The FIA and ACO published this year's 56-car entry list for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, to be staged 13-14 June at the Circuit de la Sarthe.
The entry list is headlined by fourteen entries in the premier LMP1 class, supported by nineteen LMP2 entries, and twenty-three total GTE class entries - nine in the Pro sub-class, with the remaining fourteen in the Am division.
The full entry list can be downloaded by clicking this link.
As the defending World Endurance Champions, Toyota Racing's TS040 hybrid prototypes will carry numbers 1 and 2. There has been a positive development in the last week regarding the #1 entry, as Kazuki Nakajima is now listed as the third driver alongside reigning World Drivers' Champions Sebastien Buémi and Anthony Davidson. Two weeks ago, during practice for the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Nakajima was involved in a heavy crash and suffered back injuries that would require surgery and an expected recovery time of up to three months. Originally stating that Nakajima would "need a miracle" to be fit for Le Mans, Toyota announced that he would be relieved for reserve driver Kamui Kobayashi.
On Tuesday, Toyota Racing announced that Nakajima is now fit to test for Toyota in the first official Le Mans test session on 31 May, with the goal of returning to drive at Le Mans alongside Buémi and Davidson at Le Mans, following a recent back operation in Nice, France. Nakajima is continuing his rehabilitation in Europe, and if cleared to race, the #1 Toyota team should be one of the favorites to win outright. Last year, Nakajima became the first Japanese driver to take pole position for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
There has also been a change in the driver lineup at NISMO, who have brought in 2012 Nissan GT Academy champion Mark Shulzhitskiy of Russia to drive the #21 Nissan GT-R LM NISMO alongside fellow GT Academy graduate Lucas Ordoñez and reigning Super GT champion Tsugio Matsuda.
Shulzhitskiy, who made his Le Mans debut one year ago, relieves 2009 Le Mans winner Marc Gené, who announced last week that he would voluntarily step out of the cockpit and take on an advisory role with Nissan at Le Mans. This means that three former Nissan GT Academy winners - Shulzhitskiy, Ordoñez, and 2011 champion Jann Mardenborough - will drive for the NISMO team at Le Mans in their much-anticipated return to the premier class.
There are no changes at Audi Sport Team Joest, whose #7 entry driven by three-time and defending Le Mans champions André Lotterer, Benoît Tréluyer, and Marcel Fässler, remains undefeated in 2015. Both they and Porsche Team will keep their three-car entries intact from Spa-Francorchamps.
LMP2 is headlined by defending WEC champions G-Drive Racing, who won at Silverstone with the lineup of Roman Rusinov, Julien Canal, and Sam Bird, along with last year's Le Mans class champions Jota Sport, who retain Simon Dolan and Oliver Turvey from last year's winning lineup, and bring in 21-year-old GP2 Series standout Mitch Evans for a second consecutive race - the trio took LMP2 class victory at Spa two weeks ago.
The #51 AF Corse Ferrari lineup of Gianmaria Bruni, Toni Vilander, and Giancarlo Fisichella look for back-to-back victories at Le Mans in the GTE Pro category, but to do so they will have to fight back against an Aston Martin Racing squad that includes last year's GTE Am class winning #95 entry, affectionately nicknamed the Dane Train, and the class-winning entry at Spa, the #99 co-driven by Alex MacDowall, Richie Stanaway, and sim racing legend Fernando Rees. Porsche Team Manthey and Corvette Racing will also be major contenders as they were one year ago.
While in the GTE-Am division, the return of the Viper and Corvette marques to the class after a year's absence, another entry from actor-driver Patrick Dempsey and his Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911, and the lightning start for Aston Martin Racing will be the main draws. The trio of Pedro Lamy, Mathias Lauda, and Paul Dalla Lana are undefeated in 2015 in the #98 Vantage V8 GTE.
Who will you be supporting in this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans? Discuss it in the comments below, and for more Le Mans discussion, visit our WEC sub-forum!
