RLR promises 'big name' Bruno Senna replacement for 2019 Le Mans

The team has admitted that three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves is in the frame to lead the driver line-up in the ORECA-Gibson 07 that Senna will race in the European Le Mans Series this year.

But team boss Nick Reynolds said that Castroneves was only one of several potential candidates to drive the car in what will be RLR's first Le Mans entry under its own name.

"There are a number of drivers on the list and I'm confident that we are going to have a name as big as Senna's or even bigger in the car," Reynolds told Autosport.

It is understood that Castroneves is not the most likely driver to fill the berth at Le Mans on June 15/16.

Castroneves, who races for the Penske Acura team in the IMSA SportsCar Championship in North America, has made no secret of his desire to race at Le Mans.

He stated at last weekend's Daytona 24 Hours IMSA opener that he believed he was "getting close" to a Le Mans debut.

"Hopefully an opportunity will come, and if it comes, the team [Penske] has already said I would be able to do it and I would love to experience Le Mans," he said.

Rebellion World Endurance Championship LMP1 regular Senna will race the RLR ORECA alongside John Farano, who was part of the crew that won last year's ELMS LMP3 title for the team, in five of the six ELMS races this year.

Senna will be unavailable for Le Mans and then the Silverstone WEC/ELMS double-header in the summer courtesy of his Rebellion commitments.

RLR has gained a guaranteed Le Mans entry this year for winning the ELMS title with Farano, Rob Garofall and Job van Uitert.

It previously fielded an ORECA-Nissan 03 under the Murphy Prototypes banner in 2012 and helped run a Delta-ADR entry the following season.

RLR took delivery of its new ORECA last year and has already tested at Silverstone and the Algarve circuit.

Castroneves to race Indy road course

Castroneves will race at the Indianapolis road course as a warm-up to the 2019 Indy 500.

Penske said following the 2018 Indy 500 that Castroneves would return for IndyCar's flagship race this year.

Castroneves told Autosport: "I'm doing the Indy GP again to give us a little bit of a balance, little bit of a rhythm and then we'll do the Indy 500.

"We need to do some changes [technically] to the car.

"The good news is that IndyCar is not going to have many ovals again, which should help me to go in on a similar playing field to the guys who are full-time."

Castroneves was one of several high-profile drivers to crash out as a result of the unpredictable behaviour of the new-for-2018 universal aerokit.

Referencing his 2018 race, Castroneves added: "What happened last year...we've just got to fix it and hope it doesn't happen this year, and instead get what we're looking for."