Following yesterday’s Le Mans 24 Hours entry list news, the ACO has lifted the covers on the 2019 European Le Mans Series entry list, which features a max grid size of 41 cars across the three classes.

The big headline here is the hugely-impressive 18-car LMP2 grid, the series again featuring three of the four LMP2 chassis, with 11 ORECAs, six Ligiers and a single Dallara.

Michelin has made great strides in the off-season, with 11 of the 18 currently nominating the French tyre manufacturer.

There are five new teams to the class this year, four of which step up from LMP3 (Inter Europol, Cool Racing, RLR MSport & BHK Motorsport) with, as trailed on DSC the addition of LMP2 and sportscar racing newcomer Carlin.

Missing from the list this season is the second-placed team from 2018, and Paul Ricard race winner Racing Engineering, believed to be set for a GT3 programme in 2019. As expected, neither the AVF nor SMP Racing Dallara efforts have returned either, the ex-SMP chassis understood by DSC to be the car that Carlin is running this year.

Also unsurprising is Panis Barthez has doubled its effort to two cars, whilst after a troubled 2018, GRAFF fields just a single LMP2 car this time.

The news in LMP3, is that the class has been squeezed, with increased numbers in LMP2 and GTE, to cater to the full 41-car maximum grid size. More than half the total composed of four two-car teams, with 360 Racing and Nielsen Racing both doubling up this year. M Racing though, and Eurointernational is down to one car apiece.

Realteam Racing is a new name to the grid, though the car will be operated by regular GRAFF. Previous champions United Autosports and RLR MSport both return meanwhile, both with Ligiers.

Norma hasn’t made any further in-roads for 2019, just four of the 14 cars are M30s.

From the 2018 full season entry Cool Racing step up to LMP2 and forego their LMP3 effort in ELMS, BySpeed factory appears to have had their entry refused for ELMS and DKR Engineering, as expected, stepping back to Michelin Le Mans Cup.

There is no sign either of the Villorba Corse Ligier effort, just recently announced, will that be seen in the Michelin Le Mans Cup instead?

In GTE, there’s nine cars, up from last year, with the addition of GT Open regular Luzich Racing, WEC team (leading GTE Am championship) Project 1 and two Kessel Ferraris as revealed by DSC late last year.

Driver wise, Jeff Seagal is a notable name for JMW, as well as long-term factory driver Richard Lietz in the #77 Dempsey Proton branded car. For Kessel, one car features Le Mans Cup winner Claudio Schiavoni, the other car will be an all-female squad.

Below is the full list.

LMP2 – 18

#20 – High Class Racing – ORECA 07 – Dunlop – Anders Fjordbach

#21 – DragonSpeed – ORECA 07 – Michelin – Henrik Hedman

#22 – United Autosports – Ligier JS P217 – Michelin – Phil Hanson

#23 – Panis Barthez – Ligier JS P217 – Michelin – Rene Binder

#24 – Panis Barthez – Ligier JS P217 – Michelin – Timothe Buret

#25 – Algarve Pro – ORECA 07 – Dunlop – Mark Patterson

#26 – G-Drive Racing – ORECA 07 – No tyre specified – Roman Rusinov

#27 – IDEC Sport – Ligier JS P217 – Michelin – Patrice Lafargue

#28 – IDEC Sport – ORECA 07 – Michelin – Paul Lafargue

#29 – Duquiene Engineering – ORECA 07 – Michelin – Nicolas Jamin

#31 – Algarve Pro – ORECA 07 – Dunlop – Henning Enqvist

#32 – United Autosports – Ligier JS P217 – Michelin – Ryan Cullen

#34 – Inter Europol – Ligier JS P217 – Michelin – Jakub Smiechowski

#35 – BHK Motorsport – ORECA 07 – Michelin – Francesco Draconi

#37 – Cool Racing – ORECA 07 – Michelin – Alexandre Coigny

#39 – GRAFF – ORECA 07 – Dunlop – Tristan Gommendy

#43 – RLR MSport – ORECA 07 – Dunlop – John Farano

#45 – Carlin – Dallara P217 – Dunlop – Jack Manchester

LMP3 – 14

#2 – United Autosports – Ligier JS P3 – Mike Gausch

#3 – United Autosports – Ligier JS P3 – Garrett Grist

#5 – 360 Racing – Ligier JS P3 – James Dayson

#6 – 360 Racing – Ligier JS P3 – Terrence Woodward

#7 – Nielsen Racing – Ligier JS P3 – Tony Wells

#8 – Nielsen Racing – Ligier JS P3 – Nobuya Yamanaka

#9 – RealTeam Racing – Norma M30 – Esteban Garcia

#10 – Oregon Team – Norma M30 – Damiano Fioravanti

#11 – Eurointernational – Ligier JS P3 – Andrea Dromendari

#13 – Inter Europol – Ligier JS P3 – Martin Hippe

#14 – Inter Europol – Ligier JS P3 – Paul Scheuschner

#15 – RLR MSport – Ligier JS P3 – Martin Vedel Mortensen

#17 – Ultimate – Norma M30 – Mathieu Lahaye

#19 – M Racing – Norma M30 – Laurent Milara

GTE – 9

#51 – Luzich Racing – Ferrari 488 GTE – TBA

#55 – Spirit of Race – Ferrari 488 GTE – Duncan Cameron

#56 – Project 1 – Porsche 911 RSR – Dunlop – Egidio Perfetti

#60 – Kessel Racing – Ferrari 488 GTE – Claudio Schiavoni

#66 – JMW Motorsport – Ferrari 488 GTE – Jeff Seagal

#77 – Dempsey Proton Racing – Porsche 911 RSR – Richard Lietz

#80 – Ebimotors – Porsche 911 RSR – Fabio Babini

#83 – Kessel Racing – Ferrari 488 GTE – Manuela Gostner

#88 – Proton Competition – Porsche 911 RSR – Matteo Carioli

Total 41

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