Official press release : The provisional entry list for the 2019 season has been revealed with a full grid of 41 cars across the three classes for the upcoming six round series. For the first time the ELMS received more entries than available places and a selection process was made to fill the available slots on the 2019 grid.
There will be a mammoth 32 Le Mans Prototype (LMP) entries – 18 LMP2 and 14 LMP3 – with 9 LMGTE entries, the largest full season GTE grid since 2014.
Following the decision made at the end of last season, the grid size has been limited to 41 cars for the 2019 season due to the amount of space that is available in some of the pitlane at the circuits visited by the ELMS and will allow all teams to fuel and service their cars in front of their allocated pit boxes.
LMP2: Stronger Than Ever
The 18 strong LMP2 entry (11 Orecas, 6 Ligiers, 1 Dallara) will feature 14 teams including the 2018 ELMS champions G-Drive Racing, the Russian team returning to defend their title with reigning drivers champion Roman Rusinov. Eight other teams – High Class Racing, DragonSpeed, United Autosports, Panis Barthez Competition, Algarve Pro Racing, IDEC Sport, Duqueine Engineering, Graff – all return to take up the challenge for another season.
They are joined by four teams moving up from LMP3, including 2018 class champions RLR MSport and reigning champion John Farano. Inter Europol Competition, Cool Racing and BHK Motorport have also made the move to the top flight on the ELMS grid. Top British single seater team Carlin are joining the ELMS for the first time, with the only entry for a Dallara-Gibson.
LMP3: Large Entry for First Step on the Le Mans Prototype Ladder
Once again the ELMS will feature a good grid of the entry level Le Mans Prototypes with 10 teams entering 14 cars, ten Ligier JS P3 and four Norma M30. 2018 LMP3 Champions RLR MSport will be defending their title, running their Ligier-Nissan P3 car alongside their new LMP2 Oreca-Gibson.
Eight other teams will also be returning to the LMP3 grid in 2019 – United Autosports, 360 Racing, Nielsen Racing, Oregon Team, Eurointernational, Inter Europol Competition, Ultimate and M Racing. Graff will be back in LMP3, this year racing under the banner of Realteam Racing.
LMGTE: Ferrari and Porsche Go Head to Head
A strong nine car full season entry in the LMGTE category will see five Ferrari F488 GTEs go head to head with four Porsche 911 RSRs.
Reigning 2018 champions Proton Competition will run two Porsche 911s this season, with the no88 car featuring young Italian Matteo Cairoli. The no77 car will run under the Dempsey-Proton Racing banner with former FIA WEC LMGTE champion Richard Lietz.
JMW Motorsport, Ebimotors and Spirit of Race all return to the ELMS in 2019 and will be joined by a two car entry by Kessel Racing, including the all female crew in the no83 Ferrari. FIA WEC team Project 1 will enter a single Porsche 911 in addition to their efforts on the world stage. The ninth and final entry will be Luzich Racing and will be run by Spirit of Race.
The 1st and 2nd placed teams at the end of the 2019 season will receive an automatic invitation to the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Pierre Fillon, President of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest: “It is with great satisfaction that the ACO continues to see how attractive the European Le Mans Series has become, fulfilling perfectly its role in the endurance ladder to which we are committed. The quality of the grid reflects perfectly the importance of this championship.”
Gérard Neveu, CEO European Le Mans Series: “Once again the European Le Mans Series continues to attract the leading European race teams, underlining its position as the world’s leading continental endurance racing series. With a large, high quality, entry in the LMP2 category this season, we will invite not only the LMP2 ELMS Championship winning team to the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans, but also the vice champions from this year’s series. So combined with the invitation to the LMP3 champions and the top two teams in the LMGTE class, the European Le Mans Series will have five guaranteed entries in next year’s race on the full La Sarthe circuit in June 2020. We will be very happy to welcome all the Motorsport fans at the six ELMS events, starting with the 4 Hours of Le Castellet on Sunday 14th April.”
