An all-female LMP2 crew could race at this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours, Richard Mille Racing revealing that it has requested an entry for its new-for-2020 ELMS-bound ORECA.

Richard Mille Racing is set to compete in the European Le Mans Series season this year with an all-female driver crew, confirmed today in the wake of the ELMS full-season entry list announcement.

The team’s three drivers were chosen following a rigorous selection process conducted with drivers supported by the Women in Motorsport Commission late last year.

Columbian Alfa Romeo Sauber test driver Tatiana Calderon and Formula 3 racer Sophia Floersch (who claimed worldwide fame following her recovery from a devastating crash in the 2018 Macau Grand Prix) will join IMSA regular Katherine Legge for the season with the team.

“For the last 10 years of so, we have worked hard to promote women in our sport, trying to open the door so women can have an equal opportunity to show they have the talent to compete at the highest levels,” said Michele Mouton, who heads up the FIA commission for Women in Motorsport.

The Richard Mille Michelin-shod ORECA will be run by Signatech, the French outfit which operates the Alpine FIA WEC team. As part of the announcement today, the team also confirmed that it has committed to two seasons of racing, with the intention of competing in 2021 as well.

This isn’t the first time a team has attempted to enter a all-female crew in LMP2 at Le Mans: IMSA team Michael Shank Racing filed for an entry into last year’s race as part of its collaboration with Heinricher Racing, but wasn’t granted an invite by the selection committee.

40 cars feature on the European Le Mans Series entry for this year, 18 cars listed in LMP2, 13 in LMP3 and nine in GTE. The ELMS GTE class will again feature an all-female crew, too, though with the new Italian team Iron Lynx rather than Kessel Racing as in 2019.

As per the new Le Mans entry invite system, which sees the number of ELMS invites increase and decrease depending on the size of each class, six invites will be handed out this year — three in LMP2, one in LMP3, two in GTE — up from five in 2019.