Rast, Ricky Taylor combine at Tower LMP2 team for Le Mans 24 Hours
Triple DTM champion Rene Rast and two-time IMSA SportsCar champion Ricky Taylor will return to the Le Mans 24 Hours after joining Tower Motorsports in the LMP2 class.
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Rast and Taylor will race as team-mates for the first time in the centenary edition of the French endurance classic this year, sharing an ORECA-Gibson 07 entered by the TDS Racing with Tower Motorsports owner John Farano.
The Canadian 63-year-old earned his entry for winning the IMSA LMP2 title last year, having been partnered for the bulk of the year by Louis Deletraz.
Farano's bronze driver grading means the crew will be entered in the Pro Am sub-category within the 24-car LMP2 field.
This will be the ninth Le Mans outing for two-time Daytona 24 Hours winner Taylor, who drives for his father's Wayne Taylor Racing Acura outfit in IMSA, while for Rast 2023 will mark his fifth appearance at Le Mans and fourth in the LMP2 division.
It means the German will have at least one prototype racing outing to his name in 2023, as he prepares for a potential LMDh assault in the World Endurance Championship next year with new employer BMW.
Rast's current programme includes another season in the DTM with last year's champion Schubert Motorsport alongside racing with McLaren in Formula E.
“We are very happy to support John Farano and his team for the Centenary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans,” said TDS Racing co-owner Xavier Combet.
Vaillante #13 Oreca 07 LMP2
Photo by: TDS Racing
“TDS Racing will be participating in this mythical event for the twelfth consecutive year.
“Our goal is to use our prior knowledge of the 24 Hours of Le Mans to try to win the very competitive LMP2 Pro Am class with Tower Motorsports.
“I have no doubt that Ricky Taylor and Rene Rast will also be two very good allies in helping us achieve this goal.”
TDS finished fourth in LMP2 last year after bringing in Mercedes Formula E champion Nyck de Vries at the last-minute to replace Philippe Cimadomo, who was banned from the weekend after being involved in a number of incidents during practice.
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Quartararo: Marquez's Honda MotoGP exit "woke a lot of people up" at Yamaha
Vinales: Aprilia MotoGP win has a “different value” to Suzuki, Yamaha triumphs
The experiment WEC could revisit to magnify its boom period
BMW confident of avoiding repeat of Daytona dramas on WEC Hypercar debut
BMW names Rast, van der Linde, Wittmann for 2024 DTM attack
Why Rast is the best driver outside F1
De Vries lands last-minute Le Mans 24 Hours drive
LMP2 driver Cimadomo banned after Le Mans practice incidents
Formula E champion Jean-Eric Vergne back to WEC for Fuji with TDS
Mercedes joins Williams and RB with 'quick and cheap' F1 cockpit airflow upgrades
Alpine gets F1 spare car for first time in 2024 as lighter chassis appears in China
F1 Chinese GP: Stroll leads FP1 as small fire causes early red flag
Live: F1 Chinese GP updates – FP1 & Sprint qualifying
Ranking Derek Warwick’s top 10 greatest races
The Le Mans oddities that have added to the race's legend
The Peugeot rookies who conquered Le Mans but missed out on F1
Why the stars have aligned to bring Aston Martin back to the top class at Le Mans
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments