judd at the 24 Hours of Le Mans between 2001 and 2007 with an outright sixth place for Lammers, Wallace and John Bosch in 2003 its best result. The Dutch outfit also participated in the A1 Grand Prix under the name of A1 Team The Netherlands. The Racing for Holland project was made possible by Frits van Eerd, owner of Dutch supermarket chain Jumbo. When the team was disbanded, Lammers promised van Eerd that, one day, they would race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans together. That promise will be fulfilled in 2017 with Racing Team Nederland, owned by van Eerd. The team is fielding a Dallara P217 in this season s European Le Mans Series. To get to grips with its new car, the outfit organised tests at Magny-Cours (France) in early November, and then at the Sebring raceway in Florida. At the opening round of the ELMS 2017 campaign at Silverstone (UK), the duo finished in a lowly 18th place overall (11th in LM P2). A month later on the Italian circuit of Monza, the two men showed progress, placing 10th in the race and in their class. Lammers and van Eerd will be joined at the 24 Hours of Le Mans by Rubens Barrichello, who holds the record for most starts in Formula One Grand Prix history (323). He won eleven of those races and is the most experienced Formula One driver in the world. Like co-driver van Eerd, and the whole of the Dutch team, Barrichello will be making his first 24 Hours of Le Mans appearance. They will, however, be able to bank on the vastly experienced Lammers whose ambition is to race the 24 Hours of Le Mans 24 times just two to go! Davytec will provide technical support.

22 UNITED AUTOSPORTS (USA) Co-owners: Richard Dean and Zak Brown Team Manager: Trevor Foster Engineer: Gautier Bouteiller Location: Leeds (UK) unitedautosports.com Ligier JS P217 Gibson # ELMS classification: LMP3 Teams Championship, 1st (109.5 points, 3 wins) and 4th (59 points) 2017 ELMS results 4 Hours of Silverstone: 1st, Albuquerque/De Sadeleer/Owen (POR/CHE/GBR), #32 Ligier JS P217 - Gibson 11th (1st in LMP3), Falb/Rayhall (USA/USA), #2 Ligier JS P3 - Nissan 13th (3rd in LMP3), Patterson/Boyd/England (ZAF/GBR/GBR), #3 Ligier JS P3 - Nissan 4 Hours of Monza: 6th, Albuquerque/De Sadeleer/Owen (POR/CHE/GBR), #32 Ligier JS P217 - Gibson 14th (4th in LMP3), Patterson/Boyd/England (ZAF/GBR/GBR), #3 Ligier JS P3 - Nissan 19th (9th in LMP3), Falb/Rayhall (USA/USA), #2 Ligier JS P3 - Nissan United Autosports is an American team founded in 2009 by Zak Brown (new Executive Director of McLaren Technology Group) and Richard Dean. Over the last eight years, the team has competed in many championships, such as the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup (ILMC), the Blancpain Endurance Series, British GT, the Henderson Insurance LMP3 Cup and the European Le Mans Series. Its driver line-ups have featured prestigious names such as Le Mans winners Mark Blundell (1992), Martin Brundle (1990), Johnny Herbert (1991), Stefan Johansson (2005), Eddie Cheever and Arie Luyendyk (Indianapolis 500 winner). In addition to its contemporary racing activities, United Autosports restores and maintains historic vehicles such as a 1977 McLaren F1 (James Hunt) and a 1986 Lotus Renault F1 (Ayrton Senna). United Autosports made its competition début in the 2010 FIA GT3 European Championship with an Audi R8 LMS for Michael Guasch, Mark Patterson, Matthew Bell and Zak Brown. The same year, the team contested the final round of the ILMC season the 1000 km of Zhuhai with Henri Richard and Alain Li sharing the wheel of the Audi R8 LMS. The pair finished third in GTC. Earlier that year, the team contested the Macau Grand Prix and entered two cars in the 24 Hours of Spa. The two Audi R8 LMSs placed third (Mark Patterson, Stefan Johansson, Alain Li and Emil Assentato) and fourth (Eddie Cheever, Zak Brown, Richard Dean and Mark Blundell). In 2011, United Autosports joined forces with Michael Shank Racing to contest the Daytona 24 Hours, with the two entities finishing fourth in the Daytona Prototype class with Blundell, Brundle, Patterson and Brown at the wheel. The programme for the season followed two lines: the British GT Championship with two cars and four drivers (Guasch/Bell and Bintcliffe/Palmer) and the FIA GT3 European Championship with the same cars but different driver pairings (Bell/Brown and Osborne/Patterson). United Autosports wrapped up the year by making its LMP2 race début when the American outfit fielded an Oak Pescarolo 01 at Petit Le Mans with Zak Brown, Stefan Johansson and Mark Patterson taking the wheel. The race went smoothly and the three drivers finished second in their class. The following season was an important one for United Autosports who became the first customer of the McLaren MP4-12C GT3. Two of them were entered in the Blancpain Endurance Series for Blundell/Patterson/Brown and Brabham/Parente/Bell. The team also decided to replace the Audi R8 LMS with a McLaren MP4-12C GT3 for the final rounds of the 2012 British GT Championship season.

