The Le Mans 24 attendance list has been slightly changed recently. The first is the delay shock Peugeot team’s new radical Hypercar. Followed by the abandonment of the race from the Russian-backed G-Drive than, um, political differences. After the most recent shuffle, the ACO was forced to reopen the entry process to re-fill its grid of 62 vehicles. It was only open for 48 hours and it seemed like all that was needed. The final input list has been completedthough there aren’t any reserve teams on the roster, so if any of these cars aren’t available in June, the net will simply get smaller.
This is the first “normal” Le Mans since 2019. The race was postponed to September 2020 due to the global Coronavirus pandemic and pushed out to August 2021. In either case, that which means longer nighttime runs and hotter track temperatures, which certainly doesn’t help the car’s reliability or the driver’s reliability for that matter. The race in 2022 will return to June and there will be no cap on fan participation. Surely this will be the racing team that wants to win.
The roster of participants is already packed full, but most of it will be teams that the casual fan won’t be interested in. There are a full 50 cars on the grid that are from the LMP2 class and the GTE Am class, or two boring classes. Sure, there are a number of teams and drivers that stand out in both of those categories, but all that really matters is Hypercar fighting to win the grand final and GTE Pro, where the cars and drivers created by the competitive production machines. This year only 5 cars participate in Hypercar and 7 cars in GTE Pro.
“What a line!” ACO President Pierre Fillon said. “After announcing an extensive program of activities for racing fans, we are pleased to announce a 62-car luxury racetrack that promises a thrilling race in every class on the occasion of its 99th anniversary. five 24-hour Le Mans races. June can’t come fast enough! We’re looking forward to a great celebration of endurance racing and an exciting week of on-track action. ”
Hypercar is a field identical to 2021, featuring a pair of Toyota Gazoo GT010 hybrids, a single exterior Alpine A480 (just a blue Gibson LMP1) and a pair of Glickenhaus 007 LMH. I really hoped Peugeot would come and mix things up a bit, but alas it didn’t. This is Toyota’s race to lose, again. That would obviously be a more reliable and faster setup. Maybe, just maybe, if Glickenhaus had done his homework, a fight might have broken out. I won’t hold my breath.
In LMP2, the big news is Penske Racing. The Penske Foundation is looking to relearn endurance races in 2022 ahead of a full-on assault on the LMDh with Porsche in 2023. More good news in this class, it looks like Algarve Pro Racing will take on the G of Russia is missing. – Driving car. APR already runs cars for the G-Drive, so it will continue to work without Russian support, so that’s great. Sebastien Ogier is making his Le Mans debut at LMP2 this year, which is great. This is the most populous class on the grid, and it’s all fairly well-prepared, so it’s going to be a good fight.
The GTE Pro features a pair of Corvettes and a pair of Porsches from their respective factory-supported players. Two 488s from AF Corse, essentially the Ferrari factory team, will join a single 488 from Riley Motorsports. I quite liked that entry by Riley with Felipe Fraga, Sam Bird and Shane Van Gisbergen. That should be an interesting post for the Pro class that doesn’t ship.
The GTE Am hit 23 cars this year, which means there’s a lot of good stuff here, but also a lot of junk. Sorting the wheat from the chaff will be a 24-hour job coming in June, and I look forward to the final results.
Le Mans has always been a great race, but it will be even greater in 2023 when there are so many fights ahead to win the race. Toyota winsPlaying four games in a row without any real competition is getting a bit boring.
