Already in June 2015 the A.C.O. announced an increase to the number of entries from 56 to 58 for the 2016 race. In a second step an entry of 60 cars for 2017 was targeted. The construction work for the 4 additional garages began shortly after this announcement. By the time the entry list for applications closed on Monday, 25th January, 73 applications had been received. In a press conference on Friday, 5th February in Paris the A.C.O. announced the list of the 60(!) chosen entries + 10 reserve entries. Obviously the construction of the additional garages was ahead of schedule.

WEC full season entries: 32 full season original WEC entrants gained an entry (Manor entered their 2nd car later).

Automatic invitations: 14 teams had received automatic invitations based on their performance in the 2015 sportscar season. Three of these invitations were not claimed: SMP Racing in GTE Am, Team LNT in LM P2 and BMW Team Marc VDS in GTE Am.

The 60 entries are divided by classes as follows:

• LM P1: 9 cars, 5 teams. Unfortunately the top class is the smallest class, but there are 3 manufacturers fighting for the overall win with 2 cars each: Audi and Toyota will field brand new constructions, and Porsche returns with an evolution of last years winning 919.
• LM P2: 23 cars, 20 teams. The prototype privateer class has the most entries. French constructors Oreca and OAK (Ligier) are dominating the scene with their chassis, while almost all engines come from Nissan, 20 out of 23 cars are powered by the Japanese 4.5 ltr. V8.
• GTE Pro: 14 cars, 8 teams. The return of Ford will get this category a lot of attention this year. This class sees the most manufacturers: Ford, Ferrari, Porsche, Chevrolet and Aston Martin are sending works- and semi-works cars to La Sarthe to fight for glory in the GTE Pro category. This will be at least as exciting to watch as the fight for the overall win in LM P1.
• GTE Am: 13 cars, 11 teams. In the class for second hand racing cars we will see Ferraris, Porsches, Aston Martins and Corvettes, all of them at least a year old.
• Innovation - Garage 56: 1 car. Frédéric Sausset, who has all four limbs amputated, will drive a modified Morgan LM P2.

Retired race driver and 2-times Le Mans Winner Alex Wurz is the Grand Marshal of the 24h of Le Mans 2016. Among other duties he will have the privilege of driving the pace car in the formation lap leading to the start of the race.

Following Steve McQueen (1971), Alian Delon (1996) and Luc Besson (2002) in their role as honorary starter is another Hollywood VIP this year: Brad Pitt will be waving the flag at the start of the race. One may ask why - rumours are that is has something to do with a movie project about the famous Ford-Ferrari duel at Le Mans in the sixties.

The reigning FIA WEC drivers and teams champions return with an evolution of last year’s LM winning car. They retain the same 90° 2.0 litre V4 turbo engine and double ERS from lithium ion batteries (and will have revised front suspension and aero) and continue to run in the 8mj class and with the same driver combinations. New FIA rules may minimize their refuelling advantage, which was worth about 3-5 seconds at each stop in 2015. Hartley finished 5th overall at Daytona in a Riley-Ford DP (with Andy Priaulx and Alex Wurz). The team will not run their third car, meaning last years winning drivers who gave Porsche their 17th victory, won’t return to the race to take up their automatic invitation. As there is a date clash with F1/GP2 at Baku this year, Nico Hülkenberg will be racing for Force India in Formula 1 in Azerbaijan, though Earl Bamber (#92) and Nick Tandy (#91) will race for Porsche in GTE Pro at Le Mans.

This team was promoted to be winner of the first round of the WEC in Silverstone after the first place Audi #7 was disqualified and the sister car #1 had a horrible accident during the race. At Spa they finished 2nd after running with a malfunctioning hybrid system for most of the race. Other than that, this Porsche team had a difficult start to the season. Unlike last year they were consistently slower than the #1 sister car. Since the reason was never found, Dumas, Jani and Lieb got a brand new car for the 24h of Le Mans.

In 2015 the team showed a strong performance with 5 podiums and 2 wins in the LM P1 privateer class. They return with a new suspension, aero and an upgraded AER engine for 2016, and they also switched their tyre supplier from Michelin to Dunlop. Once again their only opponents are the Swiss Rebellion team with 2 cars. Kaffer and Trummer raced already last year for ByKolles, and Oliver Webb was hired in March to join them for this season. Webb won the ELMS in 2014, raced in the WEC in LMP2 in 2015 and won the Dubai 24 Hours.

The 2014 FIA WEC champions returns with a brand chassis and a new 90 degree 2.4 litre V6 bi turbo THS-R engine car with direct injection for the first time and with a new raised nose. A lithium ion battery hybrid replaces their super capacitor system, the team keeps their double ERS configuration which retrieves energy from both axles, and they move up to the 8mj class. The team finished 6th at Silverstone after suffering a rear puncture which caused bodywork damage and destroyed a driveshaft. At Spa they initially finished 7th after an engine failure, reappearing to do the final lap on hybrid power only, however they were penalized 4 laps as Nakajima had not completed his minimum driving time so ended up in 8th place.

Kobayashi will replace the “almost retired” Alexander Wurz (the 42 years old GPDA President), who is now a “Brand Ambassador” for Toyota and Grand Marshal at Le Mans this year (although he drove a CGR Riley-Ford DP at Daytona and finished 5th after overheating trouble and will be reserve driver & take part in the Test day at Le Mans). Kobayashi will continue to drive for the Sunoco Team Le Mans outfit in Super Formula in 2016. The Toyota features a new colour scheme of red, black and white replacing the former blue and white livery. This team finished 2nd at Silverstone but retired at Spa with engine electronics trouble and replacement of the nose.

Audi has returned with a completely new car, with a distinctive high nose and with a new lithium ion battery hybrid single ERS (Samsung/LG) replacing the flywheel storage version and has moved up to the 6mj class. The 2012 & 2013 WEC champions retain the 120° V6 4.0 litre turbo diesel engine but with a new lighter 6 speed gearbox and the same driver combinations. The driver team of car #7 has already scored 3 overall wins at Le Mans, finishing last year in 3rd position.

Audi will use the same driver combinations as last year but, as Porsche, will not field a third car in 2016. Di Grassi, Jarvis and Duval finished in 4th position last year. They scored their first win as a team in the second WEC round in Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, when both cars from Porsche and Toyota and their team mates in the #7 sister car had problems.

The reigning FIA WEC LM P1 privateer team champions return with their Oreca-built car. Prost with Mathias Beche (driving #46 TDS Oreca P2 this year) was privateer drivers champion in 2015. Beche will return to the team for the last 6 rounds of the WEC after Le Mans. Bart Hayden’s team change from Michelin to Dunlop tyres for 2016, the first time Dunlop have been involved in P1 since 2012, when it supplied Oak Racing. They have also reverted to an earlier specification of the AER engine after reliability woes in 2015. Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet Jnr is the reigning Formula E champion for China Racing. The team finished 4th at Silverstone after electrical problems in qualifying and were 4th again at Spa.

They were the 2015 LM P1 Privateer class winners at Le Mans. The team finished 3rd at Silverstone after electrical problems in qualifying – this was Rebellion’s first podium in the WEC since Fuji in 2013. They made it again to the podium in Spa-Francorchamps where they scored another fine 3rd place. Looking back at all the reliability woes which the factory cars had in Spa and Silverstone they might be in for a surprise again!

This is a new team set up this year by Olivier Lombard in association with Sarthe Objective 24! - an organisation promoting local businesses and drivers in the Sarthe region including the A.C.O.’s Driving School. Olivier Lombard has already raced 3 times at Le Mans and scored a P2 class win in a Zytek in 2011. Gentleman driver Capillaire will race here for the 3rd time, and Jonathan Coleman is a Rookie. The team finished 3rd overall in the ELMS at Silverstone and 11th at Imola.

This is another new French Team which was set up by former French Formula 1 driver Olivier Panis and ex-Marseille and Manchester United goalkeeper Barthez, who was in the winning French team at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. They are also racing an LM P3 Ligier in the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) this year. Lead driver in the all-French squad is Paul Loup Chatin, who has the most experience in Le Mans prototype racing. In 2014 he became ELMS P2 Drivers Champion, and in 2015 he was part of the winning P2 team in Shanghai. For Barthez this will be his second participation at Le Mans, Timothé Buret is a Rookie. The team is supporting the French medical charity Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque.

This entry was initially on the reserve list, but received an invitation on 22nd March, when TDS Racing withdrew its Aston Martin in the GTE-Am class. The most prominent driver of this squad is Sir Chris Hoy, an eleven-time world champion cyclist and Olympic medal winner. He retired in 2012 from cycling and has added 2 more wheels to his favourite sports. He won the P3 class in the ELMS in 2015. However, with Michael Munemann having been to Le Mans once and Hoy and Pizitola being Rookies, this is probably one of the least experienced squads on the grid. Just recently they completed an 8 hour test “into the night” at Jerez, where Chris Hoy had his first experience in double stinting the Ligier JSP2/Nissan and driving in night conditions.

The reigning FIA WEC LM P2 champions G-Drive (with technical support from Oak Racing) used a Ligier JS P2 in 2015, driven by Rusinov, Julien Canal and Sam Bird. Rusinov is returning now as a full season WEC entry with the G-Drive sponsorship (Gazprom Neft) in a new Oreca without Oak Racing. Sam Hignett’s Jota team have formed a new partnership with Arden and G-Drive in 2016 and will run this car in the WEC for the first time. For German driver René Rast this is a step down from last year, when he was a factory driver for Audi in LM P1 at Spa and Le Mans. But Audi only comes with 2 cars this year, which left Rast and his 2015 team mates Filipe Albuquerque and Marco Bonanomi without a drive. Ex-Manor-Marussia F1 pilot Will Stevens will be part of this team. They took pole position in LM P2 at Silverstone, and finished 3rd after a fuel pump problem and having to pit to change the nose after contact, and finished 5th at Spa after taking pole again but suffering 2 punctures.

SMP Racing were WEC GTE Am team and driver’s champions in 2015 but have decided not to defend their title. Michail Aljoshin is racing in Indycar in 2016 for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. The team (with Kirill Ladygin) raced in IMSA at Daytona, setting pole and finishing 9th in the P class. Minassian finished 4th overall at Sebring in the Dragonspeed Oreca. Minassian & Mediani finished 10th at Silverstone but with Devi Markozov and retired at Spa after damage to the radiator.

The Strasbourg-based squad, racing with a German licence, will tackle its fourth Le Mans 24 Hours. Inès Taittinger, a member of the famous champagne family, will be one of only two female racers this year. Both Taittinger and team mate Rémy Striebig are Rookies, the latter one at the advanced age of 57. Léo Roussel already started twice at Le Mans, his best finish being 18th in a P2 Morgan in 2014. They retired from the ELMS race at Silverstone after Roussel hit the pit wall at the start, and finished 12th at Imola after hitting the wall again.

The American team has agreed a relationship with Onroak Automotive and partly relocated to France and will use Nissan engines in 2016 instead of Honda in the WEC. Ed Brown is the CEO of Tequila Patrón, however as alcohol sponsorship is banned in France, the 2 cars will run in the livery of Paul Mitchell Systems owned by John Paul DeJoria, co-founder of Tequila Patrón. They also raced at the Daytona 24 Hours and Sebring 12 Hours in the IMSA series using the Honda 3.5 litre V6 bi-turbo engine (which is not allowed in the WEC - maximum of 3.2 litres for a turbo). The crew of Brown, Sharp & van Overbeek (with Pipo Derani) won overall at both races - the first team to do so since the Moretti/Dixon Ferrari in 1998. The team will enter one car in the other 2 NAEC races at Watkins Glen and Petit Le Mans later in the year. They finished 9th at Silverstone & 7th at Spa.

Brazilian driver Derani raced at the Daytona 24 Hours and Sebring 12 Hours in the IMSA series with the crew of the #30 ESM and won both races. Ryan Dalziel won the 2015 Porsche Cup for most successful privateer driver and finished 3rd overall at Daytona, 5th at Sebring & 2nd at Laguna Seca in a Visit Florida.com Coyote Corvette DP. Chris Cumming finished 4th in a Starworks Oreca-Chevrolet PC at Daytona, after sustaining damage after being hit by the Deltawing. The team were 2nd in P2 at Silverstone after a fuel problem and a spin by Cumming, and 2nd again at Spa.

The Philippines-based team was founded in 2003 but is new to La Sarthe. The Team scored numerous race victories or championship titles in the Asian Le Mans, Formula 3, V6 Asia, Formula BMW Pacific Series, Formula Pilota, Formula Masters China Series and the GT Asia Series. Mark Goddard’s team will enter the new Asian LM Sprint cup in 2016, where they will offer rental drives. Divers Pu Jun Jin and Nick de Bruijn are both rookies, but Platinum driver Tristan Gommedy brings in the experience of 6 starts at Le Mans. They have a new sponsorship link with Chinese company Le Sports TV.

The 2015/6 Asian LMS LM P2 champions received an automatic invitation - Leutwiler was the P2 drivers champion. The team is also racing a P3 Ligier in the ELMS this year. They will use again their well proven open top Oreca 03R and are one of only 2 teams which will be racing with the BMW derived Judd engine this year.

The 2015/6 Asian LMS LM P3 champions competing in a Ligier JS P3 scored 4 wins in this series and received an automatic invitation for the 24h of Le Mans for the LM P2 class. They joined forces with the Signatech team which supplies personnel and logistics, and the “Alpine A460” is actually a rebadged Oreca 05. The team is owned by Chinese driver David Cheng and film star and stuntman Jackie Chan, who has announced to visit the team at Le Mans. This is the very first entry from the Chinese mainland. China, despite being a huge country, doesn't play much of a role in international motorsports, the only exceptions being in the former colony Hong Kong with teams like KCMG and Macao with its famous Formula 3 Grand Prix. The team finished 7th at Silverstone & retired at Spa after damage caused by a puncture.

Philippe Sinault’s team returns again with a re-badged Oreca in the WEC. The #36 car – the number which claimed back-to-back ELMS crowns in 2013 and 2014, as well as a top-three finish in the LMP2 class at Le Mans in 2014 – will be shared by three newcomers to the Alpine team. French all-rounder Nicolas Lapierre is the most experienced driver of this squad. He was racing in the LMP1 class for Oreca and Toyota with whom he won five WEC races. In 2015 he won in the LMP2 class at Le Mans. The team finished 4th at Silverstone but won its class at Spa – a first WEC win for Menezes & Richelmi.

Boris Rotenberg, the owner of the SMP Bank, has moved up from the ELMS and runs 2 cars in the WEC this year. Viktor Shaitar, together with Andrea Bertolini and Aleksey Basov, was the WEC GTE Am drivers champion in 2015. Former F1 Driver Mika Salo is the team’s Sporting Director. Kirill Ladygin, together with the crew of #27 BR01, finished 9th at Daytona in the P class after setting the pole time but suffered from braking Problems. Viktor Shaitar raced a SMP Ferrari 488 at Daytona but did not finish. They finished 2nd in the ELMS round at Silverstone and 4th at Imola.

Jake Dennis is racing in GP3 for Arden this year. Dutch Driver van der Garde is, after his spectacular divorce from the F1 Sauber Team, trying to find a new home in the WEC. Both van der Garde and Dennis are rookies at Le Mans, Simon Dolan has participated 5 times here, and scored already 3 WEC P2 class wins (2012 Spa, 2014 Le Mans, 2015 Spa). Harry Tincknell raced with the team in the ELMS at Silverstone instead of Dennis and they were victorious and then finished 2nd at Imola.

American team owner and driver Tracy Krohn is 61 years old and will be the oldest driver on the grid this year. The team is racing in the ELMS in 2016 in conjunction with Greaves Motorsport. Barbosa was the Prototype drivers champion in IMSA and the NAEC in 2015 for Action Express Racing in a Corvette DP, and finished 4th overall at Daytona in an Action Express Coyote Corvette DP. Krohn and Jönsson raced a Flying Lizard Audi R8 at Daytona but did not finish. The Team dropped the Judd engine which they used in 2015 for a Nissan V8. 2015 ELMS Champion Björn Wirdheim replaced Barbosa at the ELMS round in Silverstone, where they finished 4th and replaced the injured Krohn at Imola where they finished 6th.

The 2015 ELMS P2 champions, gaining an automatic invitation, continue in ELMS after their move to the WEC did not come to fruition this year. They finished 8th overall at Silverstone after transmission problems and 8th again at Imola after a puncture. Mexican driver Memo Rojas finished 4th in GTLM at Daytona in a Scuderia Corsa Ferrari F488. Julien Canal is the current holder of the WEC P2 trophy for drivers (together with Roman Rusinov and Sam Bird).

WEC regulars Strakka Racing return with their Gibson 015S with the same driver line-up as last season. It seemed like they might step up to LMP1 in a revised Dome chassis, but it's LMP2 again for them this season. They had a second car on the reserve list but this was withdrawn in March. This will be the last time we'll see this car racing at Le Mans, as in 2017 only closed cockpit prototypes will be allowed. The team finished 5th at Silverstone but retired at Spa with engine trouble.

Mexican Ricardo Gonzalez's new-founded RGR Sport by Morand will field a Ligier JS/P2 with a stellar driver line-up : Ricardo Gonzalez himself, Bruno Senna and Filipe Albuquerque. This is a very ambitious new entry which immediately wants to fight for the championship and victory at Le Mans. Ricardo González, through his company Invicta, is the promoter of the new WEC Mexico City race this September. Filipe Albuquerque finished 4th overall at Daytona in an Action Express Coyote Corvette DP. The team won P2 at Silverstone, and finished 4th at Spa.

This is a new project run by ex Manor Formula 1 principals John Booth and Graeme Lowdon, with 2 cars in the WEC in 2016. We will only see one of the cars in Le Mans, because the second one was entered in the WEC after the deadline for the Le Mans entry list. James Jakes is active in motorsport since 2002 and has a lot of experience, in the last 4 years he was active in the Indycar series. This car (driven by Thor Graves, Will Stevens and James Jakes) retired with engine trouble at Silverstone & finished 8th at Spa after brake problems.

Racing in the ELMS again this year, TDS (Top Drive Services) may also race in some of the NAEC rounds in IMSA (but did not race at Daytona or Sebring) and have entered into an alliance with Rebellion Timepieces. Mathis Beche with Nico Prost was WEC P1 Privateer champion in 2015. The team run by Xavier Combet & Jacques Morello has also entered a GTE Am Aston Martin Vantage (#59). 21 years old Ryō Hirakawa is actually a member of the Toyota junior driver programme and has been placed at TDS by Toyota to give him some prototype experience. In Japan he's currently racing his third season in the Super-GT series.

2015 Le Mans LM P2 class winners and last year, the first Hong Kong team to win at the race, received an automatic entry. The team did not be return to the WEC in P2 after being dismayed about the sanctions given out after the on track battles with the G-Drive team last year, so Le Mans will be the only P2 outing in 2016. However, they have entered a Porsche 991 in GTE Am in the WEC this year. Richard Bradley drove the second Manor Oreca at Silverstone finishing 6th.

The Murphy Prototypes Oreca 03/Nissan will be driven at Le Mans by Ben Keating, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Marc Goossens. Keating competes in the WeatherTech Sportscar Challenge with a Dodge Viper and made his debut last year at Le Mans. He was hoping for a new invite at Le Mans, but they were placed 7th on the reserve list, so chances to run the Riley Viper at Le Mans became pretty tight. The collaboration between Murphy and Riley in LMP3 (Murphy racing the Riley-Ave2 with factory support) opened the door for Keating to compete again at Le Mans. He is joined by Jeroen Bleekemolen and Marc Goossens, both adding lots of experience to the team. Keating will make his debut in a prototype, and completed some extensive testing ahead of the Le Mans race.

This team currently runs the full season in IMSA. John Pew won the 2015 Jim Trueman Award for best semi-pro driver in IMSA Prototypes leading to the invitation in P2. At Daytona, Pew and Negri together with Olivier Pla qualified 3rd but they did not finish after engine failure in the 10th hour. They are the only P2 team racing a Honda engine this year. Pew and Negri will be joined by Laurens Vanthoor. The Belgian raced at Le Mans last year in the Honda-Ligier of OAK Racing and won the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring.

Team Manager Jack Leconte hopes to move up to the GTE Pro class in 2017 with an additional Corvette. Originally Italian Paolo Ruberti was scheduled to drive this car, but an accident at Hockenheim which resulted in fractures prevented him from doing this. The team scored 2 podiums in its class, with 3rd places at the WEC rounds at Silverstone & Spa.

The older normally aspirated F458 is replaced by the new bi-turbo F488 this year in GTE Pro in the WEC. Bruni and Calado raced a SMP Ferrari 488 at Daytona but did not finish. Bruni & Calado finished 2nd in the WEC round at Silverstone after having to serve a penalty of 3 minutes for an engine change. In the last WEC round in Spa-Franchorchamps disaster struck, when they were close to a sure class win but with less than 10 minutes to go the engine failed.

Compared to Le Mans 2015, there is one change to the driver squad this year: Aaron Scott will replace Alex Mortimer. The team is running 2 Ferraris in the ELMS - at Silverstone (#51) for Pierguiseppe Perazzini, Marco Cioci and Rui Águas, where they finished 7th in GTE & then 7th again at the ELMS race in Imola. The second car (#55) for Cameron, Griffin & Scott finished 4th at Silverstone and then 6th at Imola.

