24 Heures du Mans 2024: With 62 entries, a legendary edition is on the cards

The golden age of endurance racing continues: the 2024 season of the WEC will be marked by a number of manufacturers never before seen in the history of a major motor racing championship. Fourteen of them will compete for victory in three categories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (fifteen if we count Oreca in LMP2). It has been a long time since the premier category had seen so many cars!

Hypercar: 23 cars, one winner

The flagship of this new blessed era for the 24 Hours of Le Mans will offer an absolutely majestic lineup. There will be a total of 23 Hypercars for the 92nd edition of the Le Mans classic, with nine manufacturers competing.

These stunning cars, breathtaking to many, will be lined up in an attempt to dethrone the reigning champion: Ferrari.

The Italian manufacturer will be the only one, along with Porsche, to field three cars throughout the season, including the customer AF Corse. It is not illogical for the Scuderia to maintain all its chances with the factory cars (No. 50 and No. 51) and the private No. 83.

Porsche, precisely, will be the factory team with the most representation and will be the only one to have three official cars at the start, just like last year. The #5 and #6 from the WEC will be there, and the 963 guest car, coming from IMSA, will bear the #4 instead of the #75. The #4 was that of Vanwall, who will not be participating, nor will the charming Glickenhaus. The two Jota cars and the Proton, with its historic livery, will of course be part of the event.

The spirit of revenge will inevitably be strong at Toyota, which will once again have its two cars attacking Le Mans. This race has been its stronghold during the lean years of the WEC, its nemesis when competition returns. The Japanese manufacturer, with the significant addition of Nyck de Vries, will hope to defy fate.

Among others, it’s business as usual: Peugeot will aim to confirm its good form on high-speed circuits with its two 9X8 cars and will be equipped with the famous rear wing by then. Cadillac will follow the same program: three V Series R cars will be at the start, including the official ones (No. 2 in WEC and No. 3 in IMSA), as well as the No. 311 from Wheelen Racing, which had an unlucky 2023 edition.

Among the new entries, the formula will remain the same: BMW and Lamborghini, which are making their debut in Hypercar this year, will each have two prototypes. The Bavarian manufacturer will have its two machines from the WEC, while Lamborghini will bring one of their cars from the IMSA series, the one that Romain Grosjean will drive. This will be the first appearance of the Franco-Swiss driver at Le Mans since 2010.

Alpine will also make its return to the top category with two cars already present in WEC: numbers 35 and 36 will have the heavy task of allowing the French to return to the front positions, despite fierce competition. Finally, the new underdog, Isotta Fraschini, will have only one car, the number 11 of Team Duqueine. They will have to carve out a path in this huge crowd of manufacturers, which leaves little mercy for the “artisans”.

Sixteen LMP2, as promised

Absent from the WEC, the “Ligue 2” of prototypes will indeed be present for the 92nd Le Mans classic. But the face of the category has changed significantly and the cards have been reshuffled: with WRT and Jota out, naming the favorites will be difficult.

However, the big names in LMP2 remain mostly the same: Vector Sport, United, and Inter Europol, the reigning champions, will be there to provide the audience with an intense battle.

Also watch out for Proton, who could use their experience in Hypercar to find some solutions in the intermediate category. It is worth noting that they are the only team aligned in all three categories, along with AF Corse.

As promised, the ACO has kept a spot warm for a category to which the audience has become attached. But if the Hypercar field were to grow again, what would happen? A dedicated magazine provides some insights.

A plate of madness in LMGT3

Farewell to GTE, long live LMGT3! The new GT category has officially bid adieu to the former reigning category in the production car division, following the farewell tour of GTE-Am. With factory programs driving up the costs of GTE-Pro, the solution of private and semi-official programs could not have come at a better time.

The new golden age also applies to GT, as, of the four brands represented, we will move to nine this year in the WEC and at Le Mans!

There will also be two “subcategories” in this group: on one side the manufacturers operating in both Hypercar and GT3, and on the other side those exclusively focused on this division.

The duplicates will be carried out this year by Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini, and BMW, while waiting for Aston Martin to arrive in the Hypercar. Among the others, McLaren is making its grand comeback in the World, with a car for United Autosport and another for Inception Racing. Corvette will be represented by TF Sport and Ford, its American rival, will field two cars with Proton, on the Mustang GT3 with a demonic V8.

Finally, Lexus will be present as a backup for Toyota, through the French team Akkodis, which will field former Toyota official driver José Maria Lopez.

Some will miss the absence of Mercedes with an AMG GT3, or even of Audi. But the customer activities of the German manufacturer have been shelved, to focus on the arrival in F1 by 2026. And you, will you come?