Sebastien Loeb Racing’s first Le Mans 24 Hours attempt was confirmed in Paris on Thursday when organisers unveiled the entry list for the 2014 race.
The team has entered a single ORECA-Nissan in the LMP2 class, with 2012 Porsche Supercup champion and GT specialist Rene Rast listed as its lead driver in his first LMP programme.
Loeb’s entry is part of a 17-strong LMP2 division that also includes two entries from Delta-ADR’s new partner Millennium Racing, three from the OAK stable and one from Strakka, which ran in the P1 class last year, with the new Dome-Strakka S103.
Moving in the opposite direction is Lotus, which steps up from P2 into prototype racing’s highest class for the 2014 twice-round-the-clock enduro with an AER-engined T129.
It will go up against fellow privateer Rebellion Racing – which field two of its eponymous new ORECA-built R-One cars – and works entries from Audi, Toyota and Porsche.
Porsche and Toyota will bring two entries each. Toyota has slated Alexander Wurz and Anthony Davidson as its lead drivers, while Porsche has likewise nominated Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard.
This is the first stage of the official confirmation of the driver line-ups in the 919 Hybrids, as exclusively revealed by AUTOSPORT last month.
Audi meanwhile will run three cars, led by Lucas di Grassi, Marcel Fassler and Filipe Albuquerque respectively.
The Portuguese racer’s #3 e-tron quattro is the only Le Mans addition from the full-time World Endurance Championship entry list.
Elsewhere, Nissan’s ZEOD RC Le Mans 24 Hours racer had its Garage 56 spot officially confirmed. Lucas Ordonez is its named lead driver.
Twelve cars will line up in GTE Pro, with Aston Martin the single largest contributor with three cars.
Ferrari’s AF Corse squad will field two entries, as will the works Corvette team.
They will be joined by Ram Racing which,as predicted by AUTOSPORT, steps up after triumphing in the European Le Mans Series at its first attempt last year.
JMW, which finished 10th in last year’s race, has been placed on the 2014 GTE Pro reserve list.
GTE Am meanwhile features 16 cars, among them four entries from AF Corse and three from Aston Martin.
Former Manchester United goalkeeper Fabien Barthez will make his Le Mans debut with Jerome Policand’s ASP team.
Team Car Nominated driver LMP1 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 e-tron quattro Lucas di Grassi Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 e-tron quattro Marcel Fassler Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 e-tron quattro Filipe Albuquerque Toyota Racing Toyota TS040 HYBRID Alexander Wurz Toyota Racing Toyota TS040 HYBRID Anthony Davidson Porsche Team Porsche 919 hybrid Romain Dumas Porsche Team Porsche 919 hybrid Timo Bernhard Lotus Lotus-AER T129 Christijan Albers Rebellion Racing Rebellion-Toyota R-One Nicolas Prost Rebellion Racing Rebellion-Toyota R-One Mathias Beche LMP2 Strakka Racing Dome Strakka-Nissan S103 Nick Leventis Millennium Racing ORECA-Nissan 03 Fabien Giroix Millennium Racing ORECA-Nissan 03 Stefan Johansson Sebastien Loeb Racing ORECA-Nissan 03 Rene Rast G-Drive Racing Morgan-Nissan LMP2 Roman Rusinov SMP Racing ORECA-Nissan 03 Kirill Ladygin OAK Racing-Team Asia Ligier-HPD JSP2 David Cheng Race Performance ORECA-Judd 03 Michel Frey OAK Racing Morgan-Nissan LMP2 Alex Brundle Signatech Alpine Alpine-Nissan A450 Paul-Loup Chatin SMP Racing ORECA-Nissan 03 Sergey Zlobin Jota Sport Zytek-Nissan Z11SN Simon Dolan Greaves Motorsport Zytek-Nissan Z11SN Tom Kimber-Smith Newblood by Morand Racing Morgan-Judd Christian Klien Thiriet by TDS Racing Ligier-Nissan JSP2 Pierre Thiriet KCMG ORECA-Nissan 03 Matt Howson Murphy Prototypes ORECA-Nissan 03 Greg Murphy Reserves: Larbre Competition Morgan-Judd Jacques Nicolet Signatech Alpine Alpine-Nissan A450 Nelson Panciatici Caterham Racing Zytek-Nissan Z11SN Chris Dyson Boutsen Ginion Racing ORECA-Nissan 03 Vincent Capillaire Pegasus Racing Morgan-Nissan LMP2 Julien Schell GTE Pro AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia Gianmaria Bruni Ram Racing Ferrari 458 Italia Matt Griffin AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia Davide Rigon Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R Jan Magnussen Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R Oliver Gavin Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin Vantage V8 Bruno Senna Porsche Team Manthey Porsche 911 GT3-RSR Patrick Pilet Porsche Team Manthey Porsche 911 GT3-RSR Marco Holzer SRT Motorsports SRT Viper GTS-R Rob Bell SRT Motorsports SRT Viper GTS-R Jeroen Bleekemolen Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin Vantage V8 Darren Turner Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin Vantage V8 Stefan Mucke GTE Am Ram Racing Ferrari 458 Italia Johnny Mowlem Team Sofrev Asp Ferrari 458 Italia Fabien Barthez AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia Peter Ashley Mann AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia Luis Perez Companc AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia Yannick Mallegol IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche 911 GT3-RSR Erik Maris SMP Racing Ferrari 458 Italia Andrea Bertolini Prospeed Competition Porsche 911 GT3-RSR François Perrodo Dempsey Racing-Proton Porsche 911 GT3-RSR Patrick Dempsey AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia Stephen Wyatt Craft Racing Aston Martin Vantage V8 Frank Yu Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3-RSR Christian Ried 8 Star Motorsports Ferrari 458 Italia Vicente Potolicchio Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin Vantage V8 Kristian Poulsen Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin Vantage V8 Richie Stanaway Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin Vantage V8 Paul Dalla Lana Reserves: JMW Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia George Richardson Team Taisan Ferrari 458 Italia Matteo Malucelli Imsa Performance Matmut Porsche 911 GT3-RSR Raymond Narac Prospeed Competition Porsche 911 GT3-RSR Xavier Maassen Risi Competizione Ferrari 458 Italia Tracy Krohn 'Garage 56' Nissan Motorsports Global Nissan ZEOD RC Lucas Ordonez
