IMSA at 24 Hours of Le Mans: Familiar Faces in Different Places - Speedway Digest

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

A quick perusal through the 24 Hours of Le Mans entry list shows some IMSA drivers in places or vehicles you wouldn’t ordinarily expect.

A few examples of note:

Three of Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti’s drivers are at Le Mans, shifting from their usual Acura ARX-06 prototype to either Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) cars or even a Ferrari 296 LMGT3 car.
Corvette Racing’s three winning drivers from 2023 in GTE Am are split into three different LMP2 cars in 2024.
A handful of IMSA GT drivers are shifting up to run in prototypes while several others in prototypes are slotting into GT seats.

The difference in the entry list between the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the flagship event of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season, and any IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship event creates some unusual matches between different drivers, teams and occasionally, manufacturers.

Limited availability, with more than half of the 62 grid positions allocated to WEC full-season entrants, and more automatic entries bestowed to a handful of IMSA teams and drivers, generally reduces the number of available seats to fill in the historic race that runs Saturday and Sunday.

As such, a driver coordinating their program for a season has to consider a few factors: is this team a full-season WEC or IMSA entrant, does the team have a Le Mans berth available, and what seats remain unclaimed.

WTRAndretti’s Trio of Different Seats

The WTRAndretti team sees three of its four full-season IMSA drivers make the trip to Le Mans. In LMP2, Filipe Albuquerque will be in the No. 23 United Autosports USA ORECA 07 and Louis Deletraz will share the No. 14 AO by TF ORECA 07. Jordan Taylor makes his LMGT3 debut at Le Mans part of a separate father-son pairing, sharing the No. 155 Spirit of Race Ferrari 296 LMGT3 with Johnny Laursen and 17-year-old son Conrad.

“I think (No. 23) is the last car I’m missing,” laughed Albuquerque, a 2020 LMP2 class winner who is set for his eighth straight Le Mans with the United team in his 11th start. “And being with Ben Hanley and Ben Keating, I’m in the ‘Bens car!’ It’ll be a completely different suit than the other years with United. Instead of the blue it’ll be the Wynn colors, so purple and pink.”

Deletraz will be in a purple car too. He’ll share “Spike” the LMP2 dragon livery aboard the AO by TF car with AO Racing team owner PJ Hyett and Alex Quinn as the AO and TF teams share a technical partnership. He also seeks redemption and an elusive first Le Mans win after losing on the last lap in 2021 and coming second in class the last two years. He’s off to a promising start after winning Hyperpole on Thursday.

“I’ve won the 23 hours and 58 minutes of Le Mans before,” Deletraz deadpanned. “But this team has a competitive lineup. PJ has been very impressive this year. And I love the Spike concept. AO has been very keen to open the sport to new fans and they’ve always been so kind to kids. It will be great to see so much enthusiasm around this car in Le Mans.”

Taylor comes back to driving, set for his ninth Le Mans, after a year as driver coach and on-site observer for the Garage 56 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 NASCAR effort in 2023. The 2015 GTE PRO class winner comes back wiser as he heads into a new class and new manufacturer in Ferrari, thanks to an introduction from Marco Sorensen to the Laursen family.

“I was in the conversations around strategy calls, full-course yellows, slow zones and tire strategy,” Taylor explained. “That perspective gives you more respect for what the guys do behind the scenes.

“This year we got the scheduling worked out and I did a one-day test in Paul Ricard before Laguna. I’ve only raced GTE cars in the past with Corvette, so ABS, a spec tire with Goodyear and no tire warmers will make it different.

“Conrad is super young but quick and his dad is super experienced. It’s funny seeing (another father-son lineup) from a different perspective,” added Taylor, who drives for his father’s team in the WeatherTech Championship. “It’ll be my first time racing in a pro-am class there, so understanding drive time limits, so that may mean I’ll do a lot more hours and that could be good!”

Albuquerque summarized how important it is WTRAndretti still sends its drivers to Le Mans.

“In the end of the day, it’s so cool Wayne Taylor Racing allows us to do this race in other cars. If one day we come to Le Mans, we’ll be better drivers for them,” he said.

Corvette’s Different Classes Win Defense

While both Cadillac IMSA teams – Whelen Cadillac Racing (Action Express Racing-prepared) and Cadillac Racing (Chip Ganassi Racing-prepared) – go to Le Mans, Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports does not. That said, the three drivers who were part of Corvette’s 2023 race win in GTE Am in the program’s previous iteration are all back in 2024. Similar to WTRAndretti, they’ve spread their wings elsewhere.

Keating had to do some fact-finding to secure his 2024 Le Mans entry. He sought a new LMP2 program after leaving PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports. Joining forces with United Autosports was key to securing a Le Mans entry, which he’ll share with Albuquerque and Hanley, in the aforementioned No. 23 ORECA 07.

“Running in the 24 Hours of Le Mans for a 10th time in a row is a big priority for me,” Keating explained. “I’d like to attempt to win my class for a third year in a row, and I believe United Autosports gives me the best chance at realizing this goal.”

Keating’s teammates he co-drove with at Corvette in 2023, Nicky Catsburg and Nico Varrone, will be his LMP2 rivals in 2024. Catsburg, a Corvette Racing full-season driver in IMSA, will share the No. 45 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA with IMSA’s Trueman Award recipient George Kurtz and Colin Braun.

Meanwhile, Varrone will share the No. 183 AF Corse ORECA with Francois Perrodo and Ben Barnicoat, the Vasser Sullivan Lexus IMSA driver shifting back into LMP2 for a second straight year, and ahead of his fourth Le Mans.

“Francois is super experienced at Le Mans and Nico’s got a win here last year,” Barnicoat said. “We feel good we can atone from last year (retired mid-race with an incident) after a couple test days.”

Others Racing Where You Wouldn’t Expect

Harry Tincknell has run a dual program this year in his No. 64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3 in IMSA, and the No. 99 Proton Porsche 963 in the FIA WEC. He’s won Le Mans in LMP2 and GTE PRO before and could add a third class to that in Hypercar.

Oliver Jarvis, Tincknell’s old teammate in the Mazda prototype days, races the Pfaff Motorsports No. 9 McLaren 720S GT3 in IMSA and will race in the other United Autosports LMP2 car, the No. 22 ORECA 07, at Le Mans. Coincidentally, United also fields two McLarens at Le Mans.

The Heart of Racing Team has two of its IMSA drivers racing against its FIA WEC team. Roman De Angelis is in LMP2, in the No. 25 APR ORECA 07, and Marco Sorensen is in another LMGT3 Aston Martin, the No. 777 D’Station Racing entry.

Daniel Serra’s round robin of racing different Ferraris continues at Le Mans. The Brazilian has raced for Risi Competizione and Conquest Racing in IMSA GT Daytona Pro (GTD PRO), and he’ll be in the No. 86 GR Racing Ferrari 296 in LMGT3.

The list could go on, but it’s one of the unique aspects that this race produces.