23 It proved to be a smart move as Matt Bell and Charles Bateman won at Snetterton and Silverstone, and Zak Brown and Alvaro Parente clinched victory at Donington. In 2013, the outfit contested the British GT Championship once again with its McLaren MP4-12C GT3s and an Audi R8 LMS ultra. The season s haul was one win and four podium spots. The following year, United Autosports fielded two Toyota Avensises in the BTCC (British Touring Car Championship) a new competition for the outfit. It also contested the GT Cup and the European Supercar Challenge as well as defending its Ginetta GT4 Supercup title. In 2016, United Autosports became the official British representative of the French manufacturer, Onroak Automotive, and entered two Ligier JS P3s in the European Le Mans Series. The switch was a successful one as the #2 car (Alex Brundle, Christian England and Michael Guash) claimed three wins at Silverstone, Imola and Red Bull Ring, while the #3 sister car scored 59 points (two second places) for Mark Patterson, Matthew Bell and Wayne Boyd. Enough for the team to clinch the ELMS LMP3 title and, with it, an invitation to the 24 Hours of Le Mans also saw United Autosports participate in Road To Le Mans with two Ligier JS P3s. The car driven by Alex Brundle and Christian England claimed pole position and clocked the best lap time in the race, but had to settle for the runner-up spot. The team ended the season by taking part in the inaugural round of the new British LMP3 championship, the Prototype Cup, at Snetterton. This year, United Autosports has entered three championships. Firstly, the Henderson Insurance LMP3 Cup with two Ligier JS P3s (Tony Wells/Matt Bell and Christian England/Andrew Evans). The team is also involved in the Michelin Le Mans Cup with two Ligier JS P3s (#22 for James McGuire and Matt Bell, #23 for Richard Meins and Shaun Lynn). These two cars, plus a third one driven by John Falb and Sean Rayhall (#2), will contest Road To Le Mans in June. Finally, the team is fielding an LMP2-class Ligier JS P217 Gibson (#22) in ELMS for William Owen, Hugo de Sadeleer and Felipe Albuquerque plus two Ligier JS P3s (#2 Falb/Rayhall and #3 Patterson/Boyd/England). At the opening round at Silverstone, Albuquerque snatched victory in the final lap, while the #2 car took the LMP3 class. A month later at Monza (Italy), however, the Ligier JS P217 suffered against the Orecas and Dallara and could do no better than sixth. After starting the race in pole position, the two Ligier JS P3s placed fourth and ninth in the LMP3 class. A busy weekend is in store at Le Mans as the Ligier JS P217 will be lining up for the 24 Hours (with the ELMS trio sharing the wheel) as well as the Road To Le Mans contingent. This will be United Autosports début appearance at the legendary 24-hour race. However, the two rookies Owen and de Sadeleer will be able to bank on the experience of Albuquerque, a former Audi LMP1 driver who already has three appearances under his belt.

24 EURASIA MOTORSPORT (PHI) Owner: Mark Goddard Team Manager: Mark Goddard Track engineer: Greg Wheeler Website: LIGIER JS P217 - GIBSON # Asian Le Mans Series classification: 2nd in GTC Teams Trophy (57 points, 1 victory) 2014 Asian Le Mans Series classification: 2nd in LM P2 Teams Trophy (55 points) 2015 ELMS classification: 6th in LM P2 Teams Trophy (28 points) 2015/2016 Asian Le Mans Series classification: 4th in LM P2 Teams Trophy (45 points) and 3rd in LM P2 Teams Trophy (2 victories with Jagonya Ayam with Eurasia) 2016 ELMS classification: 5th in LM P2 Teams championship (50 points) 2016/2017 Asian Le Mans Series results: 6th in LM P3 Teams championship (29 points) Eurasia Motorsport, founded in 2004, is currently headed by Mark Goddard. The Philippines-based team started out as the Minardi Formula One Junior Team in the Formula BMW Asia Series. In ten years the team has bagged over 40 titles in South-East Asia in disciplines such as the Asian Le Mans Series, Formula 3, Formula V6 Asia, Formula BMW Pacific Series, Formula Pilota, Formula Masters China Series and GT Asia Series (with Ginetta GT3s and Ford GT3s under the name of Craft Eurasia). The team was also the first to work with a technical partner, signing a worldwide agreement with Aston Martin Racing (as Craft Eurasia). Eurasia Motorsport also detects young talent, selecting go-kart drivers and introducing them to GT and LM P3 and then P2. The idea is to take drivers to the very highest level. The Philippine team has brought on talented drivers such as Daniel Ricciardo, the Formula One Red Bull Racing driver, Antonio Giovinazzi, vice-champion of Formula 3 Europe and winner of the last F3 Masters in Zandvoort, and Richard Bradley, winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in LM P2 in Eurasia Motorsport still has a junior single-seater team. The team began an endurance campaign under the name of Craft Racing, fielding an Aston Martin in GTC. Having finished second in the Asian championship, they won an invitation to the 24 Hours of Le Mans But during the winter the two entities decided to go their separate ways and Craft declined the invitation. In 2014, the team entered the Asian Le Mans Series once more, in LM P2 with an Oreca 03R-Nissan. The initial drivers were John Hartshorne, Richard Bradley and Tack Sung Kim, with the addition of Pu Jun Jin and James Winslow later in the season. The first attempt was conclusive: runners-up at Fuji, Shanghai and Sepang, the team were second in the championship. Endurance featured heavily on the 2015 calendar, with another Asian Le Mans Series campaign plus the European Le Mans Series, this time with the Oreca 03R-Nissan. In Europe, the team was composed of Pu Jun Jin, Nick de Gruijn and Richard Bradley. They proved they had really got to grips with endurance racing with a fifth place at the 4 Hours of Silverstone. Eurasia Motorsport finished sixth in ELMS. In the Asian Le Mans Series, Tack Sung Kim, William Lok and Tristan Gommendy took the wheel of the Oreca 03R. They came tenth at Fuji, second in LM P2 in a difficult race. Richard Bradley replaced Gommendy for the last three rounds and Nick de Bruijn stood in for Tack Sung Kim. They came third at Sepang. The #99 finished the 2015/2016 season in fourth place. At the same time, the team also fielded a second Oreca 03R-Nissan under the name of Jagonya Ayam with Eurasia, with drivers Sean Gelael and Antonio Giovinazzi. The pair got on very well and pulled off two wins with the #9 and finished third LM P2 team in the championship.

