The FIA World Endurance Championship recently announced the grid for the upcoming 2023 season that gets underway in Sebring on Friday 17 March. The entry list of 38 cars features no less than 12 current or former European Le Mans Series Driver Champions and 6 Team Champions, including 6 drivers and 2 teams in the 13 strong entry for the top Hypercar category.
Reigning LMGTE Champion Gianmaria Bruni will be racing for Team Champions Proton Competition, the German team entering a Porsche 963 in the Hypercar class.Bruni’s fellow champion and team boss Christian Ried will be racing in the LMGTE Am category in a Porsche 911 RSR-19 for Dempsey Proton.
Proton Competition will also run another 911, with 2016 ELMS LMP2 Champion Harry Tincknell as the first driver named in the #88 Porsche.
2021 ELMS LMP2 Champion Yifei Ye will be stepping up to the Hypercar category, racing a Porsche 963 for British team Hertz Team JOTA, the team that ran the 2016 LMP2 championship winning car under the G-Drive Racing banner.
2019 LMP3 Champion Mikkel Jensen will be back in the Peugeot 9X8 alongside Paul Di Resta and Jean-Eric Vergne. Jensen made ELMS history in 2022 when he became the first driver to win an ELMS race in LMP2, LMP3 and LMGTE after standing on the top step of the LMGTE podium for Kessel Racing at Spa-Francorchamps last September.
Ferrari AF Corse will make their debut in the Hypercar class with a pair of Ferrari 499P. The two cars will feature no less than three former ELMS champions in the six-driver line up. The #50 car will be driven by 2021 LMGTE Champion Miguel Molina and 2019 LMGTE Champion Nicklas Nielsen. The #51 Ferrari will have 2019 ELMS LMGTE Champion, and reigning FIA World GTE Champion, Alessandro Pier Guidi at the wheel.
In LMP2 2020 LMP2 Driver Champions Phil Hanson and Filipe Albuquerque will be back together for another attempt at the FIA WEC crown they won in 2020 with United Autosports. In 2020 Hanson and Albuquerque became the first drivers to win the WEC, ELMS and 24 Hours of Le Mans LMP2 titles in the same season.
Reigning LMP2 Team Champions Prema Racing will be entering two cars in the WEC LMP2 category, with ELMS race winners Juan Manuel Correa and Doriane Pin in the #9 and #63 Orecas respectively.
2021 ELMS LMP2 Pro-Am Champion Rui Andrade will be competing in the FIA WEC LMP2 category, the Portuguese driver racing for 2021 ELMS Team Champions Team WRT.
The WEC LMGTE AM grid will feature three ELMS championship winning teams - AF Corse, Iron Lynx and Proton Competition. As well as Christian Ried and Harry Tincknell, the LMGTE AM grid will also feature 2022 ELMS LMP2 Pro-Am Champion Charlie Eastwood, who will be teaming up with ELMS race winner Ahmed Al Harthy in the #25 ORT by TF Aston Martin Vantage.
The announcement of the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship grid can be found on the official website HERE.
