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The world's oldest and prestigious endurance race promises to be another suspense-filled one come 16h00 on Saturday.
The 93rd running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans kicks-off this weekend with Ferrari defending back-to-back victories. Photo by Gregory Lenormand / DPPI via AFP.
In one of its biggest highlights for years, the 93rd running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans this weekend sees the return of not only Aston Martin to the premier Hypercar class, but an expanded field of LM GT3 cars in the category’s second running since replacing LM GT last year.
Packed grid
The fourth round of this year’s World Endurance Championship, which carries double points to the overall series, the event will once more be contested by entries competing in WEC, as well as the North American IMSA series, the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) and for the first time, the Asian Le Mans Series (ALMS).
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Also competing for the first time is a single entry from the GT World Challenge and a further entrant without any affiliation to any of the mentioned series’.
Hypercar
In the Hypercar class, a field of 21 cars will be contesting, led by reigning champions Ferrari with three 499Ps, Toyota with two GR010s, Porsche with four 963s and Cadillac with four V.Series Rs.
Besides the two new factory-supported Aston Martin Valkyries, Alpine returns with two new works A424, as does BMW with the M Hybrid V8.
Rounding the list of manufactures off, is Peugeot with the latest version of the 9X0. Missing is Lamborghini after the abrupt cancellation of the SC63 project after two rounds of the IMSA series.
LMP2
In the second-tier LMP2 class, 17 entries will campaign the venerable Oreca 07 Gibson in its swansong before the arrival of a new class in 2026.
LM GT3
The biggest entry at La Sarthe is, however, the 24-car LM GT3 class won last year by the Porsche supported Manthey Racing team.
Out of the entries, Stuttgart will have three 911 GT3 Rs competing against a pair of Aston Martin Vantages, three Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3 Rs, two Ford Mustang GT3s, a similar number of BMW M4 GT3s, and three Ferrari 296 GT3s.
Returning are the pair of Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F GT3s and the United Autosports pair of McLaren 720s GT3.
For the first time since the infamous 1999 event, Mercedes-AMG makes a comeback, albeit with the private Iron Lynx team in three AMG GT3 Evos.
Along with the SC63, no Lamborghinis will be competing in LM GT3.
South African interest
Set to start at 16h00, with tennis great Roger Federer being the official flag marshal entrusted with dropping the French tricolour, South African interest will be provided by brothers Kelvin and Sheldon van der Linde
While the younger Sheldon makes his second start in the Hypercar class sharing the #20 BMW, as last year, with Dutchman Robin Frijns and Germany’s Rene Rast, Kelvin remains in the LM GT3 class, but now with BMW following Audi’s withdrawal from GT racing at the end of last year.
Contracted by Audi at the time, the older van der Linde swaps the Akkodis Lexus he raced at Le Mans last year for the official #46 WRT BMW M4 GT3 in which he will share driving duties with Oman’s Ahmad Al Harthy and MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi.
Where?
As in previous years, the event will be streamed live on the World Endurance Championships’ YouTube page and shown in South Africa on a dedicated SuperSport channel from beginning to end at 16h00 on Sunday.
In addition, Le Mans organisers, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, have provided a detailed spotters guide of each entry, which can be downloaded here.
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