A Packed Le Mans Includes New Entries from Porsche and Viper

The Automobile Club de l'Ouest recieved 71 applications for 55 spots on the grid for the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans. Among them were brand new entries from PorschePorscheGermany, 1931 > present43 models
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and the SRT ViperSRT ViperUnited States of America, 2013 > present33 photos
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. In the top LMP1 class, Toyota and Audi will go head-to-head again for the overall win. The experimental 56th grid position will be taken by the GreenGT H2 hydrogen-electric hybrid.

LMP1

In the LMP1 class the major entries will be from Toyota and Audi again.

ToyotaToyotaJapan, 1937 > present155 models
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will enter two TS030sToyota TS030 HYBRIDJapan, 2012 > present5 photos
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. The #7 will be driven by Alex Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre and Kazuki Nakajima. The #8 will be driven by Stephane Sarrazin, Anthony Davidson and Sebastien Buemi. Toyota will show the 2013 car on February 19. 

AudiAudiGermany, 1909 > present83 models
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will enter three cars at the Spa 6 Hours and 24 Hours of Le Mans but have two cars in the rest of the World Endurance Championship. One car will be driven by Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer; the second car will be driven by Loic Duval, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish; the third car will be driven by Marc Gene, Lucas di Grassi and Oliver Jarvis.

"Our younger drivers will have the chance to establish themselves alongside the experienced Audi drivers who have really been pleasing us with their top results in all these years. With that, we’re in a very good position in terms of drivers for the Le Mans 24 Hours as well as for the other WEC races," said Audi Motorsport Director Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich.

Audi says that the 2013 R18Audi R18 e-tron quattroGermany, 2012 > present8 photos
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has evolved slightly compared to 2012, but it has not revealed the changes yet. 

The rest of the cars in the class will be made up of two Lola B12/60 CoupeLola B12/60 CoupeUnited Kingdom, 2011 > present2 photos
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-Toyota coupes from Rebellion Racing and a HPD ARX 03Honda HPD ARX 03 Gen.1Japan, 2012 > present2 versions
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c- Honda from Strakka Racing. 

GTE-Pro

Both of the new chassis for this year come from the GTE-Pro class. Porsche is entering two 991-chassis 911Porsche 911 Gen.6 [991 Series]Germany, 2011 > present110 versions
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RSRs. The #92 car will be driven by Marc Lieb, Richard Lietz and Romain Dumas. The #91 will be driven by Joerg Bergmeister, Patrick Pilet and Timo Bernhard. The car will also race in the WEC. 

Porsche has not revealed what the new car will look like yet. 

“We are very much looking forward to returning to Le Mans with a works team from Porsche for the first time since 1998. The new 911 RSR performed well in earlier tests and is already proving extremely reliable on the track. Between them, our six pilots have scored eight class wins in Le Mans and have a great deal of experience with different 911 race cars," said Porsche Head of Motorsport Hartmut Kristen.

The other new cars to Le Mans will be the new SRT Viper GTS-RsSRT Viper GTS-RUnited States of America, 2013 > present7 photos
. They will be driven by Marc Goossens, Tommy Kendall, Kuno Wittmer, Dominik Farnbacher and Jonathan Bomarito. The team has not specified which drivers will pilot which cars yet.