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G-Drive returns to the WEC in LMP2 class at Spa with ELMS line-up

Formula E frontrunner Jean-Eric Vergne and the G-Drive team will make an early return to the World Endurance Championship at next month's Spa round.

The Russian entrant will field its ORECA-Gibson 07 LMP2 car in the penultimate round of the WEC on May 5 as a warm-up for the Le Mans 24 Hours, from which it was disqualified last year after claiming class victory.

The team's regular European Le Mans Series line-up of Vergne, Roman Rusinov and Job van Uitert - who is graduating to P2 after winning the LMP3 class last year - will drive the car run by the French TDS Racing squad.

G-Drive, which stepped down from a full-season WEC campaign to the ELMS last year, also raced in the Spa 6 Hours in 2018, winning the class.

It is the only additional car on the entry for Spa published today (Wednesday), although the ByKolles privateer LMP1 squad returns to the series after missing last weekend's Sebring 1000 Miles.

It skipped the US round of the series after splitting with engine supplier Nissan and modifying its ENSO CLM P1/01 to take the Gibson normally-aspirated V8.

Tom Dillmann is the only confirmed driver for the ByKolles entry so far.

All the GTE Pro factory teams have nominated two drivers for each of their cars so far, unlike last year when Ford and Aston Martin ran three to prepare for Le Mans.

James Allen will make his third appearance of the 2018/19 season for DragonSpeed, replacing Renger van der Zande, who is on IMSA SportsCar Championship duty at Mid-Ohio for Wayne Taylor Racing.

The Australian partners team regulars Ben Hanley and Henrik Hedman.

Loic Duval is another driver skipping the race owing to the clash between the Spa WEC race at the Hockenheim DTM opener, and will be replaced at the TDS Racing LMP2 squad by Norman Nato.

Ex-Formula 2 racer Nato is no stranger to LMP2, having competed in ELMS with the Racing Engineering team last year.

Zdroj: autosport.com