Hot on the heels of a breakthrough first win in LMP2 at the penultimate round of the 2017 European Le Mans Series, Graff Racing have confirmed to DSC’s Mat Fernandez that they intend to return for a repeat attack on the ELMS next season.

Team Manager Pascal Rauturier: “We have considered the WEC for 2018 but we dropped that plan. In the end, we should be back in the ELMS with two Oreca 07s and I intend to enter both cars at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

“We should also be back in the Michelin Le Mans Cup with two cars, most likely Ligiers.

“I am also working on a potential LMP2 entry at the 24 Hours of Daytona. It’s an expensive project, especially for a European team. So in the end, I think we will only do it if we can get support for a local American team. We will take that decision during the second half of October”.

The win for the #40 Oreca with Richard Bradley, Gustavo Yacaman and James Allen ticked the final box for GRAFF towards the end of their first season in the class, a year during which both cars have shown real speed, but where there were character forming moments as the team suffered more than their fair share of new car niggles.

The season finale at Portimao meanwhile will see another change in line-up for the team’s #39 car as Jonathan Hirschi is replaced by Mexican driver Ricardo Sanchez , winner of the 2014 Nissan GT Academy and a former Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 driver in the Blancpain Endurance Series.