There will be more interesting names on the entry list for the FIA World Endurance Championship 2022.
Richard Mille Racing Team has been a female-only team until now, but this will be reduced to a single female for this year. Lilou Wadoux was the first name to be announced in the car, when the entry list was released a couple of weeks ago, but she will be joined by two very successful drivers.
Charles Milesi is the reigning FIA WEC champion in the LMP2 category, where he won the title with WRT. But he has been upgraded to Gold-ranked status in 2022, so he no longer can be a part of the same line-up – but more about that later on.
The final driver of the car will be Sebastien Ogier. The French star has won 8 World Championship titles in the FIA World Rally Championship, but has been flirting with circuit racing in things like Porsche Carrera Cup and Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, and tested the Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 in Bahrain last year.
But it’s not the first time, that a male driver has put on the dark red colours. Gabriel Aubry and Andre Negrao have been guest drivers in the car, when some of the full-season drivers has been on other duties, or in the case of Katherine Legge, sidelined with a broken leg.
Photo: JJ Media
Team WRT has announced their six drivers – including the driver who will replace Milesi. Sean Gelael is the new Silver ranked driver in car #31, and he will be joined by none other than Audi works drivers Robin Frijns and Rene Rast. Frijns is the defending LMP2 champion with the team, while Rast has been dropping in and out of the category during the last few seasons. He was a reserve driver for Audi Sport team Joest during the LMP1 years, and got a single Le Mans for the team, when they entered four cars in 2015.
Rene Rast has been very successful in both Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup and DTM, and was part of the G-Drive Racing team in 2016 in the FIA WEC. He was racing for the G-Drive Racing by APR team during last weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, so his LMP2 knowledge has been refreshed once again.
Both Frijns and Rast are expected to be part of the new LMDh car from Audi Sport, which will race from 2023. But the car manufacturer has been very silent about that until now.
Realteam by WRT #41 is a mix of WRT and Realteam Racing – and it will be a mix of the drivers from the two outfits as well. Ferdinand Habsburg is the defending LMP2 champion with WRT, but will move over from car #31 to #41. He will be joined by Norman Nato, who raced for Realteam Racing in 2021. They will be joined by Rui Andrade, who raced for G-Drive Racing in the ELMS 2021 season. The latter won the LMP2 Pro/Am title with that team as well.
United Autosports USA #23 has announced that Paul Di Resta will replace Alexander Lynn at Sebring. Lynn has a conflict at that specific race, where he will be on Cadillac Racing duties in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – which is run at the very same Sebring International Raceway, but he isn’t allowed to have a dual programme for the Chip Ganassi Racing team. Di Resta is a Peugeot works driver, but they won’t be racing at Sebring, which gives the option to the Scotsman to sub.
With today’s announcements, we have most of the LMP2 field set. There is still an open seat at G-Drive Racing #26, but we already know that it will be a professional driver, since Rene Binder is the Silver ranked driver on the team, while James Allen is the Gold driver in the car.
The latest updated entry list with driver names for the FIA World Endurance Championship can be viewed here.