25 For 2016, the Oreca 03R-Nissan was replaced by the Oreca 05-Nissan with drivers Pu Jun Jin, Nick De Bruijn and Tristan Gommendy. The Asian outfit had a good season, finishing fifth in the ELMS Teams Championship with best race result a second place at Red Bull Ring. Gommendy s Le Mans experience proved valuable and the team finished fifth in LM P2, the best result for an ELMS team. Eurasia (as Wineurasia) fielded a Ligier JS P3 for Road to Le Mans, the support race before the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with William Lok at the wheel (19th in the race). During the winter, Mark Goddard s team provided support for Jackie Chan s DC Racing Asian Le Mans Series campaign with Gustavo Menezes, Ho-Pin Tung and Thomas Laurent in the Oreca 03R - Nissan and David Cheng, James Winslow and Hiroki Yoshida in the Ligier JS P3 Nissan. The team also entered a Ligier JS P3 under the Wineurasia name, with Lok, Scott Andrews and Aidan Read (and Richard Bradley in the first round). The LM P2 and LM P3 crews finished second and third respectively in the Teams Championship while the Ligier JS P3 was classed sixth on 29 points. Eurasia Motorsport intended to field an Oreca 07 Gibson in the FIA World Endurance Championship but the Asian team had to revise its plans when Kevin Pu Ju Jin pulled out. The team will content itself with racing the the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year, with a Ligier JS P217 Gibson. Father and son Jacques and Pierre Nicolet will be teamed with Erik Maris. This will be Pierre s first time at Le Mans but his father owner of Onroak Automotive, which builds the Ligier has taken part eight times, the last time in 2015.

26 TOCKWITH MOTORSPORTS (GBR) Owners: Nigel Moore and Simon Moore Team Manager: Mike Rowe Race Engineer: Dave Benbow Location: Tockwith (UK) Website: LIGIER JS P217 - GIBSON # ELMS ranking: 15th in LM P3 (9.5 points) 2016/2017 Asian Le Mans Series ranking: 1st in LM P3 (2 wins, 77 points) results 4 Hours of Silverstone: 5th Moore/Hanson (GBR/GBR) Ligier JS P217 Gibson 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps: DNF Moore/Hanson/Chandhock (GBR/GBR/IND) Ligier JS P217 Gibson 4 Hours of Spa: 30th Moore/Hanson (GBR/GBR) Ligier JS P217 Gibson (11th in LMP2) Tockwith Motorsports was founded 47 years ago in 1970 by Simon Moore s father. He was a former police officer who wanted to provide driver training for the under-17s. He thus opened the Tockwith Driving School on an old airfield in Tockwith near Leeds, in northern England. The centre now has three sections: a driving school (with training in go-karting, motorcycles, cars and trucks), driver management, and racing. Simon Moore s racing career goes back 30 years. He has passed on the bug to his five children, including son Nigel (25) who now manages the team with him. Nigel started out in go-kart racing then moved on to the Ginetta Junior Championship in He took the title in his maiden season after clinching eight victories. He then competed in the Ginetta G50 Cup, again taking the crown. Next came two seasons in British GT (2008 and 2009), which led to him competing in the LMP1 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S, aged just 17, making him the youngest Briton ever to line up at the iconic race. He shared driving duties with Richard Dean and Ginetta boss Lawrence Tomlinson. Unfortunately, their Le Mans venture came to an early end after 178 laps. Nigel Moore worked his way further up the ranks by winning the Formula Palmer Audi trophy in For several years, he continued to compete in the VLN endurance cup, but generally kept a low profile until he reappeared on the scene in Tockwith Motorsports started that season with an Audi R8 LMS in the Michelin GT3 Le Mans Cup, and Moore and Phil Hanson also competed in the Road To Le Mans race where they finished 35th. Mid-season, they switched to ELMS, fielding a Ligier JS P3 in ELMS with Moore and Hanson at the wheel. They took pole on their first appearance of the season at Le Castellet and finished P6 in the LM P3 class at that race. They earned a total 9.5 points to finish 16th at the end of the ELMS season. The same duo went on to win the opening round of the Henderson Insurance Brokers LMP3 Cup Championship in Snetterton (UK). Tockwith Motorsports continued to hone its experience, racing in the 2016/2017 Asian Le Mans Series. The driver line-up and the car (Ligier JS P3) remained unchanged. After victories at Fuji and Sepang, the outfit claimed the LMP3 crown with 77 points and an invitation to this year s 24 Hours of Le Mans to boot. Tockwith Motorsports is thus running two campaigns this season: first, the Henderson Insurance Brokers LMP3 Cup Championship in the UK with a Ligier JS P3 (LMP3) driven by Richard Dean and Sarah Moore, Nigel s sister, and secondly, ELMS with a Ligier JS P217 Gibson (LM P2) steered by Nigel Moore and Phil Hanson.

27 The team finished P5 at the first round at Silverstone. They were next seen at Spa Francorchamps for the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) where they were joined by Karun Chandhock. The Indian driver, who has 11 Formula One Grand Prix under his belt, will also be part of the outfit s Le Mans driver line-up. At Spa, however, the team failed to make it to the chequered flag, forced to retire just two hours into the race. Tockwith s next race was the second ELMS round in Monza. Luck was against them there too: after battling with technical issues, they had to make do with 30th place overall (11th in LMP2). This will be Tockwith Motorsports maiden Le Mans 24 Hours. The British outfit is also competing in three other World Endurance Championship races this season, at Nürburgring, Shanghai and Bahrein.

