FE points leader Jean-Eric Vergne adds ELMS campaign

Vergne, the FE points leader, will campaign a TDS Racing-run Oreca 07 alongside G-Drive team boss Roman Rusinov and TDS WEC regular Matthieu Vaxiviere in the six-round ELMS.

The Automobile Club de l'Ouest has granted the G-Drive squad an exception to the normal rule that requires all ELMS crews to run at least one silver driver.

Rusinov was previously graded silver, but was promoted to gold status after the 2016 season and was listed as gold again in the most recent version of ACO's driver categorisation list.

Vergne is also expected to share the car with Rusinov in the Le Mans 24 Hours, pending the team's entry being granted by the ACO.

The ELMS programme will be Vergne's second season in LMP2, having raced with Manor in the WEC last year.

G-Drive will not race in the WEC this season, instead opting to field two cars in the ELMS full-time - one in partnership with TDS and one with Graff Racing, shared by Jose Gutierrez, James Allen and Enzo Guibbert.

A total of 17 LMP2 entries were announced by the ELMS on Monday as part of a 41-strong field that also features 18 LMP3s and six GTE cars.

Racing Engineering, will not participate in Formula 2 this season, is one of the new additions on the entry list with Norman Nato its only confirmed driver in its Oreca 07.

Another ex-single-seater squad, AVF, has named ex-Formula V8 3.5 drivers Henrique Chaves and Konstantin Tereschenko as drivers for its Dallara P217 for its first season in sportscars.

Despite returning to LMP1 in WEC this year, Rebellion Racing is staying involved in LMP2 in ELMS with an Oreca for Formula 3 convert Harrison Newey, Thomas Laurent and Richard Bradley, while DragonSpeed is running Ben Hanley, Henrik Hedman and Nicolas Lapierre in an 07.

Ligier squads United Autosports and IDEC Sport have expanded to two cars, while Panis-Barthez Competition (Ligier), Algarve Pro Racing (Ligier), SMP Racing (Dallara), Villorba Corse (Dallara) and High Class Racing (Dallara) all return with a single car each.

LMP3 graduate Duqueine Engineering completes the 17-strong LMP2 field with a sole Oreca.