The team received two automatic invitations last year after their success in the 2014 Asian Le Mans Series - both cars were classified finishers in the race. They switched from Porsche to Chevrolet for this season and are racing the exact chassis which won the GTE-Pro class at Le Mans last year in the hands of the factory team. For GM factory driver Johnny O’Connell this will be his 15th start at the 24h. He has scored already four class wins and five further podium finishes at Le Mans. Team mate Oliver Bryant is a rookie at Le Mans.

|Car:|Ferrari 458 Italia|

The 2015 ELMS GTE champions received an automatic invitation for the GTE Am class and are sending an all-Danish squad to France. Nielsen finished 7th in GTD at Daytona in a Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458, with Jeff Segal and at Sebring in a Ferrari 488 won the class with Segal - the first lady class winner at Sebring since Liz Halliday in 2006 and the first international win for the new 488. She then finished 2nd at Laguna Seca. The team finished 5th in GTE in the ELMS at Silverstone but missed the race at Imola after a crash for Nielsen in practice meant the car could not be repaired. Christina Nielsen will be one of two female Drivers on the grid this year - there were none in 2015. This crew has the least experience at Le Mans, all drivers are rookies.

The 2015/6 Asian LMS GT champions, competing in a McLaren 650S GT3, gained an automatic invitation in GTE Am and compete with assistance from AF Corse. Driver Weng Sun Mok is also the team owner. British driver Rob Bell arrives with the experience of 7 starts at Le Mans, with his best finish being two 23rd place in 2007 (Panoz) and 2009 (Ferrari). His team mates are both rookies at Le Mans.

A.C.O./IMSA “at-large” invitation for 2016, will race with assistance from Kessel Racing. Finished 3rd in GTE Am last year. Sweedler and Bell were GT Daytona driver’s champions in IMSA in 2015, Sweedler winning the Bob Akin award for best non professional driver in GTs in IMSA in 2015, leading to the GTE Am invitation. Eric Bachelart has joined the team as Managing Director. Bell and Sweedler finished 15th in GTD at Daytona in an O’Gara Motorsport (who have since withdrawn from IMSA) Lamborghini, with Huracán and Segal 7th in GTD in a Ferrari 458. The team are running a Ferrari F488 in GTD & GTLM in IMSA this year.

Car:	Chevrolet Corvette C7.R
Engine:	5.5 ltr. V8 cyl. aspirated
Tyres:	Michelin
Drivers:	Jan Magnussen (DK), Antonio García (ES), Ricky Taylor (US)

The Pratt & Miller squad, still led by Doug Fehan, returns with an updated C7.R embracing the new safety features and with a larger rear diffuser and rear wing. In previous years the type of fuel used in IMSA (E85) was different to that used at Le Mans, but this year it is virtually the same (E10/E20C spec) which will make re-mapping the engines much easier. García and Magnussen won the GTLM class in the 2015 NAEC. The Taylor brothers finished 2nd overall at Daytona in a Wayne Taylor Racing Dallara Corvette DP, where Garcia and Magnussen finished 2nd in GTLM with Mike Rockenfeller.

Le Mans 2015 began with a disaster, when sister car #63 was totalled during practice and could not participate in the race. However, the sole surviving works Corvette with this driver squad took the class win in GTE pro and received an automatic invitation. Aside from Le Mans this car is a full season IMSA entry. Gavin and Milner with Marcel Fässler won GTLM at Daytona in a Corvette by 0.034 of a second from their team mates! Jordan Taylor suffered from inhaling exhaust gases when finishing 2nd overall at Daytona. Gavin & Milner finished 2nd at Long Beach after Milner, when leading, was hit by Makowiecki with 2 minutes to go, and then 7th at Laguna Seca.

Ford has entered two cars in the WEC, under the management of team principal George Howard Chappell, formerly of Prodrive and Aston Martin. The numbering of the cars commemorates Ford’s 4 successes at Le Mans from 1966 to 1969. Drivers Stefan Mücke and Olivier Pla both have a lot of experience at Le Mans. They have both been here since 2008, Mücke racing GTE Aston Martins for the last 8 years, while Pla was driving in both prototype classes. Billy Johnson is new to this track, currently he is racing a Shelby-Mustang in the US Sportscar Challenge. This car finished in 5th position in the first WEC round in Silverstone. In Belgium at the second round disaster struck: following a flat tyre Stefan Mücke had a horrible high speed shunt at Raidillion in which he was fortunate to suffer only minor bruises.

Franchitti and Priauls are the regular drivers for the full WEC season on this car, and Tincknell has joined them for Le Mans. Last year he was part of the Nissan effort. Andy Priaulx finished 5th overall at Daytona in a Riley-Ford DP, together with Brendan Hartley and Alex Wurz. The team finished in 4th position in the first WEC round in Silverstone and made it to the podium with a fine 2nd place at the WEC round in Spa Francorchamps.

