The 89th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans will have a total of three Spanish drivers on the grid, one more than last year. The addition of Roberto Merhi to the G-Drive Racing Team Aurus # 25 lineup it allows Spanish motorsport to aspire to victory in two of the four categories of the WEC queen event. While the pilot from Castellón will fight for honors in LMP2, Miguel Molina and Antonio García will fight to score the victory in LMGTE-Pro. The first will do so defending the interests of Ferrari, while the second will do so with one of the Corvette C8.Rs of the American brand.
Roberto Merhi is facing his third participation in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Castellón made his debut in the French endurance classic in 2016 with the Manor team at the wheel of an Oreca 05-Nissan. Without success, the Spanish rider had to wait until 2020 to get back on the Le Mans grid. In this case it was with Eurasia Motorsports, almost as an instructor driver for the Japanese Nobuya Yamanaka. Now a year later Merhi is part of a project with options to fight for important things when competing with the Aurus # 25 of the G-Drive Racing team.
Following the movements that have occurred within the Russian team at the driver level, Roberto Mehri has been framed in the Aurus # 25, along with John Falb and Rui Andrade. Although the theory says that the team’s strong LMP2 is number # 26, due to the presence of Roman Rusinov -head of the structure- along with Nyck de Vries and Franco Colapinto, the reality is that the Spanish rider has shown a high level in the tests prior to Le Mans. However, the high level in the silver category makes it really difficult to be among the best in a meeting as demanding as the queen of the WEC.
Miguel Molina competes with the Ferrari # 52 of AF Corse in the LMGTE-Pro category, as an official Ferrari driver. The Spaniard will share a vehicle with Daniel Serra, his regular partner in the WEC, and with Sam Bird. Although Davide Rigon was scheduled to be the Spanish GTE’s third driver, his accident at the 24 Hours of Spa forced him to miss Le Mans through injury. For Molina it will be his fifth participation in Le Mans, all in the official Ferrari project in the LMGTE-Pro category. With everything, It will be the first time that Miguel competes as a starting pilot and not as the ‘reinforcement’ -third pilot- of the GTE in which he participates.
Finally, Antonio García returns to Le Mans with the # 63 Corvette. The absence of the brand in the 2020 edition due to the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the Corvette C8.R from being seen in action at La Sarthe. A year later, García captains the first of the two cars of the firm, the GTE in which Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg will also compete. For Garcia it will be his fifteenth appearance at Le Mans, thirteenth within Corvette Racing. During his long relationship with the American firm, Garcia has achieved three class victories (2008, 2009 and 2011) and a total of five podiums within the LMGTE-Pro category.