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Press Release:




CORVETTE RACING AT LE MANS: Two Corvettes Confirmed for June Race

Team enters as defending GTE Pro champion, reigning Rolex 24 winner



· Eight class victories at Le Mans since 2001

· Gavin, Milner, Jordan Taylor won in class last year

· Garcia, Magnussen joined by Corvette Racing newcomer Ricky Taylor



DETROIT (Feb. 5, 2016) – On the heels of a historic 1-2 class finish in the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Corvette Racing learned today that its two Chevrolet Corvette C7.Rs have been invited to this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. It is the 17th consecutive season that two entries for Corvette Racing are part of the entry list for one of the world’s greatest motorsports events.



As was the case a year ago, Corvette Racing will field the No. 63 and No. 64 Chevrolet Corvette C7.Rs in the 14-car GTE Pro class. In it, the team will face a number of the same competitors as in the IMSA WeatherTech Championship as well as entries from the FIA World Endurance Championship. The full grid for Le Mans will be made up of 60 cars.



"Being invited to Le Mans always is a special honor for everyone at Chevrolet and Corvette Racing, and we are fortunate to return as the GTE Pro winner,” said Mark Kent, Director, Chevrolet Motorsports Competition. “Le Mans is where the best manufacturers compete in endurance racing's toughest test - a place we have won eight times. The Corvette Racing team has a long history of success in long-distance events, evidenced by victories like our win this year at the Rolex 24."



Corvette Racing has won eight times at Le Mans including a storybook victory last year for Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Jordan Taylor. They are back together for a second straight season; Gavin and Milner lead the IMSA GT Le Mans (GTLM) standings after their win at Daytona with Marcel Fässler.



There will be new trio in the No. 63 Corvette C7.R. Full-season teammates Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen – second at Daytona with Mike Rockenfeller – will drive with Ricky Taylor.



The two Corvettes will take to the 8.5-mile Circuit de la Sarthe for the first time this year on June 5 as part of the annual Le Mans Test Day. The 24 Hours of Le Mans is scheduled for June 18-19.



The next event for Corvette Racing is the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh from Florida on March 16-19 from Sebring International Raceway, where Corvette Racing also is the defending GTLM winner.

jcsperson

There is also a Larbre Competition C7.R and a Team AAI C6 ZR1 in GTE Am.

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The full Entry list for Le Mans

The 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans, which features an increased field of 60 cars, will feature 9 LMP1, 22 LMP2, 14 GTE-Pro and 14 GTE-Am entries plus the Garage 56 car.

With a full 10-car reserve list and other teams reportedly having made entry requests, the interest was much higher than the availability on the grid, even with four extra grid spaces.

The LMP1 field, of course, takes a hit by five cars from 2015 to 2016. There are no extra entries beyond the 9 full-season FIA World Endurance Championship cars, with the three Nissan GT-R LM NISMOs and respective third Audi and Porsche cars all withdrawn this year.

Meanwhile LMP2 will feature the biggest class car count of all, with 22 entries in the last year before the new 2017 LMP2 regulations come online and limit to four chassis and the spec engine.

That list includes the 10 full-season WEC cars, plus a further 12 more from the European Le Mans Series or IMSA, including the Le Mans debut of Michael Shank Racing.

GTE-Pro also has a significantly bigger Le Mans car count than the full-season, with a doubling to 14 cars here compared to 7 in the WEC, thanks primarily to the influx of extra cars from American-based teams.

The two more Ford GTs, two Corvette C7.Rs, two works Porsche 911 RSRs and Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE add seven more cars.

GTE-Am also sees an increased grid, including a variety of Ferraris and a host of Asian entries.

The reserve list includes 10 cars, including American teams Riley Motorsports and DragonSpeed, which are only seventh and eighth, respectively.

LMP1 (9 Entries)
1 – Porsche Team – Porsche 919 Hybrid – Timo Bernhard*
2 – Porsche Team – Porsche 919 Hybrid – Romain Dumas*
4 – Team ByKolles – CLM P1/01 AER – Simon Trummer*
5 – Toyota Gazoo Racing – Toyota TS050 Hybrid – Anthony Davidson*
6 – Toyota Gazoo Racing – Toyota TS050 Hybrid – Stephane Sarrazin*
7 – Audi Sport Team Joest – Audi R18 – Marcel Fassler*
8 – Audi Sport Team Joest – Audi R18 – Lucas di Grassi*
12 – Rebellion Racing – Rebellion R-One AER – Nico Prost*
13 – Rebellion Racing – Rebellion R-One AER – Matheo Tuscher*