28 SIGNATECH ALPINE (FRA) Team principal: Philippe Sinault Team manager: Lionel Chevalier Race engineer: Olivier Bacchis Base: Bourges (FRA) ww.signature-team.com ALPINE A470-GIBSON #35 & # ILMC classification: 1 st LM P2 Teams Championship (95 points) LMS 2011 Classification: DNC 2012 FIA WEC: 6 th FIA LM P2 Teams Endurance Trophy (60 points) 2013 ELMS classification: European Le Mans Series LM P2 Champion (85 points, 1 victory) 2014 ELMS classification: European Le Mans Series LM P2 Champion (78 points, 1 victory) 2015 FIA WEC classification: 4 th FIA LM P2 Team s Endurance Trophy (86 points) 2016 FIA WEC classification : 1 st FIA LM P2 Team s Endurance Trophy (199 points) 2017 FIA WEC results : Silverstone 6 Hours: Rtd.Capillaire/Chatin/Panciatici (FRA/FRA/FRA) no. 36 Alpine-Nissan. Spa-Francorchamps 6 Hours: 13th. Capillaire/Chatin/Panciatici (FRA/FRA/FRA) no. 36 Alpine-Nissan (5th LM P2). In 2013, French spectators were delighted to see the Alpine name back on the Le Mans 24-Hours entry list. Fifty years after Alpine s debut in the race, 35 years after Pironi-Jaussaud s outright victory in the Alpine-Renault A442 B, the blue make returned to the Sarthe and won the European Le Mans Series in 2013 and It was obvious that the iconic brand of the Renault-Nissan alliance could not afford to miss out on the endurance event that receives the biggest media coverage of the year. Le Mans and Alpine go back a long way. Their story began in 1963 when Jean Rédélé, the founder of the company in the 50s, decided to take up the challenge of the Le Mans 24 Hours after a lot of success in rallies. He entered three Alpine M63s, one of which caught fire on Les Hunaudières killing its unfortunate driver Bino Heins from Brazil. The following year there were three M63s and an M64 and the latter won its category ( cc) as well as the Thermal Efficiency Index. In 1965, the race was a setback for the M65, M64, M63Bs and an A110 with prototype bodywork called the cricket! Six cars were again at the start of the 1966 event and four saw the flag. The new A210s won the cc class (9 th overall) and filled the first three places in the Thermal Efficiency Index. For 1967, known as the Race of the Century, Alpine entered a veritable armada of eight works cars, a record unbeaten to this day for a post-war works team. The Alpine A210s finished in ninth, tenth, twelfth and thirteenth places against opposition powered by 7-litre engines. They won the cc and cc classes. The following year the result was almost identical with 11 cars at the start, which saw the flag in eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh and fourteenth places! That year, though, Alpine was battling with the big boys by entering 3-litre V8 Renault Gordini-engined cars (A220). The class wins ( cc and cc) plus the Index of Performance and the Thermal Efficiency Index made up for the disappointing performance of the 3-litre machines. Two A110 coupes failed to finish. In 1969, there were again eight Alpines at the start but only one saw the flag winning the cc class and the Index of Performance. All the 3- litre cars again fell by the wayside. In 1970, the change in the regulations for the small cubic capacity cars and the lack of competitiveness of the 3-litre Gordini engines kept Alpine away from the circuits.

29 In 1975, Renault, which had taken over Alpine, entered a Renault-Alpine A441 that retired. It was the same story the following year with the turbocharged A442. In 1977, four A442s including three works cars competed in the 24 Hours but without success, although the same engine powered a Mirage to second place overall. A privateer A310 with a 2.6-litre 6-cylinder engine lasted until the seventeenth hour. It all came good for Renault Alpine in 1978 with victory and fourth place. In 1994 an Alpine A601 started the race for the fortieth anniversary of the make. It was an all-sarthe effort, which resulted in a thirteenth-place finish. In 2002, Jean Rédélé received the Spirit of Le Mans from Gérard Larrousse for his contribution to the Le Mans 24 Hours. Alpine made its Le Mans return in the LM P2 category with Philippe Sinault s team. Sinault, a former F3 driver, comes from the world of communications. He set up his team in 1993 in a garage on the Paul Ricard circuit before settling in Bourges. Using Volkswagen engines, Signature quickly became one of the front-runners in the F3 Euro Series. After racing in the World Series by Renault, Sinault decided to change to endurance racing running a Courage Oreca-Judd was a learning year in the Le Mans Series with fourth place in Barcelona as the team s best result followed by eleventh at Spa and Le Mans, fifth at the Nürburgring and seventh at Silverstone. Signature Plus then ran a Lola-Aston Martin in the LMS in 2010, and Vanina Ickx joined up with Ragues-Mailleux. Although their Le Mans 24 Hours ended in an accident, the trio had a good run in the Le Mans Series finishing second in the LM P1 category. As the Aston Martin partnership was not renewed Signature decided to enter an LM P2 prototype in the ILMC, and reached an agreement with Nissan to supply engines as the Japanese manufacturer was very keen on being officially represented in this international championship. Backed up by this partnership Signature, renamed Signatech, tackled the 2011 endurance championship with an Oreca 03 chassis. One car driven by Franck Mailleux and Lucas Ordonez was entered in all the ILMC rounds in the LM P2 category backed up by Soheil Ayari in the Sebring 12 Hours, the Spa 1000 km, the Le Mans 24 Hours and the Imola 6 Hours after which he was replaced by Jean-Karl Vernay. It was a great season for the French squad, which won the ILMC LM P2 title with the help of their victory in Zhuhai. At Le Mans, Signatech started as favourite but was beaten by the no. 41 Zytek: it finished in ninth place overall and second in LM P2. In 2012, the team continued to expand and entered two Oreca 03-Nissans for the year in the FIA WEC including the Le Mans 24 Hours. The driver line-ups were Mailleux-Lombard-Tresson (from the Nissan GT Academy like Ordonez) in the lead car, and Ragues, Panciatici and Roman Rusinov from Russia in the second Oreca-Nissan, which made its debut at Spa in the second round of the WEC. The championship got off to a difficult start for Philippe Sinault s squad. Mailleux-Lombard-Tresson retired at Sebring (after a collision) and at Spa they could do no better than 33rd (after an off by Tresson), while Ragues-Panciatici-Rusinov saw the flag in 30th spot in Belgium. Le Mans was another disappointing race for the French team as no. 26 finished fourth in the LM P2 category and no. 23 saw the flag in ninth place. Signatech failed to retain the world title won in the ILMC. In 2013 Alpine made its Le Mans comeback with the new Signatech Alpine team. The car called the Alpine A450 used a chassis based on the Oreca 03 powered by a Nissan engine and shod with Michelin tyres. It was entrusted to Philippe Sinault s squad. Two Alpine A450s were present at the test day where they put on encouraging performances although only one ran in the race driven by Panciatici-Ragues-Gommendy. An off compromised its chances despite which the French trio brought it home in 15 th place overall and 9 th in LM P2. In the ELMS Signatech s campaign also got off to a difficult start, but the team put its head down and finished the season on a high note winning the title in the last race on the Paul Ricard circuit after a hard-fought battle with Thiriet by TDS Racing.

