Sebring 1000M Preview: Part 2, LMP2

Now we’ve covered the 14-car GTE Am category, it’s time to take a look at the 12-car LMP2 field, which like last season, is made up entirely of Gibson-powered, Goodyear-shod, ORECA 07s, as it will be for the first time at Le Mans in June.

The only notable change to this field, in the seventh year of the current LMP2 ruleset, is that the Pro-Am Cup is no more in the WEC after a brief stint with the near certainty that LMP2 is about to start its final season in the WEC (though not at Le Mans where c.15 cars look set to compete via the ELMS, Asian Le Mans Series and IMSA in the future).

With the introduction of GT3 cars to the field and eight of 11 full-season LMP2 entries for this year set to join the Hypercar class in 2024, a two-class future looks inevitable.

The introduction of Hypercar hasn’t impacted the level of quality though, as in truth, this category could well produce the best racing in the field each weekend. If this is indeed the final P2 season in the FIA WEC, then it looks set to go out with a bang.

This field, with seven teams, four of which are bringing two cars for the season, features an abundance of Le Mans and title-winning outfits, with United, WRT, Prema, JOTA and Alpine all signed up.

There is also a large number of drivers either signed up for Hypercar programmes or capable of securing a drive with a standout season. Don’t sleep on this category, it won’t get the airtime it deserves.

Among the 12-car entry for Sebring, there is one car that we know will not complete the season, the #48 HERTZ Team JOTA ORECA. This is because of JOTA’s forthcoming commitment to the Hypercar class. Once it takes delivery of its 963 it will scale back its LMP2 effort to a single car. This is expected to happen at Spa, with Yifei Ye, Will Stevens and Antonio Felix Da Costa chosen by the team for the programme.

For now though, Ye, Stevens and David Beckmann will drive the #48 in Florida, with Da Costa set to take the seat filled by Stevens at Portimao, allowing him to compete on home soil and get track time before the Hypercar hits the track.

The other JOTA ORECA, which is in for the full season, is set to be driven by David Heinemeier Hanson, Pietro Fittipaldi and Oliver Rasmussen. Together, this trio has the potential to stand out, even in this company.

The other teams running a single car for the full season are Vector Sport and Inter Europol. There is a question mark over the Vector entry though, as the UK-flagged team has potential Hypercar commitments with Isotta Fraschini, which it hopes will see it compete in the premier category before the end of this season with the Italian brand’s new car on a race-by-race basis. As a result, it isn’t clear whether or not the LMP2 effort will continue once the Hypercar programme gets underway.

For now, though, Ryan Cullen, Mathias Kaiser and Gabriel Aubry have been named in the car by the team for the first round of its second WEC season.

Inter Europol Competition is also returning in 2023 for a second crack at a world title, with a new combination of drivers. IE regular Kuba Smiechowski returns, joined by Fabio Scherer who was part of the team for the 2022 season opener and Albert Costa who has been a GT3 regular across Europe since 2016, his highlight being a GT Open title in 2019.

The remaining teams have committed two ORECAs apiece for this season.

Formula 2 and Formula 3 mainstay Prema Racing is one of them, and will hope it can find its ELMS title-winning form in the WEC this time out as the team (together with their partners at Iron Lynx) prepare to field Lamborghini’s full-season Hypercar and IMSA Endurance GTP campaigns in 2024 The two drivers that steered the team to the European crown are not present for this effort, though both cars for the WEC feature interesting names.

The headline car is the #63, which combines Doriane Pin with longstanding Lamborghini factory man Mirko Bortolotti and ex-F1 driver Daniil Kvyat. The other car, the #9, is being led by Andrea Caldarelli, who will share with Bent Visceral and Filip Urgan.

United is also hoping to improve its WEC form this year, after an uncharacteristically challenging campaign for Richard Dean and Zak Brown’s team in 2022, which netted only a single win, in the opener at Sebring.

The team will hope its two line-ups, with Frederick Lubin, Phil Hanson and Filipe Albuquerque (#22) and Josh Pierson, Tom Blomqvist and Oliver Jarvis (#23) can deliver another fast start to the season in the Florida sunshine, and use that momentum to mount a serious title challenge. It will not be easy, but if there’s a team in LMP2 that should never be underestimated, it’s this one.

WRT on the other hand, will hope to build on a hugely successful 2022 season, which saw it narrowly miss out on the title; a DNF for the #31 at Le Mans effectively costing the team the World Championship.

Thankfully for Sean Galael and Robin Frijns, they will get another crack at the title this season before WRT moves up to Hypercar in 2024 with BMW. They will be joined by Ferdinand Habsburg.

The sister car features Robert Kubica and Louis Deletraz, who switch teams from Prema, the duo joined by Rui Andrade, hoping the change of scenery will result in a more successful season.

The final team here is Alpine, which rejoins the LMP2 pack after competing in Hypercar for the last two seasons with a grandfathered LMP1 car that is no longer eligible. The French manufacturer means business with its two line-ups, in this stop-gap season before it rejoins the top class with an LMDh of its own in 2024 for a two-car WEC Hypercar effort.

Its #35 sees Andre Negaro, Memo Rojas and Oliver Caldwell team up. On the other side of the garage, Matthieu Vaxiviere, Julien Canal and Charles Milesi will share the #36.

Both crews will have title aspirations as part of this effort, which lest we forget took the fight to Toyota in 2022 and came oh so close to winning the World Championship.