Le Mans 24 Hours grid will expand to 60 cars for 2017 race

The expansion of the grid for the Le Mans 24 Hours to 60 cars will take place in stages over the next two years

Gary Watkins Jun 11, 2015, 4:51 PM

The Automobile Club de l'Ouest, which runs the 24 Hours, announced in February it would expand the capacity of its garage complex from 56 to 60 cars.

It has now revealed that it will be able to accommodate 58 cars at next year's Le Mans because two of the four pits to be built after this year's race will be used for scrutineering purposes.

The scrutineering bays, along with the parc ferme area, will be moved from the end of the pitlane to the start for 2017, which will allow the grid to rise to 60.

ACO sporting manager Vincent Beaumesnil told AUTOSPORT: "This is a big project: we will be building a new medical centre, which will allow us to move scrutineering and parc ferme.

"But the site for this is not available for next year, which means we must keep scrutineering and parc ferme at the end of the pitlane."

The extra garages will be part of a single-storey structure to be added to those built in stages since the present pit complex was built for the 1991 season.