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Corvette joins 62-car Le Mans 24 Hours entry list

Corvette Racing's return to the Le Mans 24 Hours has been confirmed with the publication of a capacity 62-car entry for this year's rescheduled race in August.

1017552768-LAT-20190615-_L5R0599

1017552768-LAT-20190615-_L5R0599

The mid-engined Chevrolet Corvette C8.R that came on stream for last year's IMSA Sportscar Championship will make a delayed Le Mans debut on 21-22 August after the team withdrew from last year's event.

Chevrolet cited the rescheduled date for the double-points round of the World Endurance Championship in September as one of multiple factors behind its decision to end an unbroken run of participations in the 24 Hours dating back to 2000.

The two GTE Pro class C8.Rs, which will carry their traditional #63 and #64 race numbers, will be driven by their regular line-ups.

Full-season Corvette drivers Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor will be joined in #63 by Nicky Catsburg.

Nick Tandy and Tommy Milner will be partnered by Alexander Sims in #64.

PLUS: Memories from Corvette's two decades at Le Mans

The return of the Pratt & Miller-run Chevrolet squad to Le Mans has been facilitated by a rejig of the IMSA schedule that followed the publication of the new date for the 24 Hours last week.

A clashing IMSA race at the Virginia International Raceway has been pushed back to 9 October, the original date for the Petit Le Mans series finale at Road Atlanta, which will now run on 13 November.

Chevrolet served notice of its intent to return to Le Mans by entering one C8.R for the Algarve WEC round, which has now been pushed back from April to June.

1017553103-LAT-20190615-lemans-2019-24h-0148

1017553103-LAT-20190615-lemans-2019-24h-0148

The confirmation of the return of Corvette Racing and the entry of the Proton Competition-run WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR increase the GTE Pro entry to seven cars.

The US entrants join the two AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evos and the Manthey-run Porsches contesting the full WEC.

Five entries in the new Hypercar class, 25 in LMP2 and 24 in GTE Am bring the field up to the record 62 cars that started Le Mans in 2019 after the addition of two garages at the beginning of the pitlane.

Last year's grid dropped to 59 cars after a series of withdrawals.

The five cars in the top Hypercar category on the entry announced on Tuesday is the same number that took part in LMP1 last year.

The class is made up of the two Le Mans Hypercars fielded by Toyota and Glickenhaus, plus the solo P1 Alpine-badged ORECA-Gibson run by Signatech, which are all contesting the full WEC.

LMP2 is numerically the strongest class, with 11 of the 25 cars entered in the new Pro-Am sub-category for line-ups including a bronze driver.

Risi Competizione, which has three Le Mans class wins with Ferrari to its name, is returning to the race in LMP2 for its first prototype appearance since racing at the 2001 Daytona 24 Hours with a Ferrari 333SP.

Its move from the GTE ranks comes in the wake of Ferrari's announcement that it is developing an LMH contender for 2023.

Former Audi LMP1 driver Oliver Jarvis, who raced in GTE Pro for the team in 2019, and European Le Mans Series regular Ryan Cullen are listed against the Risi ORECA-Gibson 07.

2019 Le Mans 24 Hours start

2019 Le Mans 24 Hours start

Photo by: Motorsport Images

United Autosports has taken up two of its automatic invites for Le Mans, which together with its full WEC entry bring its entry to three cars.

Ex-Formula 1 racer Paul di Resta and Nico Jamin, who is racing for the team in the 2021 ELMS, are the only drivers confirmed for the additional cars.

The Belgian WRT team has landed a second entry to race alongside its WEC car.

The extra ORECA will be raced by Alfa Romeo F1 reserve Robert Kubica, Louis Deletraz and Yifei Yi, who will also drive the car in the ELMS.

North American sportscar stalwart PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports will make its Le Mans debut after Patrick Kelly took up the guaranteed spot he gained for winning last year's LMP2 IMSA title with the team.