LMP2 (22 Entries)
22 – SO24 by Lombard Racing – Ligier JS P2 Judd – Vincent Capillaire
23 – Panis-Barthez Competition – Ligier JS P2 Nissan – Fabien Barthez
26 – G-Drive Racing – Oreca 05 Nissan – Roman Rusinov*
27 – SMP Racing – BR Engineering BR01 Nissan – Nicolas Minassian*
28 – Pegasus Racing – Morgan Nissan – Julien Schell
30 – Extreme Speed Motorsports – Ligier JS P2 Nissan –
Scott Sharp*
31 – Extreme Speed Motorsports – Ligier JS P2 Nissan – Ryan Dalziel*
33 – Eurasia Motorsport – Oreca 05 Nissan – Pu Jun Jin
34 – Race Peformance – Oreca 03R Judd – Nicolas Leutwiler
35 – 
Baxi DC Racing Alpine –
 Alpine A460 Nissan – 
David Cheng*
36 – Signatech-Alpine – Alpine A460 Nissan – Gustavo Menezes*
37 – SMP Racing – BR Engineering BR01 Nissan – Vitaly Petrov*
38 – G-Drive Racing – Gibson 015S Nissan – Simon Dolan
40 – Krohn Racing – Ligier JS P2 Nissan – Tracy Krohn
41 – Greaves Motorsport – Ligier JS P2 Nissan – Memo Rojas
42 – Strakka Racing – Gibson 015S Nissan – Nick Leventis*
43 – RGR Sport by Morand – Ligier JS P2 Nissan – Ricardo Gonzalez*
44 –
 Manor – Oreca 05 Nissan – Tor Graves*
46 – Thiriet by TDS Racing – Oreca 05 Nissan – Pierre Thiriet
47 – KCMG – Oreca 05 Nissan – Tsugio Matsuda
48 – Murphy Prototypes – Oreca 03R Nissan – Greg Murphy
49 – Michael Shank Racing – Ligier JS P2 Honda – John Pew

GTE-Pro (14 Entries)

51 – AF Corse – Ferrari 488 GTE – Gianmaria Bruni*
63 – Corvette Racing – GM – Corvette C7.R – Jan Magnussen
64 – Corvette Racing – GM – Corvette C7.R – Oliver Gavin
66 – Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Team UK – Ford GT – Marino Franchitti*
67 – Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Team UK – Ford GT – Olivier Pla*
68 – Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Team USA – Ford GT – Joey Hand
69 – Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Team USA – Ford GT – Ryan Briscoe
71 – AF Corse – Ferrari 488 GTE – Davide Rigon*
77 – Dempsey Proton Racing – Porsche 911 RSR – Richard Lietz*
82 – Risi Competizione – Ferrari 488 GTE – Giancarlo Fisichella
91 – Porsche Motorsport – Porsche 911 RSR – Patrick Pilet
92 – Porsche Motorsport – Porsche 911 RSR – Frederic Makowiecki
95 – Aston Martin Racing – Aston Martin Vantage – Nicki Thiim*
97 – Aston Martin Racing – Aston Martin Vantage – Richie Stanaway*

GTE-Am (14 Entries)
50 – Larbre Competition – Corvette C7.R – Yutaka Yamagishi*
55 – AF Corse – Ferrari F458 Italia – Duncan Cameron
57 – Team AAI – Corvette C6.R – Jun-San Chen
58 – Clearwater Racing – Ferrari F458 Italia – Mok Weng Sun
59 – TDS Racing – Aston Martin Vantage – Eric Dermont
60 – Formula Racing – Ferrari F458 Italia – Johnny Laursen
62 – Scuderia Corsa – Ferrari F458 Italia – William Sweedler
78 – KCMG – Porsche 911 RSR – Christian Ried*
83 – AF Corse – Ferrari F458 Italia – Francois Perrodo*
86 – Gulf Racing UK – Porsche 911 RSR – Michael Wainwright*
88 – Abu Dhabi Proton Racing – Porsche 911 RSR – Khaled Al Qubaisi*
89 – Proton Competition – Porsche 911 RSR – Gianluca Roda
98 – Aston Martin Racing – Aston Martin Vantage – Paul Dalla Lana*
99 – Aston Martin Racing – Aston Martin Vantage – Andrew Howard

*Denotes full-season FIA World Endurance Championship entrant

Garage 56
84 – STR41 by OAK Racing – Morgan Nissan – Frederic Sausset

Reserve Entries (10 Entries)
45 – Greaves Motorsport – Gibson 015S Nissan – Alex Brundle
25 – Algarve Pro Racing – Ligier JS P2 Nissan – Michael Munemann
76 – JMW Motorsport – Ferrari F458 Italia – Robert Smith
32 – Courage – BR01 Nissan – Andreas Wirth
29 – Pegasus Racing – Morgan Nissan – Ines Taittinger
24 – OAK Racing – Ligier JS P2 Judd – Jacques Nicolet
53 – Riley Motorsports – SRT Viper GTS-R – Ben Keating
21 – DragonSpeed – Oreca 05 Nissan – Henrik Hedman
87 – Proton Competition – Porsche 911 RSR – Marco Seefried
56 – Team AAI – Corvette C6.R – Han-Chen Chen

http://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/2...list-revealed/