WEC News: Entry list for FIA WEC season-opener in Qatar

The entry list for the season-opening Qatar 1812km – round one of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship – features a record-breaking 14 manufacturers.

Manufacturers include Alpine, Aston Martin, BMW, Cadillac, Corvette, Ferrari, Ford, Isotta Fraschini, Lamborghini, Lexus, McLaren, Peugeot, Porsche and Toyota – all highlighting the continued growth of the world’s premier endurance racing series.

Since the season entry list at the end of last year, where all teams were required to submit a minimum of one driver per entered car, today’s round one entry list is the first time that the full driver list for the 2024 season has been revealed.

HYPERCAR

LMGT3

Some of the biggest names in motorsport are competing in this year’s WEC including seven-time MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi and 2009 Formula 1 World Champion, Jenson Button.

Reigning FIA World Endurance Champions Toyota Gazoo Racing return this season with just one driver change as former Formula E World Champion Nyck de Vries replaces Jose Maria Lopez in the No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar.

Similarly, for Porsche Penske Motorsport, the squad have swapped Dane Cameron for Matt Campbell as the Australian joins the squad for 2024 to drive the Porsche 963.

Last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans winners Ferrari AF Corse will travel to Qatar with an unchanged line-up for its pair of Ferrari 499P Hypercars (Miguel Molina, Antonio Fuoco and Nicklas Nielsen in the No. 50 car with Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi in the No. 51 car).

Last week Alpine Endurance Team revealed its full driver line-up at a joint launch alongside the Formula 1 team, with Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg and Charles Milesi driving the No. 35 Alpine A424. Driving the sister No. 36 entry will be Mick Schumacher, Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere.

Peugeot TotalEnergies have recruited Stoffel Vandoorne for the 2024 season as he joins Loic Duval and Paul Di Resta in the No. 94 Peugeot 9X8. The No. 93 sister car sees Jean-Eric Vergne, Nico Mueller and Mikkel Jensen at the wheel.

Cadillac Racing has recruited the help of Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais to join regular drivers Alex Lynn and Earl Bamber in the cockpit of the Cadillac V-Series.R for round one in Qatar.

Newcomers to the WEC Hypercar category in 2024, BMW M Team WRT will join the grid with two BMW M Hybrid V8 cars. Also, new-for-2024 is Lamborghini Iron Lynx and the highly-anticipated Lamborghini SC63 with Daniil Kvyat listed to drive alongside Mirko Bortolotti and Edoardo Mortara.

Another newcomer, Isotta Fraschini, also recently finalized its driver line-up which features the two youngest drivers on the Hypercar grid – Carl Wattana Bennett (19) and Antonio Serravalle (21).

Hertz Team JOTA will run two Porsche 963s in Qatar, the No. 38 car driven by Jenson Button, Phil Hanson and Oliver Rasmussen. Their No. 12 sister car has an equally impressive line-up with IndyCar star Callum Ilott plus Will Stevens and Norman Nato sharing driving duties.

AF Corse has entered a privately-run Ferrari 499P Hypercar with Robert Kubica, Robert Schwartzman and Yifei Ye enlisted to drive.  Meanwhile, Proton Competition will enter the fifth Porsche 963 in the Hypercar class with Harry Tincknell, Neel Jani and Julien Andlauer named on the entry list.

New for 2024, the all-new LMGT3 class will be based around FIA’s existing LMGT3 technical platform and is made up of 18 entries in its inaugural season.

One of the biggest stories of the category is that Team WRT has enlisted seven-time MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi to drive the No. 46 BMW M4 LMGT3 alongside Ahmad Al Harthy and Maxime Martin. Al Harthy, from Oman, is the only driver from the Middle East to compete in Qatar so is expected to have some strong home support.

British powerhouse McLaren has teamed up with endurance experts United Autosports to make its WEC debut with a pair of McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evos. The squad have recently confirmed its full line-up of drivers with Britain’s James Cottingham set to join Nicolas Costa and Gregoire Saucy in the No. 59 car. Driving the sister No. 95 McLaren will be Joshua Caygill, Nicolas Pino and previously announced Marino Sato.

Other notable names competing in LMGT3 include Iron Dames’ trio of females, which sees Doriane Pin replace Rahel Frey in the 2024 line-up driving the Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2 alongside Sarah Bovy and Michelle Gatting.

Elsewhere, GT specialists Akkodis ASP Team enter the WEC with two Lexus RCF entries and Jose Maria Lopez enlisted to drive the No. 87 car.

Furthermore, GTE Am team TF Sport aligns with 2023 champions Corvette Racing for 2024 to run a pair of Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R cars

Finally, there will be the return of several familiar teams such as AF Corse which is renamed as Vista AF Corse for 2024 (Ferrari 296 LMGT3), Heart of Racing Team and D’Station Racing (Aston Martin Vantage LMGT3), Proton Competition (Ford Mustang LMGT3) and Manthey PureRXRacing/Manthey EMA (Porsche 911 LMGT3 Rs).

The Prologue (pre-season testing) gets underway in Doha, Qatar, from 24-25 February before the season-opening Qatar 1812km the following weekend (1-2 March).