Derek Bell leads star-studded 2018 Le Mans Classic entry list

Five-time winner Bell heads a star-studded list for the Richard Mille-supported 24-hour event featuring cars that took part in the Le Mans 24 Hours between 1923 and 1981.

With a total of 16 wins between them, Bell will be joined by three-time winners Klaus Ludwig, Henri Pescarolo and Marco Werner as well as Stephane Ortelli and Jochen Mass at the biennial event.

The Le Mans Classic features six 50-car grids, which all race three times during a 24-hour period.

In addition a Group C race, for the cars of the 1980s and early 1990s, will be run as a curtain-raiser on Saturday morning.

Bell is scheduled to race a Porsche 917LH, marking a very rare racing appearance for the long-tail evolution of the 917 developed for Le Mans in 1971.

Though still to be confirmed, it is hoped that Bell and Nicholas D'Ieteren, the Belgian Porsche distributor and a historic car racer, will drive the car from the Porsche museum in Stuttgart.

Now 76 years old, Bell will race in July more than 30 years after his final Porsche 962 victory in the 24 Hours and 48 years after his debut in the race with a works Ferrari 512S shared with Ronnie Peterson.

In a remarkable career, Bell contested the 24-hour race 26 times in 27 years between 1970 and 1996.

Ludwig will race a 1978 Porsche 930, Pescarolo will drive a 1976 Inaltera prototype and Werner will handle a Lola T212 from 1971. Ortelli is due to race a Porsche 904/4 and Mass will drive a 911 Carrera RSR.

The amazing entry list includes examples of the Delahaye 135S, Jaguar D-type, Ferrari 250 GT, Ford GT40, Porsche 917, Ferrari 512S and Howmet TX.

The Group C race is expected to draw a 30-car field including two 24 Hours winners in the Jaguar XJR-9 and Peugeot 905s.

Among 389 drivers entered, 26 nationalities are represented, including 134 French, 81 British, 13 American and nine Japanese racers.