With the new twin turbo V6 car at Ford people hope to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their first win in 1966, with two cars running in the IMSA WeatherTech SCC run by Chip Ganassi Racing with Félix Sabates. Team principle Chip Ganassi raced at Le Mans in 1987 in a Kouros Sauber C9 but retired with gearbox trouble. Local hero Sébastien Bourdais, who was born in Le Mans, is racing again in Indycar this year for KVSH Racing. The team finished 7th in GTLM at Daytona after gearbox and electrical problems and 8th at Sebring after Müller aquaplaned into the barriers requiring extensive repairs. Hand & Müller finished 8th at Long Beach & 6th at Laguna Seca.

Scott Dixon is also racing in Indycar this year for Ganassi Racing. Briscoe and Westbrook finished 9th in at Daytona in the GTLM class after gearbox and electrical problems. The team wrote history when Briscoe and Westbrook drove the car to Victory Lane at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca last month, scoring the very first win fro the new Ford GT. At Le Mans they will be supported by Scott Dixon, the reigning IndyCar champion, who raced the CGR Riley-Ford DP in its final appearance at Daytona and finished 7th in the P class. Despite his long term record as an endurance racing driver (2006 & 2015 Daytona 24 Hours winner) he is a rookie at Le Mans.

Sam Bird joins the team from G-Drive (where he won the P2 drivers title in 2015) replacing Toni Vilander in the WEC, who joins the Risi Competizione Ferrari team in IMSA for this year. Davide Rigon finished 6th in GTLM at Daytona in a Risi Ferrari 488. The #71 was the most successful GTE car in the current WEC season. First Rigon and Bird won in Silverstone and as a consequence of the misfortune of their sister car #51 they also took the class win in Spa Francorchamps.

The reigning FIA WEC GTE Pro team champions will return to the WEC under the Proton Competition banner in 2016. Team co-owner Patrick Dempsey announced on the Dempsey Racing website that he won't return to the racetrack in 2016. Dempsey says: “My motorsports journey has been a rewarding one and allowed me to meet so many interesting people. While the focus so often is the performance of the car, in reality it is all the various personalities, from team mates to competitors to officials to fans that I remember the most. I have loved being part of part of different teams and sharing the experience with so many great friends. I want to thank everyone who made this possible and helped me along the way. I also wanted to especially thank the fans for their support and friendship … At this point in my life, after an amazing season thanks to my friends at Porsche and TAG Heuer, I need to take a step back and focus on both my family and my acting career”. Dempsey Proton Racing will continue, racing a Porsche 911 RSR in the WEC this season, driven by Richard Lietz and Michael Christensen. Philipp Eng will join the team at Le Mans. Dempsey hopes his schedule will permit him to enjoy some race weekends as a team owner.

KCMG transferred from LM P2 to the GTE Am category in the WEC this year. The team were 4th at Silverstone after suspension problems & 4th again at Spa. German driver Christian Ried arrives with the experience of 6 starts at Le Mans, bis best finish being a 21st place in 2014 in a Porsche. He won already 3 WEC GTE Am Races (2012 in Bahrain, São Paulo, Sebring) and scored 2 GTE Am pole positions.

This is one of the brand new Ferrari 488 entries and the driver team with its experience is definitely among the favourites for a class win. Former Formula 1 ace Fisichella together with Toni Vilander has already scored 2 class wins in the GTE Pro category in 2012 and 2014 at Le Mans. This year the team finished 6th in GTLM at Daytona & 4th at Sebring. Fisichella & Vilander finished 3rd at Long Beach & 5th at Laguna Seca.

Platinum driver Emmanuel Collard will be on the grid for the 22nd time at Le Mans. The team won the GTE Am class at Silverstone and finished 2nd at Spa after 2 drive through penalties. Rui Águas raced an AF Corse 458 in the ELMS at Silverstone finishing 7th in GTE.

Frédéric Sausset, a Quadruple amputee after a serious illness in 2012, revives Garage 56 for this year and has been competing regularly with Christophe Tinseau in the V de V series in a CN Ligier JS 53 Evo 2. The team will be backed by Audi Sport (the team was originally going to use an Audi engine), Axa Insurance and Oak Racing in this innovative project devoted to helping people with reduced mobility. The Morgan (adapted from the P2 winning car from 2013) features a throttle and braking system which Sausset can control with his thighs, while steering is achieved by attaching his right limb to the steering wheel, but the car can be driven normally by his co-drivers, Tinseau who is also his coach and Bouvet.

