Reality TV contest to win a drive at Le Mans 24 Hours launched
Conor Daly, Esteban Guerrieri and Sam Brabham are among those chosen to compete in a reality show to race in this year's Le Mans 24 Hours
Conor Daly, Esteban Guerrieri and Sam Brabham are among those chosen to compete in a reality show to race in this year's Le Mans 24 Hours.
Raceto24, which will be shown on the internet until moving onto television at the semi-final stage, will put a total of 24 drivers through a selection process for the drive in one of the Morand Team SARD Morgan LMP2s at Le Mans and subsequent rounds of the World Endurance Championship.
They will share the second Morgan entered by Morand, which has entered into partnership with the Japanese SARD organisation for its 2015 WEC campaign, with Briton Oliver Webb and Frenchman Pierre Ragues.
Team boss Benoit Morand explained that he had received more than 100 applications for the 24 slots and that the list had been compiled to "provide a mix of nationalities, backgrounds and experience".
"We have tried to pick a broad range of drivers, not just established drivers, in order to make an interesting show," he said.
"We have drivers from 17 countries and three women."
Morand also revealed that he had interest from "a prominent NASCAR driver", who was unable to take up the offer to compete courtesy of scheduling clashes.
Others on the list include Audi factory GT driver Christopher Haase, GP3 racer Dino Zamparelli, ex-A1GP race winner Jonathan Summerton, British Formula 3 Champion Martin Cao, former McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award finalist Melville McKee and Jules Gounon, the son of Jean-Marc Gounon.
The reality show, which begins on March 26, will be made up of 12 rounds, during which the hopefuls will be put through mental and physical challenges, before testing moves onto the race track.
The evaluation will take place at the wheel of one of the Morand team's Morgans, which are powered by SARD-badged Judd/BMW V8s, during the semi-final and the final.
The judging panel will be led by Morand, a former driver who competed in British F3 and Formula 3000, and team regular Christian Klien, who will be joined by an guest expert for each round.
More comprehensive details of the format will be released shortly.
Morand revealed that he had a three-year deal with his sponsors to run the Raceto24 concept.
RACETO24 ENTRY LIST
Advait Deodhar
Armando Parente
Brandon Newey
Christopher Haase
Conor Daly
Dino Zamparelli
Esteban Guerrieri
Fabien Thuner
Gustavo Lima
Ines Tattinger
Jonathan Summerton
Jules Gounon
Laura Kraihammer
Lukas Moraes
Martin Cao
Marvin Dienst
Max Snegirev
Melville McKee
Mitchell Gilbert
Raed Raffini
Sam Brabham
Shinya Michimi
Stefan Rzadzinski
Vicky Piria
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