The European Le Mans Series will start in 2022 with 42 cars – Sophia Flörsch and Juan Manuel Correa will compete – Six Germans already named
The European Le Mans Series (ELMS) enters the 2022 season with a huge field. With 42 cars, the capacity limit has been reached; there is one more car than in the previous season. The entries are spread relatively evenly across the three classes: 17 LMP2, twelve LMP3 and 13 GTE.
The list includes well-known names from the endurance scene such as returnee Thomas Laurent, who will start for Team Mühlner Motorsport in their LMP2 debut, Phil Hanson (United Autosports), Patrick Pilet (Idec), Job van Uitert (Panis) Jack Aitken (TF Sport), Nicolas Lapierre (Cool Racing) or the GTE-Am WEC champions Francois Perrodo, Nicklas Nielsen and Alessio Rovera (AF Corse).
From a German perspective, the best-known name is Sophia Flörsch. After a season with Signatech in the World Endurance Championship, she moves to Algarve Pro Racing in the ELMS. She will be teammates with none other than LMP2 endurance racer Roman Russinow, who will bring his usual G-Drive banner.
Two other names who have achieved notoriety with serious accidents in formula cars feature on the list: Juan Manuel Correa, involved in the Antoine Hubert tragedy at the 2019 Spa-Francorchamps Formula 2 race, moves from monoposti to Le Mans prototypes and docks with Prema. Alex Peroni, who flew high through the air in a Formula 3 race at Monza just a week later, also docks with G-Drive/APR.
Less pleasing from a German perspective: LMP3 champion Laurents Hörr is not on the start list. The 24-year-old has been upgraded to the “Gold” driver category and can therefore no longer compete in LMP3. According to information from , a full-time LMP2 commitment did not materialise. He is to start in LMP2 in individual races.
The ADAC-sponsored Niklas Krütten, on the other hand, makes the leap into the ELMS top category. The LMP3 runner-up will start alongside Nicolas Lapierre and Porsche Asia junior Yifei Ye. “Working with Cool Racing in 2021 was incredibly positive, professional and successful,” says the 19-year-old from Trier. He will also make his debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Top teams move cars to WEC, new teams move up
With that, he sits in a line-up that is in line for big performances. It is also helped by the fact that some top teams have thinned out their commitments in favour of the WEC. Defending champions WRT and Dragonspeed are no longer competing at all, while United Autosports is downsizing to one car. The cars will be entered in the WEC and IMSA respectively.
In exchange, there are plenty of LMP2 debutants, which increase the number of cars in the top category by one. In addition to Mühlner, these are Le Mans Cup champions Nielsen Racing and Team Virage. Seven cars start in the Pro-Am sub-category. It is noticeable that the G-Drive cars are no longer declared as Aurus. All the cars are Oreca 07s.
Due to the promotions, the LMP3 has suffered a little and comes to twelve instead of 16 cars. There is a preponderance of eleven Ligier JS P320s. Only one team – defending champion DKR – is fielding the equivalent Duqueine M30-D08.
The GTE class has grown by three cars to 13. Eight Ferrari 488 GTE Evo meet three Porsche 911 RSR-19 and two Aston Martin Vantage GTE. Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz are two fully-fledged Porsche works drivers. Lietz is the team-mate of actor Michael Fassbender.
Like the WEC, the ELMS will be using synthetic fuel from TotalEnergies this year, which will reduce the O2 emissions of the racing cars by at least 65 per cent in one go. The ELMS 2022 kicks off on 17 April with the 4 Hours of Le Castellet.