30 In 2014 Signatech Alpine defended its ELMS title and returned to Le Mans with an A450-Nissan, in which team regular Nelson Panciatici was backed up by Paul-Loup Chatin, winner of the 2013 LM PC category in the ELMS, and British hotshoe Oliver Webb. At Silverstone the car was on Michelins and at Imola Sinault swapped to Dunlop tyres with success as the no. 36 Alpine A450 finished third. At Le Mans in the highly-competitive LM P2 category the Alpine was one of the potential victory contenders. Finally, it saw the flag in 7 th place overall and third in the baby prototype category. At the end of the season Signatech racked up its second ELMS title. In 2015, Sinault, who no longer had anything to prove in the ELMS, has moved up to the FIA World Endurance Championship with the same car and an all-french driver line-up, Panciatici-Chatin-Capillaire. The season got off to a bad start at Silverstone when a badly-secured left-hand rear wheel parted company with the car sending the blue Alpine into the guardrail in Copse, the team s first retirement in three years. Things didn t improve very much at Spa as the car was hit with tyre and setup problems. It saw the flag in 13 th place overall and fifth in LM P2. At Le Mans the team and drivers will be determined to get their championship challenge back on the rails.

31 JACKIE CHAN DC RACING (CHN) 2016 FIA WEC 2016 FIA WEC classification: 9 th FIA Endurance Trophy for LM P2 Team (42 points) ORECA 07-GIBSON #37 & # FIA WEC results: 6 hours of Silverstone : 4 th Tung/Jarvis/Laurent (NLD/GBR/FRA), Oreca 07 - Gibson #38 (1 e LM P2) ; 11 e Cheng/Brundle/Gommendy (USA/GBR/FRA), Oreca 07 - Gibson #37 (8 th LM P2) 6 hours of Spa-Francorchamps WEC : 9 th Tung/Jarvis/Laurent (NLD/GBR/FRA), Oreca 07 - Gibson #38 (3 e LM P2) ; 16 th Cheng/Brundle/Gommendy (USA/GBR/FRA), Oreca 07 - Gibson #37 (10 th LM P2) Founded in 2016 by Chinese-American driver David Cheng and actor Jackie Chan, Jackie Chan OC Racing, formerly Saxi OC Racing Alpine, flies the flag for China. Cheng first set up DC Racing, whose team principal is Rémy Brouard,former ACQ general manager and ex-oak Racing manager, to enter a Ligier JS P3 in the LM P3 class of the Asian Le Mans Series in 2015/2016. The team went straight to the top,its Ligier taking four wins in the four races on the calendar and earning an invitation to the compete in LM P2 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans last year. A year earlier in 2015, David Cheng drove at Le Mans for Pegasus Racing,sharing driving duties with Ho-Pin Tung with whom he made his 24 Hours debut for OAK Racing in The pair were joined by Léo Roussel and finished 9th in the LM P2 class. ln 2016, Cheng, who still races under the American flag, and Tung, who represents the Netherlands, teamed up with Nelson Panciatici and placed 7th in LM P2 with the Alpine A460 at the opening round of the FIA World Endurance Championship at Silverstone. They were forced to abandon at Spa-Francorchamps after colliding with another competitor, and also failed to see the chequered flag at Circuit de la Sarthe as Steve McQueen fan Jackie Chan looked on. This time, however, the problem was mechanical. The rest of the season was more successful for the duo, joined by Paul-Loup Chatin from the Fuji round onwards. They manged to finish the six remaining races, but never made it on to the podium. The 2016/2017 Asian Le Mans Series season got off to a good start for Jackie Chan DC Racing with wins in both the LM P2 and LM P3 classes at Zhuhai,but it ended badly for the team who, despite a 19-point lead going into the finalrace in Sepang, missed out on the title. The Oreca 03 R - Nissan,driven by Tung, Gustavo Menezes (LM P2 class winner at Le Mans in 2016) and Thomas Laurent, was forced to retire at the start of the Malaysian race, leaving the road to victory clear for their rival. The Chinese outfit ended the season as runners-up in the LM P2 class and third in LM P3. There have been plenty of changes for the Jackie Chan DC Racingteam for 2017: it now fields two Oreca 07s operated by British outfit Jota Sport, LM P2 winners at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in At the season-opener at Silverstone, they took the LM P2 class win with the #38 car driven by Tung, former Audi works driver Oliver Jarvis, and newcomer Thomas Laurent. The trio weren't able to repeat the feat at Spa-Francorchamps but stillclaimed a worthy third place,meaning the #38 car tops the standings ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, while the #37 is last! The Cheng/Brundle/Gommendy crew came eighth in LM P2 in the UK and were struck by gremlins in Belgium, relegating them to PlO in the class at that race. The Jackie Chan OC Racing team is still a relative newcomer but has proven that it is quite capable of winning and intends to play a leading role at Le Mans. lt is worth notingthat the #38 has often been lucky for Jota Sport in the past.

