Joao Barbosa back to Le Mans 24 Hours with Krohn Racing

The Portuguese, who leads the Tudor United SportsCar Championship with the Action Express Coyote-Chevrolet squad, will drive the Krohn Racing Ligier-Judd/BMW JSP2 together with team owner Tracy Krohn and his long-term partner Nic Jonsson in the 24 Hours at Le Mans on June 13/14.

Barbosa takes the seat filled by Oswaldo Negri Jr in four of the five European Le Mans Series races.

Krohn said: "Joao is a great addition because, although he's not driven the Ligier, he has Le Mans experience and is a fierce and skilled competitor who will suit our team well.

"He won't be able to join us at the Le Mans test day due to his commitment with the [USC] race in Detroit, but we feel he'll be able to get up to speed in the Ligier rather quickly come race week."

Barbosa revealed that he was "very excited" when he received the invitation to race at Le Mans for the first time since 2011.

"I'm not only excited to be able to get back to Le Mans but also to join a top team with a great operation," he explained.

"This opportunity came about when I was talking with one of Krohn Racing engineers and [saying] how I would love to go back to Le Mans.

"He mentioned that there could be a possibility, so we kept in touch and I just waited."

This will be Barbosa's eighth appearance at Le Mans. He made five Le Mans starts with the British Rollcentre team, taking a best result of fourth overall aboard its Pescarolo-Judd 01 (pictured below) in 2007, sharing with Stuart Hall and team boss Martin Short.