Ex-F1 driver Narain Karthikeyan will return to Le Mans in a Ligier-Gibson JSP217 entered under the Racing Team India banner and run by the Eurasia team.

Top Asian GT3 team Absolute Racing is set to make its Le Mans debut in GTE Am with a Porsche 911 RSR.

The Garage 56 entry slot for an 'innovative car' will be taken by the SRT41 squad run by quadruple amputee Frederic Sausset, who raced at Le Mans in 2016.

He has revived his plans to field an ORECA LMP2 car for a line-up of three disabled drivers after being forced to withdraw last year on financial grounds.

Due to the race's postponement until 21-22 August, the ACO hasn't put together a reserve list yet.

Instead, it will open a two-week registration period next week for competitors wishing to join the reserve list.

Here is the full entry list for the 89th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours, including drivers confirmed so far.

Team Car Confirmed drivers

Hypercar - 5 cars

7  Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 Hybrid

 Mike Conway

 Kamui Kobayashi

 Jose Maria Lopez

8  Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 Hybrid

 Sebastien Buemi
 Kazuki Nakajima

 Brendon Hartley

36  Alpine Elf Matmut Alpine A480-Gibson

 Andre Negrao

 Nicolas Lapierre

 Matthieu Vaxiviere

708  Glickenhaus Racing Glickenhaus 007 LMH

 Gustavo Menezes

TBA

TBA

709  Glickenhaus Racing Glickenhaus 007 LMH

 Ryan Briscoe

TBA

TBA

LMP2 - 25 cars

1  Richard Mille Racing  Oreca 07-Gibson

Germany Sophia Floersch

Colombia Tatiana Calderon

 Beitske Visser

17  IDEC Sport Oreca 07-Gibson

 Kyle Tilley

 Dwight Merriman

 Ryan Dalziel

20  High Class Racing
Oreca 07-Gibson

 Dennis Andersen

 Jan Magnussen

TBA

21  DragonSpeed
Oreca 07-Gibson

 Ben Hanley

 Henrik Hedman

Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya

22  United Autosports Oreca 07-Gibson

 Phil Hanson

 Filipe Albuquerque

 Fabio Scherer

23 United Autosports  Oreca 07-Gibson

 Paul di Resta

TBA

TBA

24  PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07-Gibson

 Patrick Kelly

TBA

TBA

25  G-Drive Racing Aurus 01-Gibson

 John Falb

 Pietro Fittipaldi

 Rui Andrade

26  G-Drive Racing Aurus 01-Gibson

 Roman Rusinov

 Franco Colapinto

TBA

28  JOTA Oreca 07-Gibson

 Stoffel Vandoorne

Indonesia Sean Gelael

 Tom Blomqvist

29  Racing Team Nederland Oreca 07-Gibson

 Giedo van der Garde

 Job van Uitert

 Frits van Eerd

30  Duqueine Team Oreca 07-Gibson

 Tristan Gommendy

 Memo Rojas

 Rene Binder

31  Team WRT Oreca 07-Gibson

 Robin Frijns

 Charles Milesi

 Ferdinand Habsburg

32 United Autosports Oreca 07-Gibson

 Nico Jamin

TBA

TBA

34 Poland Inter Europol Competition Oreca 07-Gibson

Poland Jakub Smiechowski

 Renger van der Zande

 Alex Brundle

38  JOTA Oreca 07-Gibson

 Roberto Gonzalez

 Antonio Felix da Costa

 Anthony Davidson

39  Graff Oreca 07-Gibson

 Vincent Capillaire

TBA

TBA

41  Team WRT Oreca 07-Gibson

Poland Robert Kubica

 Louis Deletraz

 Yifei Ye

44 Slovakia ARC Bratislava Ligier JS P217-Gibson

Slovakia Miro Konopka

TBA

TBA

48  IDEC Sport Oreca 07-Gibson

 Paul Lafargue

 Paul-Loup Chatin

 Patrick Pilet

49  High Class Racing Oreca 07-Gibson

 Anders Fjordbach
TBA
TBA

65  Panis Racing
Oreca 07-Gibson

 Julien Canal

TBA

TBA

70  Realteam Racing
Oreca 07-Gibson