32 GRAFF Racing (FRA) Owner:Pascal Rauturier Team manager:pascal Rauturier Engineers: Paul Rivière (#39) and Pascal Tortosa (#40) Location: Morangis graffracing.fr ORECA 07 GIBSON #39 and # ELMS classification: LM P3 Teams Championship, 6th (18 points) 2016 ELMS classification: 2nd and 9th in LM P3 Teams Championship (93 and 24.5 points) 2017 ELMS results: 4 Hours of Silverstone: 4th Matelli / Allen / Bradley (FRA / AUS / GBR), Oreca 07 Gibson 7th Trouillet / Petit / Guibbert (FRA / FRA / FRA), Oreca 07 Gibson 4 Hours of Monza: 4th Trouillet / Petit / Guibbert (FRA / FRA / FRA), Oreca 7 Gibson 8th Matelli / Allen / Bradley (FRA / AUS / GBR), Oreca 7 Gibson Jean-Philippe Grand, who began his racing career in the seventies, founded his own motorsports team in 1985 partnered with journalist François Fayman. Grand had just won the Formula Ford French Championship. Success came quickly for Graff Racing and with it a reputation for reliability: Formula Ford (thirteen titles, European Champion in 1996 and 1997), Formula Renault (five titles, plus winner of the Eurocup in 2002), Formula 3 (three times Champion of France, victory at Macau in 1997). The single-seater specialist, based in Chinon (central France), also won the Porsche Carrera Cup in 2007 and Chinon being a mere 100 km from Le Mans, Grand was ideally located to take more than a passing interest in Le Mans 24 Hours. In 1980 he entered a Chevron B36 of which he shared the wheel with future constructor Yves Courage. Their maiden Le Mans ended in retirement. However, Graff Racing went on to race the Le Mans 24 hours 11 times with various chassis: Lola, Spice - and Rondeau, three times. The best result was 11th in 1984 and 1987 and a class win in S2.0 in 1981 (Lola T298). Jean-Philippe Grand was also known for putting sports journalists behind the wheel, e.g. Marc Menant (TF1, La Cinq, Europe 1) and Jean-Luc Roy (currently with RMC). The French outfit can boast talent-scouting skills, having spotted the potential of Christophe Bouchut (winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1993), Jean-Christophe Boullion, Emmanuel Collard, Philippe Gache, Loïc Duval (winner of the of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2013), Patrick Pilet (Porsche GT factory driver), Nicolas Lapierre (Toyota Gazoo Racing) and Simon Pagenaud (2016 IndyCar Series champion). In 2008, Jean-Philippe Grand sold the business but stayed on as sporting director. Graff Racing went on to enter the Porsche Carrera Cup and the French GT championship and won the team trophy in In 2013, Grand stepped down and Pascal Rauturier bought the team. He based the outfit in Morangis on the outskirts of Paris, with the aim of racing Le Mans 24 Hours again as soon as possible. It was a second lease of life for Graff Racing and the team ran campaigns in the Porsche Carrera Cup with Eric Trouillet and in GT Tour with a Porsche GT3-R (with Marcel Sciabbarrasi and Gaël Castelli). In 2014, the team also entered a few rounds of the Blancpain Endurance Series with Nicolas Marroc and Eric Trouillet (joined by Roland Bervillé and Lonni Martins for the longer races). Drivers Trouillet, Franck Gauvin and Yann Clairay shared the wheel of a Porsche 997 Cup and a Ligier JS530 EVO. In 2015, the team fielded two Ligier JS53 EVOs in the VdeV championship, one of which came third. By the last round of the ELM at Estoril, Portugal, Graff was a step closer to a ticket to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It entered a Ligier JS P3 driven by Eric Trouillet, Thomas Accary and Garry Findlay. The crew came second in class.

33 In 2016, Graff pursued its commitment to endurance racing, running a full-season ELMS campaign with two Ligier JS P3s, plus the (Ligier JS53 EVO3) in the VdeV. Eric Trouillet, Paul Petit and Enzo Guibbert formed the crew of the #9 ELMS car. The three men won twice at Paul Ricard and Spa-Francorchamps and were runners-up in the drivers championship, as was the team. The #10, driven by John Falb, Sean Rayhall and Vincente Potolicchio finished ninth. Fabrice Rossello and Eric Trouillet were vice-champions of the VdeV with one win in the bag. Of the three Ligier JS P3s entered for Road to Le Mans, John Falb s finished third is a decisive year for Graff Racing. Still active in VdeV, the team only fielded one Ligier JS P3 with Rémy Deguffroy, Franck Gauvin and Eric Trouillet at the wheel. It also entered the Michelin Le Mans Cup with a Ligier JS P3 for Emilien Carde and Adrien Chila. There are four Graff Racing cars (Ligier JS P3) in Road To Le Mans. To prepare for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the team is running another ELMS campaign with two Oreca 07 - Gibsons in LMP2. The #39 is driven by Eric Trouillet, Paul Petit and Enzo Guibbert and the #40 by Franck Matelli, James Allen and Richard Bradley, former winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in LMP2 in At Silverstone, the first round of the season, the #40 came fourth and the #39 was classed seventh. In Italy, Enzo Guibbert took pole position with the #39. The car finished fourth, with the #40 in eighth place. The long-awaited race is just around the corner now. After a 24-year hiatus, the 32-year-old team, that boasts 29 titles, will soon be able to add a 12th Le Mans 24 Hours to its record. James Winslow will be joining Eric Trouillet and Enzo Guibbert in the #39, but the #40 crew remains the same.

