ELMS Entry List Announced

A 29 car entry is a fine start for the relaunched European Le Mans Series and some might say nothing more than a miracle after the epic failure of the Series last year.
 
The headlining LMP2 class features 11 cars with some familiar names from last season, including the defending Champions Thiriet by TDS Racing in their Oreca Nissan, with similar machines entered by fellow returnees Boutsen Ginion, Murphy Prototypes (who confirm Brendan Hartley in their car) and Sebastien Loeb racing (who name Franck Montagny and Nicholas Marroc in their Michelin-tyred Oreca).
 
There are a pair of Nissan-engined Zyteks too, for Greaves Motorsport and Jota Sport, and Race Performance are back after missing the season after Le Mans last year with their Judd-engined Oreca.

They are joined by a single WEC refugee, a single car entry from Signatech whose campaign is split between the World championship and European Series this year.
 
There are three additions to the LMP2 ‘family’, with a pair of Judd-engined cars, a Lola for DKR Engineering (with Olivier Porta named as a driver) and a Morgan chassis with ex-FIA GT1 driver Natacha Gachnang the first nomination.

Finally, there’s the ex-RML AD group HPD now entered by OREX Competition, with Dean Stirling a named driver.
 
LMPC currently features a trio of Oreca FLM 09s awaiting arrive-and-drive customers. We’ll have an update on that programme in the coming days.
 
LMGTE (which in the ELMS operates to GTE Am rules) has a very respectable ten cars listed, with no fewer than six Ferrari 458 GTs - two for RAM racing and a further pair for AF Corse, with single cars for JMW Motorsport and Kessel racing (the latter pair with Dunlop tyres).
 
There is a trio of Porsches too with Autorlando, ProSpeed and IMSA Performance fielding a car apiece, while Larbre field a solo Corvette alongside their similar WEC programme.
 
GTE then is back to what should be a healthy level of competition for 2013
 
The new for 2013 GTC class (for GT3 machinery) numbers five cars:
 
Peter Kox fields a Lamborghini in a new eponymous team, with Autorlando fielding a GTC Porsche alongside their GTE entry.
 
AF Corse enter a further pair of GTC 458s alongside their GTEs too and there is a solo Audi R8 LMS for MOMO Megatron DF1, aka the oft promised (and never yet raced) Downforce One team; this the team that has variously been involved with Olivia Newton John’s nephew and Pamela Anderson in previous years.  I’d (for now at least), call that 28!
 
GG

2013 European Le Mans Series - Entry List

No. Class T Team Driver Car 1 1 LMP2 D Thiriet by TDS Racing Pierre Thiriet TBA TBA Oreca 03 Nissan 2 3 LMP2 D Greaves Motorsport TBA TBA TBA Zytek Z11SN Nissan 3 4 LMP2 D Boutsen Ginion Racing TBA TBA TBA Oreca 03 Nissan 4 18 LMP2 D Murphy Prototypes Brendan Hartley TBA TBA Oreca 03 Nissan 5 27 LMP2 M Sebastien Loeb Racing Franck Montagny Nicolas Marroc TBA Oreca 03 Nissan 6 34 LMP2 D Race Performance Michel Frey Patric Niederhauser TBA Oreca 03 Judd 7 36 LMP2 M Signatech Pierre Ragues TBA TBA Oreca 03 Nissan 8 34 LMP2 D Jota Sport Simon Dolan Oliver Turvey Zytek Z11SN Nissan 9 39 LMP2 D DKR Engineering Olivier Porta TBA TBA Lola B11/40 Judd 10 43 LMP2 D Morand Racing Natacha Gachnang TBA Morgan Judd 11 44 LMP2 D OREX Competition Dean Stirling TBA TBA HPD ARX-03b Honda 12 47 LMPC   Team Endurance Challenge TBA TBA TBA Formula Le Mans Oreca 09 13 48 LMPC   Team Endurance Challenge TBA TBA TBA Formula Le Mans Oreca 09 14 49 LMPC   Team Endurance Challenge TBA TBA TBA Formula Le Mans Oreca 09 15 52 LMGTE M RAM Racing Johnny Mowlem Matt Griffin Ferrari 458 Italia 16 53 LMGTE M RAM Racing Gunnar Jeanette TBA Ferrari 458 Italia 17 54 LMGTE M AF Corse Yannick Mallegol Jean-Marc Bachelier Howard Blank Ferrari 458 Italia 18 55 LMGTE M AF Corse TBA TBA TBA Ferrari 458 Italia 19 56 LMGTE D JMW Motorsport TBA TBA TBA Ferrari 458 Italia 20 57 LMGTE M IMSA Performance Matmut Patrice Milesi TBA TBA Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 21 70 LMGTE M Larbre Competition TBA TBA TBA Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 22 75 LMGTE M ProSopeed Competition TBA TBA TBA Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 23 84 LMGTE   Autorlando Sport TBA TBA TBA Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 24 88 LMGTE D Kessel Racing Michael Broniszewski Philipp Peter Ferrari 458 Italia 25 60 GTC   Kox Racing Peter Kox Nico Pronk Lamborghini Gallardo LP600 GT3 26 62 GTC   AF Corse Mads Rasmussen Cedric Sbirazzuoli Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 27 63 GTC   AF Corse TBA TBA TBA Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 28 64 GTC   Autorlando Sport TBA TBA TBA Porsche 911 GT3 R 29 65 GTC   MOMO Megatron DF1 TBA TBA TBA Audi R8 LMS