ELMS regulars Gulf Racing UK have stepped up to the WEC this year. They retired at Silverstone after being hit by Hartley’s #1 Porsche & finished 5th at Spa. This is the only car at Le Mans which is racing in the famous blue/orange Gulf livery this year.

The German squad, led by Team Boss Christian Riedt, hopes for a better result than last year, when they had to retire the car after just 44 laps. New behind the wheel are Patrick Long and David Heinemeier Hansson. Long finished 2nd in the GTD class at Daytona in a Black Swan Racing Porsche 991. Heinemeier Hansson is for the 5th time at Le Mans, with a GTE Am class win 2014 under his belt. The team took pole position in GTE Am at Silverstone, where they finished 5th after suspension problems and at Spa they finished 6th after being hit by a P2 car.

Another Porsche entry with an all-American driver squad from the well experienced Proton crew: Cooper McNeil finished 9th in GTD at Daytona & 5th at Sebring in an Alex Job Racing Porsche 911. McNeil & Lee Keen finished 8th at Laguna Seca. Marc Miller comes with the experience of one start at Le Mans, MacNeil and Keen have had 2.

Car:	Porsche 911 RSR (2016)
Engine:	4.0 ltr. flat-6 cyl. aspirated
Tyres:	Michelin
Drivers:	Patrick Pilet (FR), Nick Tandy (UK), Kévin Estre (FR)

The 991 remains little changed from 2015 apart from side plates, a bigger rear wing mounted further back and the new safety features. Due to having a rear engine the rear diffuser is only minimally larger, although the car features a 100mm front splitter. Full season entrants in IMSA for Porsche North America/CORE Autosport, Manthey Racing will return to run the team for Le Mans. Pilet is the reigning IMSA GTLM drivers champion. The team finished 8th in GTLM at Daytona. For driver Nick Tandy, as well as for his colleague Earl Bamber in the sister car #92, this drive is a step down compared to 2015 when they scored an overall win in the LM P1 class. However, since Porsche will not enter a third car in LM P1 this year, it's GT racing again for Bamber and Tandy.

Full season entrants in IMSA for Porsche North America/CORE Autosport @COREautosport. Bamber, Makowiecki and Michael Christensen finished 3rd in GTLM at Daytona & Sebring, Bergmeister raced a Park Place Porsche 911 and finished 18th in GTD but retired at Sebring after driveshaft problems & finished 11th at Laguna Seca. Bamber & Makowiecki retired at Long Beach after Makowiecki hit Milner’s Corvette, and finished 3rd at Laguna Seca.

Aston Martin returns with a reduced two car entry in GTE Pro in the WEC this year, with a new deal with Total Oil replacing Gulf and Paul Howarth becoming Team Principal. The Prodrive-run Vantage has been updated with the new safety features and much larger front and rear diffusers and rear wing, and is likely to be replaced by the new DB11 in 2017/8, featuring a new 4.0 litre V8 bi-turbo. All the new safety features were tested when Nicki Thiim had a heavy accident in the WEC round at Spa!

Jonny Adam is a rookie at Le Mans but won the Sunoco Whelen Challenge in 2015 and raced at Daytona in an Action Express Coyote Chevrolet DP and finished 6th overall. Richie Stanaway finished 4th in GTD at Daytona. The team had mixed results in the current WEC season. The first round in Silverstone ended with an engine failure, this was followed by a fine 2nd place at the second round in Spa-Francorchamps.

Lots of drama for this squad in 2015: they lost an almost sure class win in the GTE Am class at Le Mans, when car owner and Driver Paul Dalla Lana crashed into the barriers at the Ford chicane with just one hour to go to the finish. The team (with Richie Stanaway) finished in 4th Position in the GTD class at Daytona this year. Last year Pedro Lamy set the pole time in GTE Am in 2015 with 3:55.102. The team were 2nd at Silverstone, and set pole and won at the WEC round in Spa.

The British GT3 champions in 2015 will race in the ELMS full time this year, after making their debut in the final round at Estoril in 2015. Andrew Howard is the owner of Beechdean Dairies Ltd and also Chairman of Wycombe Wanderers FC. He will make his debut at Le Mans at the age of 52. The team was supported by Darren Turner in the ELMS round at Silverstone, where they won their class. They then finished 5th at Imola.