Forty-two cars are due to line up for the second round of the 2025 Michelin Le Mans Cup in a two-hour encounter at the Circuit Paul Ricard on Saturday 3rd May.
Seven French teams will run twelve cars in all three classes, with eighteen drivers racing at home in the first of two events held in France. In total there are eighty-six drivers and twenty-eight teams representing twenty-four different nations.
The LMP3 field for Silver and Gold rated drivers will see eighteen entries, with all four chassis manufacturers – Adess, Duqueine, Ginetta and Ligier – represented on the 18 strong grid for the second time.
Swiss team CLX Motorsport got their 20205 season off to a great start with a 1-2 finish in Barcelona last month. The no97 Ligier-Toyota of Swiss driver pairing of reigning LMP3 Champion David Droux and his teammate Cédric Oltramare took the chequered flag ahead of the no87 Ligier of Italian Alvise Rodella and his French teammate Pierre-Alexandre Provost.
The all-French line up of Louis Rousset and Romain Favre finished third in Spain in the no29 Forestier Racing by VPS Ligier-Toyota, the French team also entering a second car for French drivers Luciano Morano and Charles Roussanne.
2024 LMP3 Vice Champions R-ace GP will once again enter a pair of Duqueine D09s for their home race in Le Castellet, with French driver Hadrien David joining his German teammate Hugo Schwarze in the no85 car, while Edgar Pierre will be racing at his home event alongside Sweden’s Joel Granfors in the no86 Duqueine-Toyota.
French teams ANS Motorsport and 23Events Racing will each run a single Ligier JS P325-Toyota in the LMP3 category alongside their single entries in the LMP3 Pro/Am class.
23Events Racing took the first championship point of the season after Mattéo Quintarelli took pole in Spain in the no50 Ligier-Toyota. However, an incident at the start dropped his teammate Léna Bühler down the field. They fought their way back into contention to take fifth at the chequered flag.
French driver Sacha Lehmann finished fourth in Barcelona alongside his British teammate Theo Micouris in the no16 Team Virage Ligier. The final two French drivers on the LMP3 grid are Thomas Imbourg and Arthur Rogeon in the no30 CD Sport Duqueine-Toyota, the duo finishing seventh in Spain last month.
Four-time MLMC Team Champions DKR Engineering will run the sole Ginetta G61-LT-P325-EVO-Toyota for American Wyatt Brichacek and British driver Freddie Tomlinson. Former Champions Nielsen Racing will enter a pair of Adess AD25-Toyotas, the no7 car driven by 2021 MLMC drivers champion Colin Noble and his team Tom Fleming.
Entries by High Class Racing, Reiter Engineering, Bretton Racing and Gebhardt Motorsport complete the 18 car LMP3 grid.
Like CLX Motorsport, Rinaldi Racing also got their 2025 season off to a great start with a 1-2 finish in Barcelona led by the no66 Ligier of Austria’s Steve Parrow and Australian Griffin Peebles, finishing six seconds ahead of the no71 Ligier of their German teammates Stefan Aust and Felipe Fernandez-Laser.
French team ANS Motorsport got the first weekend of the season off to a good start after Julien Lemoine took pole in qualifying, the French driver securing the top spot on the grid by 0.2 seconds. After finishing in eighth place in Spain, Lemoine will join his French teammate Paul Trojani once again in the no84 Ligier-Toyota for their home race.
R-ace GP will run a third Duqueine D09 in the LMP3 Pro/Am class alongside their two LMP3 entries, with an all-French driver line up of Romano Ricci and former ELMS LMGTE champion Fabien Lavergne.
Former MLMC LMP3 Team Champions Racing Spirit of Léman are fielding a single Ligier-Toyota for French drivers Jean-Ludovic Foubert and Antonie Doquin. Tim Merieux will race the no28 23Events Racing Ligier alongside his British teammate Terrence Woodward, while former MLMC champion Gillian Henrion will be in the no98 Motorsport98 Ligier alongside his Belgian teammate Eric De Doncker.
M Racing will enter a single Ligier-Toyota for Germany’s Pierre Kaffer and Austrian Michael Doppelmayr.
Australian team GG Classics scored a podium finish in Barcelona with George Nakas and Fraser Ross standing on the third step of the podium after the 2-hour race.
Entries by P4 Racing, Inter Europol Competition, High Class Racing, Bretton Racing, Reiter Engineering and More Motorsport completes the 16 car LMP3 Pro/Am grid.
The eight car GT3 grid sees Aston Martin, Ferrari, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche all represented.
Swiss team Kessel Racing took a double podium in Barcelona, with the no33 Ferrari 296 GT3 of Turkish driver Murat Ruhi Çuhadaroğlu and his Italian teammate David Cleto Fumanelli taking the win and their teammates Lorenzo Innocenti and Andrea Belicchi finish third in the no17 Ferrari.
The Kessel Ferraris were split by the no11 Code Racing Development Aston Martin Vantage, with Austrian Philipp Sager and American Ryan Van Der Steur securing the second step of the podium for the French team.
The no83 Iron Dames Porsche 911 GT3 R is competing in Le Castellet after the big accident for Marta Garcia Lopez in Barcelona. The Spanish driver will be joining her Belgian teammate Vanina Ickx for Round 2 in France.
The sole Mercedes-AMG GT3 is entered by Austrian outfit Team Motopark with Heiko Neumann securing the first GT3 pole of the season in Barcelona last month.
Former champions Ebimotors will run the second Porsche 911 on the grid for Romanian duo Fabrizio Broggi and Sergiu Nicolae. Biogas Motorsport and reigning MLMC GT3 Team champions AF Corse complete the grid with a single Ferrari 296 GT3 each.
The Le Castellet Round will take place on Saturday 3 May, with Free Practice on Friday and qualifying on Saturday morning. Tickets for Round 2 of the 2025 Michelin Le Mans Cup can be found HERE.
CLICK HERE to see the provisional entry list for Le Castellet.
