The 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans will be the sixth start for the French team, the year after they secured their first podium finish after Neel Jani, Rene Binder and Nico Pino finished third, one lap behind the winning no34 Inter Europol Competition Oreca.
The team’s first entry was in 2019, with Pierre Ragues, Nico Jamin and Romain Dumas finishing the race in 7th, five laps behind the winning car. The following seasons saw a DNF in 2020, 9thin class in 2021 and 26th in 2022 before finally clinching that coveted podium position last year.
In 2024 the no30 Oreca-Gibson will see former ELMS LMP2 Pro/Am Champion John Falb team up with 2022 LMP2 Pro/Am 24 Hours of Le Mans Champion James Allen and 2022 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Champion Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer and challenge for the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans LMP2 Pro/Am title.
Swiss team COOL Racing have competed at the 24 Hours of Le Mans on three occasions prior to the 2024 race, with the team finishing on the LMP2 Pro/Am podium in 2023.The no37 Oreca finished second in LMP2 Pro/Am last year, with Nico Lapierre, Alexandre Coigny and Malthe Jakobsen finishing 12thoverall in LMP2.
The first year that COOL Racing competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans was in 2020 when Nico Lapierre, Alexandre Coigny and Antoine Borga finished 8th in LMP2, five laps behind the eventual winners.
After missing out on an entry for 2021, COOL Racing returned the following season, finishing one place higher than the previous attempt.
This year COOL Racing will enter two cars. The first in LMP2 will be for Malthe Jakobsen, Lorenzo Fluxa and Ritomo Miyata and the second in LMP2 Pro/Am with Matt Bell, Fred Vesti and Naveen Rao.
2019 ELMS LMP2 Champions IDEC Sport have taken part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans seven times since 2017, with the French team’s best result coming in 2019 when Paul Lafargue, Paul Loup Chatin and Memo Rojas finished 5thin LMP2.
2017 and 2018 saw a 10th place finish and DNF respectively. Since 2019 the team have consistently finished in the top 10, with three 6th placed finishes in 2020, 2021 and 2023, with an 8thin 2022.
The 2024 entry will see ELMS regulars Paul Lafargue, Job Van Uitert and Reshad de Gerus racing the no28 Oreca-Gibson.
Racing under the Panis Barthez Competition banner, the French team run by Olivier Panis made it’s Le Mans debut in 2016, with Fabien Barthez, Paul Loup Chatin and Timothe Buret finishing 8thin LMP2, 10 laps behind the class winners Signatech Alpine.
The team raced as Panis Barthez Competition in 2017 (DNF), 2018 (9th) and 2019 (8th), before rebranding as Panis Racing in 2020. This marked a change in fortune for the French team with Julien Canal, Nico Jamin and Matt Vaxiviere finishing on the LMP2 podium in 3rd.The feat was repeated in 2021 when Julien Canal, Will Stevens and James Allen stood on the third step of the LMP2 podium just one lap behind the eventual winners Team WRT.
2022 and 2023 saw Panis Racing drop out of the top 10 in LMP2, finishing 12th overall in 2022 and 14th overall last year.
The no65 Panis Racing Oreca-Gibson will be driven by Rodrigo Sales, Mathias Beche and Scott Huffaker in the LMP2 Pro/Am category of the 92ndedition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans will take place on June 15/16. The 92nd edition of the race will be the first since the FIA World Endurance Championship haven’t any LMP2 teams, meaning the LMP2 grid at Le Mans this year will be made up of 16 cars, 15 from the ELMS and the reigning Asian Le Mans Series champions Crowdstrike Racing by APR, which is run by 2023 ELMS champions Algarve Pro Racing.
