Glickenhaus planning to enter third Hypercar in Le Mans 24 Hours

Team founder Jim Glickenhaus has revealed that he is contact with an existing sportscar entrant about teaming up to run an additional Pipo-engined 007 Le Mans Hypercar in the double-points WEC round on 11/12 June.

He told Autosport that contact had been made after the team put out what appeared to be a speculative tweet about the possibility of running a third when race organiser the Automobile Club de l’Ouest announced on Monday that entries for Le Mans were reopening.

“They are people I know and they contacted me after we did that tweet,” said Glickenhaus.

“I’m not saying that we have a deal, though it is agreed in principle, or even if the ACO will accept another car from us, but we are working hard on this.

“I think we have a chance of putting it together.

“We don’t have three cars at the moment, but we can make it happen it by working 24/7 for three months.”

The team has until 3pm Central European Time on Wednesday (9 March) to complete the entry procedure.

Glickenhaus explained that the car would be run by the Glickenhaus Racing set-up made up of personnel from Podium Advanced Technologies and Joest Racing that will run his full-season WEC entry and a second entry for Le Mans.

The entity Glickenhaus is working with, he said, would bring its own drivers. He would not reveal the identity of the operation, only that it is “already a competitor” in top-level sportscar racing and “a serious team”.

#709 Glickenhaus Racing Glickenhaus 007 LMH Hypercar, Ryan Briscoe, Richard Westbrook, Romain Dumas

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Glickenhaus is already working with a customer on its LMH programme: one of its two existing LMHs is owned by a private collector.

The American-flagged team has yet confirm its line-up for Le Mans, though it looks certain to be made up of the same six drivers who raced the two 007 LMHs at the sportscar classic last year.

Glickenhaus Racing will begin the season at the Sebring 1000 Miles on 18 March with its solo car driven by Romain Dumas, Olivier Pla and Ryan Briscoe.

Pipo Derani, who will be racing for the Action Express Cadillac squad in the Sebring 12 Hours IMSA SportsCar Championship round the day after the WEC opener, will join Dumas and Pla for Spa at the beginning of May and, most likely, subsequent rounds.

Briscoe would likely move over to the second car for Le Mans alongside Richard Westbrook and Franck Mailleux.

A third Glickenhaus on the grid would bring the entry for the Hypercar class at Le Mans to six cars in the absence of Peugeot, which has opted not to race its new 9X8 LMH in the enduro this year.

PLUS: Why Peugeot couldn't afford to take a Le Mans gamble in 2022

The additional Glickenhaus would join its existing two cars, the pair of Toyota GR010 HYBRIDs and the Alpine-Gibson A480 grandfathered LMP1.