62-Car Field Confirmed for 90th 24 Hours of Le Mans

Actor Michael Fassbender will make his 24 Hours of Le Mans debut this season as a 62-car grid is confirmed for the 90th running of the event.

The 2022 entry list was delayed after the Automobile Club de l’Ouest reopened the application process earlier this week. The application extension came as a result of some teams withdrawing from the race after the FIA sanctions in regards to the Russian invasion on Ukraine came into action. It had not been confirmed when the entry list would be seen after the second application window, but the announcement has come 24 hours after that process closed.

Five Hypercars fill the top class of the race – both Toyota Gazoo Racing and the sole Alpine Elf Matmut full season entries along with a duo of Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus. The inclusion of two cars comes from an agreement with WEC, ACO and Glickenhaus that if the team entered one full season entry they could have two Le Mans entries. The team were hoping to pull together a third car in the reopened application period but they didn’t have enough time to complete the necessary steps.

Surprisingly, the LMP2 regular Racing Team Nederland has not made it onto the 62-car strong grid, instead taking up the second reserve spot. The #29 machine usually races full season FIA World Endurance Championship which grants it automatic entry to the blue-ribboned event, but as the car is not a permanent feature this year they have not qualified for automatic entry.

27 cars make up the LMP2 field, the largest field of the race. Joining the full season WEC cars; DKR Engineering, TDS Racing x Vaillante, Nielsen Racing, CD Sport, Duqueine Team, Cool Racing, Graff Racing, Inter Europol Competition, IDEC Sport and Panis Racing all bring a sole entry, whilst Team WRT and Algarve Pro Racing WEC entries have been granted a second car. The second Team WRT entries comes courtesy of the team winning the LMP2 championship in the European Le Mans Series last year.

Sebastien Ogier will make his Le Mans debut with his full-season Richard Mille Racing Team whilst Sebastien Bourdais makes his Le Mans return for the first time since 2011 aboard the Vector Sport ORECA 07.

Three of the six reserve cars are for the LMP2 class (with the other three GTE Am entries), two coming from High Class Racing and the third being the Nederland car. Father-son duo of Kevin and Jan Magnussen are top of the reserve list, however Kevin Magnussen’s commitment to the program may now be on the sidelines as the 24 Hours of Le Mans clashes with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and he has just resigned with Haas Formula One Team.

Two additional cars join the five-strong WEC GTE Pro class – an additional entry from Corvette Racing, alongside their full season car, and Riley Motorsports fielding the additional Ferrari. Ferrari veteran sports car driver Sam Bird will be on board the Riley, sharing duties with Felipe Fraga and Shane van Gisbergen. The second Corvette will be in the hands of manufacturer regular Tommy Milner along with Nick Tandy and Alexander Sims.

LM GTE Am gets ten additional cars to the field, bringing the total up to 23, including Fassbender’s entry: #93 Proton Competition. The German-Irish actor has always had a love of fast cars and motorsports, now ready to add his name to the list of greats having competed at the prestigious event. He will race alongside now class-and-race veteran Matt Campbell who had a great understanding of the Circuit de la Sarthe and the Porsche 911 RSR. The third driver in the car is yet to be announced.

Most of the additional Am entries still have to announce their driver line-ups and TheCheckeredFlag will keep you up to date as we count down the days to the 90th 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Credit: ACO