Williams F1 reserve Aitken set to make Le Mans 24 Hours LMP2 debut

Aitken, who is racing in P2 in the 2022 European Le Mans Series with the TF Sport-run Team Turkey squad, has been listed in the #47 Algarve Pro Racing ORECA-Gibson 07 on the full Le Mans entry list published on Friday.

He revealed to Autosport that a deal for him to race the car alongside Sophia Florsch and John Falb in the double-points round of the World Endurance Championship on 11-12 June is in discussion and could be concluded as early as next week.

“This has happened quite quickly and we are planning that it is all going ahead, but we still need to cross the ts and dot the is,” he said.

The likely deal follows a test by Aitken with APR at the end of the last year.

“I did the test last year and it went pretty well, but things didn’t align for the full season,” explained Aitken, who is dovetailing his ELMS campaign for TF with twin attacks on the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup and ADAC GT Masters with the Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini team.

Algarve Pro Racing at Le Mans 2021

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

“I wasn’t really looking at Le Mans this year, because it is early days in my LMP2 career and teams want drivers with experience.

“But the chance has come up and I’m really excited about it: Le Mans has been on my bucket list since I started racing and if it happens I’ll be extremely happy with the race being back to its full pomp and glory with a proper crowd this year.”

Sebring 12 Hours winner and sometime IndyCar driver Tristan Vautier is set to make his Le Mans debut in the ARC Bratislava team’s ORECA LMP2.

Tristan Vautier is joining ARC Bratislava

Photo by: Eric Le Galliot

The Frenchman is listed in the car alongside Miroslav Konopka and ex-Formula 2 racer Bent Viscaal, who is racing for APR in the ELMS this year.

Daniel Serra and Davide Rigon have been confirmed as the third drivers in the two factory Ferrari 488 GTE Evos run by the AF Corse squad.

Serra is renewing the partnership with James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi that yielded GTE Pro class honours in 2019, while Rigon returns the race after missing last year’s edition as a result of injuries sustained in the Spa 24 Hours round of the GTWCE.

Come Ledogar, who partnered Calado and Pier Guidi to class honours last year, will drive a GTE Am Ferrari for the Inception/Garage 59 squad.

Former CART racer Jan Heylen is on course to make his Le Mans debut: the Dutch driver is listed in one of the Dempsey Proton GTE Am Porsche 911 RSRs together with Patrick Lindsey and Fred Poordad.

Porsche factory driver Julien Andlauer has been named in the Proton-run WeatherTech Racing GTE Am 911 RSR along with Gianluca Giraudi as team-mates for Cooper MacNeil.

Meanwhile Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac's IMSA star Renger van der Zande will join the JMW Motorsport squad in GTE Am, sharing the British outfit's #66 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo with Mark Kvamme and Jason Hart.