34 KEATING MOTORSPORTS (USA) Owner: Ben Keating Base: Tomball (Texas) RILEY MK.30 - GIBSON # WeatherTech SportsCar Championship: DNC Spurred on by his participation in the 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours Ben Keating was eager to return. In 2016, the Viper developed in conjunction with Riley Technologies only made the reserve list so the American found himself a seat in the Oreca 03R with Irish team Murphy Prototypes. The crew formed by Keating, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Marc Goossens was the 15th LMP2 to see the flag. Keating was very taken with racing a prototype and having already worked with Riley Technologies he elected to field a Riley Mk.30 in LMP2. The plan was to swap the Viper entered by Keating s team ViperExchange.com in the GTD class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for a Riley LMP2. However, the constructor was late delivering the machine and offered Keating a Mercedes AMG, prepared and run by Riley. It turned out to be a great substitute, winning four podium places in five races Third in the Rolex 24 at Daytona and winner of the 12 Hours of Sebring, the team went on to take second at Long Beach and first at Austin. However, the winning streak ended when Keating came off in the streets of Detroit. With such exceptional results Keating and Bleekemolen are brimming with confidence. However, the Riley Mk.30 will be making its competition début in the all-important 24 Hours of Le Mans. Ricky Taylor will be joining the crew for what will be his fourth Le Mans. Following a late shakedown in late April at Road Atlanta the car has been tested at NOLA Motorsports Park in Louisiana and at Watkins Glen. Will it be sufficient to hope for a podium in France?

35 ALGARVE PRO RACING (PRT) Owners: Samantha and Stewart Cox Team Manager: Samantha and Stewart Cox Track engineer: Stewart Cox / Jonathan Bartlet / Pedro Rodrigues Location: Albufeira (Portugal) LIGIER JS P217 - GIBSON # ELMS classification: 4th in LM PC Teams Championship (16 points) 2015 ELMS classification: 12th in LM P2 Teams Trophy (11 points) 2015 Asian Le Mans Series classification: 2nd in LM P2 Teams Trophy (53 points) 2016 ELMS classification: 9th in LM P2 Teams Trophy (19 points) 2016 Asian Le Mans Series classification: Champion Teams et Driver LM P2 (53 points) 2017 ELMS results: 4 Hours of Silverstone: DNF, Roda/McMurry/Pizzitola (ITA/USA/FRA), #25 Ligier JS P217 - Gibson 4 Hours of Monza: DNF, Roda/McMurry/Pizzitola (ITA/USA/FRA), #25 Ligier JS P217 - Gibson Samantha and Stewart Cox founded Algarve Pro Racing in 2011 for high-level competition and driver training with instructors Nick Catsburg and Michael Munemann. Having begun with the World Series by Renault, the Mégane Trophy and the Supercar Challenge, the Portuguese team made its endurance début in LM PC in the European Le Mans Series. Their first race was in 2013, the 4 Hours of Red Bull Ring with Nick Catsburg and C.O.Jones driving the #46 FLM. The team finished the season in fourth place on 16 points. It was the end of the road in endurance. For the time being. In December 2014, Algarve Pro Racing purchased a Ligier JS P2, the chassis with which French team Thiriet by TDS Racing had finished second in LM P2 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans that June. The first race for the pale blue Ligier JS P2 was the 4 Hours of Red Bull Ring, with Michael Munemann, James Winslow and Andrea Roda at the wheel. They came tenth and notched up their first championship point. In the following races, the car came eighth at Circuit Paul Ricard and seventh in the home round at Estoril, Portugal. Algarve Pro Racing finished the season in twelfth place with eleven points. They went on to enter the Asian Le Mans Series. Despite missing the first round in Fuji, Michael Munemann, Dean Koutsoumidis and James Winslow had a good season, taking second place at Burinam and Sepang and third at Sepang to become vice-champions. In 2016, the team kept the same car, but recruited a new driver: Olympic cyclist, Sir Chris Hoy. He was replaced by Jonathan Hirschi, who was joined by Andrea Pizzitola as of the Red Bull Ring round, where the team scored its best result (5th). Algarve Pro Racing finished the season 9th on 19 points. Initially on the reserve list, Algarve Pro Racing eventually made the grid of the 84th 24 Hours of Le Mans. Munemann, Pizzitola and Hoy formed the crew for Le Mans. They raced sensibly and finished 17th (12th in LM P2). Then came another Asian Le Mans Series with two Ligier JS P2s. A good move, for Algarve Pro Racing clinched both Team and Driver titles (Andrea Roda), with the added bonus of an invitation to the 24 Hours of Le Mans For 2017, the Portuguese team continued in ELMS with Pizzitola, Roda and Matt McMurry in a Ligier JS P217. The season started badly, with a retirement due to a gearbox problem at Silverstone. At Monza, the team fared no better. They were poised to take sixth place when they broke down just metres from the finish line!

36 Algarve Pro Racing will be taking up the invitation to Le Mans, partnered with SO24!, an association that helps Sarthe-based drivers to participate in their local race. The line-up is composed of Vincent Capillaire, Mark Patterson and Matt McMurry.

37 CETILAR VILLORBA CORSE (ITA) Owner: Raimondo Amadio Team Manager: Christian Pescatori Engineer: Diego Gattardi Location: Treviso (ITA) Website: villorbacorse.com DALLARA P217 - GIBSON # ELMS classification: 5 th LM P3 teams championship (36 points) 2016 ELMS classification: 17 th LM P3 teams championship (8 points) 2017 ELMS results 4 Hours of Silverstone: 6 th, Lacorte/Sernagiotto/Bellichi (ITA/ITA/ITA), Dallara P217 Gibson 4 Hours of Monza: 5 th, Lacorte/Sernagiotto/Bellichi (ITA/ITA/ITA), Dallara P217 Gibson Villorba Corse was officially created as a professional team in However, the adventure began in 1992 under the name of Scuderia Villorba Corse, a group of gentlemen drivers and motorsport fans. The team started out in hill racing (Mountain Championship), picking up six continental titles, five domestic titles, five Italian Cups and three consecutive wins at the 6 Hours of Vallelunga. Eight years later, it became a fully-fledged professional outfit. The Italian structure continued in various championships, becoming European Mountain Champion in 2003 with Denny Zardo. Raimondo Amadio and his team made their circuit racing début in the Italian Prototypes Championship, again with Zardo, while continuing its involvement in the European Mountain Championship with Andrea De Biasi. The move was a success with a track title and the honour of becoming European hill-climbing vice champion. The 2006 season marked the team's entry into GT with the acquisition of a Ferrari F430 GT2 and participation in the Italian GT Championship with two drivers: Zardo and former Formula One driver Alex Caffi. Scuderia Villorba Corse pulled off a master stroke by winning the championship at the first attempt. As a result, the team became the official Pirelli representative in the Le Mans Series. In 2007, the Treviso-based team fielded a Ferrari F430 GTC for Caffi and Zardo, with a fourth place in GT2 rewarding their efforts. In 2008, Caffi and Emanuele Moncini drove a Ferrari F430 GT2 in the Italian championship, finishing the campaign in second place. Scuderia Villorba Corse continued its involvement on the Italian domestic scene in 2009 and 2010 with Moncini and Andrea Montermini, another former F1 driver. The Ferrari F430 GT2 took part in the Italian GT Championship and picked up its second title after its 2006 triumph. The following year, a Ferrari F458 was entered in the International GT Open for Montermini and Moncini. Three wins took the duo to second place in the championship, just nine points behind the winner. In 2012, the team entered the same championship with Juan Manuel López and Montermini (two wins, eighth in Super GT). The following year, Villorba Corse secured five wins to become vice-champion once again while Montermini took the drivers title.

