Fifteen Road To Le Mans races have been held since 2016 with teams and drivers standing on the top of the most famous podium in motorsport during the weekend of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. There are several teams amongst the 58-car entry for the 2024 Road To Le Mans whose drivers have already tasted the celebratory champagne and will be looking to repeat the experience at this year’s event.
The Swiss team are the most successful Road To Le Mans entrant, with nine podium finishes, including wins in 2020, 2022 and 2023.Last year’s Race 2 winner David Droux is back to try again, this year with his French teammate Adrien Chila, who won a Road To Le Mans race in 2019 with Graff.
Michael Benham and Duncan Tappy won with COOL Racing in 2022, the British pairing being the only drivers to have stood on both the LMP3 and GT3 podiums after they finish second in a Garage 59 run McLaren 650S in 2017. They also won LMP3 in 2018 with Lanan Racing and Benham finished third in LMP3 in 2021 alongside COOL Racing's Malthe Jakobsen at RLR MSport.
For the 2024 Road To Le Mans COOL Racing are entering their two full season entry cars, with James Sweetnam and Adrien Closmenil in the no87 Ligier and championship leaders David Droux and Adrien Chila in the no97 car.
Nielsen Racing have been on the podium four times, with a 50%-win rate after winning in 2021 with Tony Wells and Colin Noble and in 2023 with John Melsom and Matt Bell. Tony Wells and Colin Noble also stood on the third step of the podium in 2019 in race 1 and also in 2022 in race 1.
Colin Noble also added a fourth RTLM podium to his tally in 2023, finishing second in race 1 alongside Audunn Gudmundsson for Team Thor.
Nielsen Racing are entering two cars for the 2024 event, with MLMC season regulars Tony Wells and Wayne Boyd in the no7 Ligier, with an additional race-by-race entry for Anthony McIntosh and Garett Grist.
AF Corse won the very first Road To Le Mans race in 2016 with Victor Shaitar and Aleksey Basov taking victory at the end of the single 55-minute race.
AF Corse also won in 2018, with Marco Cioci and Piergiuseppe Perazzini taking the chequered flag in race 1 that year.AF Corse run Ferraris also won in 2018 (race 2 – Spirit of Race) and in 2019, Luzich Racing winning both races.
AF Corse are running four Ferrari 296 GT3s in this year’s event, with championship leaders Matt Kurzejewski and Alessandro Balzan in the no51 Ferrari and the other MLMC full season entry for Custodio Toledo and Riccardo Agostini in the no88 296. The Italian team are also running two additional race-by-race entries.
Although the Swiss team are relatively new to the Michelin Le Mans Cup and Road To Le Mans, they have certainly made their presence known.Racing Spirit of Leman became the first team to win Michelin Le Mans Cup back-to-back titles in LMP3 and GT3, winning the LMP3 title in 2022 and the GT3 crown in 2023.
In 2022 Racing Spirit of Leman took a 1-2 in the opening Road To Le Mans race, with Alexander Mattschull and Tom Dillmann taking the chequered flag ahead of their teammates Jacques Wolff and Josh Skelton.
Mattschull and Dillmann then scored another podium in race 2, finishing third at the end of the 55-minute encounter.
In 2023 Arnold Robin and Valentin Hasse Clot finished third in GT3 in the opening race.
In 2024 Racing Spirit of Leman will enter two LMP3 and one GT3 cars.The n10 Ligier will be raced by MLMC regulars Christophe Lapierre and Marius Fossard, while the no64 Ligier is a race-by-race entry for Michael Doppelmayr and Pierre Kaffer.
The no95 Aston Martin Vantage will be driven by reigning MLMC champion Valentin Hasse Clot and his American teammate Derek Deboer.
Iron Lynx
The Italian team have scored four RTLM podium finishes, including a win in race 1 in 2021 for current Williams F1 driver Logan Sargeant and his Finnish teammate Rory Penttinen. They were joined on the podium by their Iron Dames teammates Manuela Gostner and Doriane Pin. Sargeant and Penttinen then scored another podium by finishing second in Race 2.
There will be a single entry in the 2024 Road To Le Mans with Celia Martin and Karen Gaillard competing in the no83 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan after finishing second in Le Castellet last time out.
The 2024 Road To Le Mans will be held over two 55-minutes races, the first on Thursday 13 June and the second race returning to the usual Saturday slot ahead of the start of the 92ndedition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
CLICK HERE for the full entry list for the 2024 Road To Le Mans
