There is still more than three months until the start of the FIA WEC season, but the TDS Racing team have their driver line-up ready for the 2018/19 season, pending the accept of their entry.
Francois Perrodo and Matthieu Vaxiviere continue to drive together in the ORECA 07 Gibson #28, while they will have a new third driver in the car.
Emmanuel Collard will no longer be behind the wheel, but will be replaced by his countryman, and former Le Mans winner, Loic Duval.
Duval has run Le Mans in both an Peugeot and an Audi, but has primarily been running in the DTM for Audi Sport during the 2017 season. He was running in the Formula E for the Dragon Racing team in the 2016/17 season, and had one LMP2 start in the FIA WEC in Bahrain for the G-Drive Racing #26, which was run by the TDS Racing team. He furthermore raced in the Daytona 24 Hours in 2017, which he will do again in 2018.
Audi Sport hasn’t announced their 2018 DTM driver line-up, but if Duval will be driving in both the FIA WEC and the DTM next year, he will have to make a choice already at the opening rounds at Spa Francorchamps and Hockenheim respectively, since they are being run on the same weekend. So future will tell where Duval will be on 5 May.
Perrodo and Collard have been driving together since 2013, where they first raced for Prospeed Competition in a Porsche GTE-Am car, followed by two seasons for AF Corse in a Ferrari F458 Italia GT2. They took the jump up to LMP2 for the 2017 season, in the collaboration where Collard has been driver coach for Perrodo.
TDS Racing has been in ACO series since 2011, starting in the European Le Mans Series. They took the jump up to the FIA WEC for 2017, starting with a third place at Silverstone, but sadly ending the season on a descending tendency. But with new blood in the team, the podiums should hopefully be within reach once again.
The FIA World Endurance Championship entries for the 2018/19 season will be announced on 9 February.