38 The team changed direction in 2014 by entering the Blancpain Endurance Series (Pro Am Cup) with a Ferrari F458 Italia GT3 driven by Andrea Rizzoli and Stefano Gai, with backing from Montermini or Francesco Castellacci in some of the rounds. Once again, the inaugural season proved to be a winning one with the Teams title, and the Drivers title for Rizzoli and Gai saw the Italian outfit move into prototype racing, entering a LM P3-class Ginetta Nissan in the European Le Mans Series for Roberto Lacorte and Giorgio Sernagiotto. The highlights of the season were two second places in Austria (Red Bull Ring) and France (Circuit Paul Ricard). The team ended the campaign in fifth place with 36 points. In 2016, Scuderia Villorba Corsa contested the inaugural season of the GT3 Le Mans Cup with a Ferrari F458 Italia GT3 in the hands of Cédric Mezard and Steeve Hiesse. A haul of 35 points over the course of the season placed the team fifth in the Teams championship. The two men came 24th (11th in GT3) at Road To Le Mans. The team again entered the ELMS in LM P3, this time fielding a Ligier JS P3 for Roberto Lacorte, Niccolo Schiro and Sernagiotto. They did not quite enjoy the previous season s success, finishing in 17th place with eight points. For 2017, the team has changed name to Cetilar Villorba Corse. Cetilar is a range of treatments for sports people (providing relief from joint pain and other complaints). The 100% Italian outfit (staff, drivers and cars) is entering the new Dallara P217 Gibson (LM P2) in the current ELMS campaign for Lacorte, Sernagiotto and works driver Andrea Belicchi. The three men came sixth at the season opener at Silverstone, followed by a fifth place in the second round on their home turf. The drivers are beginning to get to grips with their new machine but Le Mans is already upon them. Cetilar Villorba Corse will be making its 24 Hours début and reaching the finish line will most certainly be the team s objective.

39 ARC BRATISLAVA (SVK) Owners: Mirko Konopka Team Manager: Michaela Anova Location: Bratislava (Slovakia) Website: LIGIER JS P217 - GIBSON # /2016 Asian Le Mans Series classification: 7 th in GT (27 points). 2016/2017 Asian Le Mans Series classification: 2 nd in LM P3 (1 win, 61 points). Bratislava became the Slovakian capital in Four years later, Dusan Vyslozil and Miroslav Konopka (aka Mirko Konopka) founded their racing outfit and included the city s name in its moniker. The team mainly raced in its home country to begin with, moving on to the international scene some time later. They made their début in the Porsche Supercup in 2003 then, in 2005, joined the N-GT class in FIA GT with a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR driven by Mirko Konopka. The team subsequently entered the American Le Mans Series (12 Hours of Sebring), the FIA GT with a Saleen S7-R, the Le Mans Series in 2009 (a single race, again with the Saleen S7-R), and the 24 Hours Series (including the 24 Hours of Dubai, 12 Hours of Sepang and 24 Hours of Barcelona) in which they still compete. Meanwhile, Konopka made two appearances at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, first in 2006 with T2M Motorsport, headed by the late Ietoshi Kaneko, with Jean René De Fournoux and Yutaka Yamagishi as teammates (DNF). He returned in 2010, with Team Felbermayr Proton sharing driving duties with Felbermayr Jr and Sr. Konopka was at the wheel of the team s Porsche 997 GT3 RSR at the start the race, which they finished 24th (8th in GT2). In 2012, the Slovak outfit made its début in the Blancpain Endurance Series with a Porsche 997 GT3 R (Konopka, Zdena Mikulasko, Stefano Cortti and Christoff Corten). They returned with the same car in 2013 but in the Gentlemen Trophy class this time, with a different line-up: Konopka, Ahmad Al Harthy, Jan Raska and Marco Schelp. In winter 2015/2016, ARC Bratislava competed in an Audi R8 LMS Ultra in the GT class in the Asian Le Mans Series and finished 7th. In 2016, the team returned to the Blancpain Endurance Series, fielding a Lamborghini Huracán GT3, and ranked 4th in the Pro Am class. They followed up with another Asian Le Mans Series season, entering two Ginetta LM P3s this time. The #4 car was mainly driven by Konopka, Darren Burke and Mike Simpson, while the #7 was steered by Neal Muston and Konstantins Calko. In the end, the #7 car finished 5th while the #4 was runner-up in LM P3, with 61 points and one win (4 Hours of Buriram, Thailand). This year, ARC Bratislava is not running a campaign in any one championship. However, the team s fluorescent yellow Ligier JS P217 will be on the grid at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Konopka and 23-year-old Latvian driver Konstantins Calko at the wheel. Calko took the title in the Radical European Masters Series in 2012 and came third in the ELMS drivers championship in They will be joined by one of the youngest drivers on the grid, 18-year-old Dutchman, Rik Breukers.