 Loic Duval

 Norman Nato

 Esteban Garcia

74 India Racing Team India Ligier JS P217-Gibson

India Narain Karthikeyan

India Arjun Maini

TBA

82  Risi Competizione Oreca 07-Gibson

 Ryan Cullen

 Oliver Jarvis

TBA

GTE Pro - 7 cars

51  AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE

 James Calado

 Alessandro Pier Guidi

TBA

52  AF Corse
Ferrari 488 GTE

 Daniel Serra

 Miguel Molina

TBA

63  Corvette Racing Corvette C8.R

 Antonio Garcia

 Jordan Taylor

 Nicky Catsburg

64  Corvette Racing Corvette C8.R

 Nick Tandy

 Tommy Milner

 Alexander Sims

79  WeatherTech Racing
Porsche 911 RSR-19

 Cooper MacNeil

TBA

TBA

91 Germany Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR-19

 Gianmaria Bruni

 Richard Lietz

TBA

92 Germany Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR-19

 Neel Jani

 Kevin Estre

TBA

GTE Am - 24 cars

18  Absolute Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19

Indonesia Andrew Haryanto

 Alessio Picariello

TBA

33  TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage GTE

 Ben Keating

 Felipe Fraga

 Dylan Pereira

46 Germany Team Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR-19

 Dennis Olsen

TBA

TBA

47  Cetilar Racing Ferrari 488 GTE

 Roberto Lacorte

TBA

TBA

54  AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE

 Giancarlo Fisichella

 Francesco Castellacci

 Thomas Flohr

55  Spirit of Race
Ferrari 488 GTE

 Duncan Cameron

 Matt Griffin

 Aaron Scott

56 Germany Team Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR-19

 Matteo Cairoli

 Egidio Perfetti

TBA

57  Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 GTE

 Takeshi Kimura

TBA

TBA

60  Iron Lynx
Ferrari 488 GTE

 Claudio Schiavoni

 Paolo Ruberti

 Raffaele Giammaria

66  JMW Motorsport Ferrari 488 GTE

 Thomas Neubauer

TBA

TBA

69 Germany Herberth Motorsport Ferrari 488 GTE

Germany Alfred Renauer

TBA

TBA

71  Inception Racing Ferrari 488 GTE

 Brendon Iribe

 Ollie Millroy

TBA

72 Taiwan HubAuto Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19

 Liam Talbot

TBA

TBA

77 Germany Dempsey-Proton Racing
Porsche 911 RSR-19

Germany Christian Ried

 Jaxon Evans

 Matt Campbell

80  Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GTE

 Andrea Piccini

 Matteo Cressoni

 Rino Mastronardi

83  AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE

 Francois Perrodo

 Nicklas Nielsen

 Alessio Rovera

85  Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GTE

 Rahel Frey

 Manuela Gostner

 Michelle Gatting

86  GR Racing
Porsche 911 RSR-19

 Michael Wainwright

 Ben Barker

TBA

88 Germany Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19

 Julien Andlauer

TBA

TBA

95  TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage

 John Hartshorne

TBA

TBA

98  Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin Vantage

 Paul Dalla Lana

TBA

TBA

99 Germany Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR

 Pat Long

TBA

TBA

388 Germany Rinaldi Racing
Ferrari 488 GTE

Germany Pierre Ehret

TBA

TBA

777  D'station Racing
Aston Martin Vantage

 Satoshi Hoshino

 Tomonobu Fujii 

 Andrew Watson

Innovative car

84  Association SRT41 Oreca 07-Gibson

 Takuma Aoki

 Nigel Bailly

TBA

Entries in bold are also full-season WEC participants

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