Ben Keating will join forces with Risi Competizione for this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, with the Houston-based squad set to field a Ferrari 488 GTE under the Keating Motorsports banner in GTE-Am.

Keating has received one of IMSA’s two auto invites for the French endurance classic, courtesy of winning the Bob Akin award in GT Daytona last year.

The deal unites two of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s Texan entrants and car dealers.

Keating will team up with longtime co-driver Jeroen Bleekemolen in the Ferrari, with the team’s third, Silver-rated driver yet to be confirmed.

It will mark Keating’s fourth Le Mans appearance, following his team’s LMP2 debut last year with a Riley Mk. 30 Gibson.

“It’s a big honor to receive an invitation to Le Mans and I’m very proud of that,” said Keating.

“There’s nothing like racing at Le Mans and to partner with Giuseppe Risi and his Risi Competizione with all their history and success is an exciting combination.

“When we started thinking about how we wanted to go to Le Mans this year, the idea of combining with Risi came up and I thought it was a great match.

“We reached out and spoke to Giuseppe and his guys and they liked the idea as well so here we are.”

The Keating entry will mark the only planned car entered by Risi at Le Mans, following two consecutive appearances in GTE-Pro with a factory-backed entry.

“We have always gone to Le Mans with our own team and cars and have never really done an association like this with someone, but it just seemed like the right combination to enter Le Mans this way this year,” Risi said.

JDC-Miller Motorsports, the other team to have received IMSA’s auto-invite, is still planning its Le Mans program with details on its driver lineup still to be finalized.