37 Cars for Petit Le Mans

Rain hit last years race

A total of 37 cars are on the entry list for next weekend’s Motul Petit Le Mans, which will close out the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

The number is three higher than the penultimate round at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca with the appearances of Performance Tech Motorsports in Prototype, Risi Competizione in GTLM and Montaplast by Land-Motorsport in GTD.

Fourteen cars are listed in the Prototype class with most entries carrying an additional driver for the 10-hour race.

Timo Bernhard and Norman Nato will step in for their respective debuts with Tequila Patron ESM squad, while Marino Franchitti will partner Jonathan Bomarito and Spencer Pigot in the No. 55 Mazda Team Joest entry.

Franchitti comes in to replace Harry Tincknell, who is unable to make the trip to Road Atlanta because of the clashing FIA World Endurance Championship round at Fuji.

The sister No. 77 Mazda RT24-P DPi, meanwhile, will see 2016-17 Formula E champion Lucas di Grassi partner Oliver Jarvis and Tristan Nunez.

It will mark the former Audi LMP1 star’s first appearance in WeatherTech Championship competition.

Elsewhere, Wayne Taylor Racing only has Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande listed in its Cadillac DPi-V.R after contesting Daytona and Sebring with former IndyCar champion Ryan Hunter-Reay. sportscar365