Since the first season in 2016 the Michelin Le Mans Cup has provided the perfect platform for drivers and team wishing to progress up the endurance racing career ladder and there have been several notable examples of drivers going on to winning in the ELMS, WEC and even at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
In 2016 British driver Phil Hanson competed in the first three races of the season taking two fifth place finishes. Moving to United Autosports enabled Phil Hanson to win races and titles and in 2020 he, along with his Portuguese teammate Filipe Albuquerque, set the unique record of taking the LMP2 titles in the ELMS, the WEC and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the same season.
Another driver from the 2016 season who went on to win the World Endurance Championship and the 24 Hours of LE Mans was Egidio Perfetti. The Norwegian driver took the LMGTE AM titles with Jorg Bergmeister and Patrick Lindsey at the end of the 2018/19 WEC Super Season.
The following season Salih Yoluc, who with Euan Hankey secured the 2016 MLMC Team title for TF Sport and also finished the season as the Drivers’ Vice Champions, won the LMGTE AM Class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2020 with Jonny Adam and Charlie Eastwood and were leading the WEC title race with one race to go in Bahrain. Unfortunately, an 8th place finish at the end of the 8-hour race in the desert saw the team finish second in the championship behind Francois Perrodo, Emmanuel Collard and Nicklas Nielsen.
Francesco Castellacci and Thomas Flohr also competed in the 2016 season before moving up to the WEC the following year, scoring an LMGTE AM race victory at the 6 Hours of Fuji in Japan alongside Miguel Molina and finishing second in class at the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans with Giancarlo Fisichella.
2019 and 2020 LMP3 Champion Laurents Hörr has also used the experienced gained in the MLMC to further his career, lifting the 2021 European Le Mans Series LMP3 title and also taking part in some WEC races in the LMGTE AM class with Team Project, finishing on the podium at COTA on his debut in 2020.
These are plenty of other drivers who have competed in the Michelin Le Mans Cup and gone onto take race wins and titles in the higher categories.In 2021 we saw many young drivers take to the track and impress and it will be interesting to see where they end up in the next couple of years.
