For this weekend’s 25th running of the Motul Petit Le Mans, there are 48 teams that posted entries to the race, but that number is already down to 43. It is equal to last year’s entry.
The biggest team that has already withdrawn is Racing Team Nederland in the LMP2 class.
The team’s Facebook post translates to this: “Following Frits van Eerd’s decision to concentrate fully on his personal situation in the near future, Racing Team Netherlands will not participate in the IMSA race next weekend in Atlanta.
“We understand and respect his decision and guarantee him our support.”
The circumstances behind the withdrawal are somewhat unusual. Team owner/driver Frits van Eerd, was recently arrested and questioned in The Netherlands as part of an investigation into money laundering and VAT (value-added tax) fraud. While van Eerd is not considered to be the main person in this fraudulent operation, he is one of nine people that have been detained. As a result, van Eerd has temporarily stepped down as CEO of JUMBO Supermarkets.
In LMP3, three separate teams have withdrawn. Andrew Wojteczko Autosport (AWA) was originally going to be running three cars, but only had five drivers between those three entries. As a result, the No. 7 entry under the Forty7 Motorsports banner has been withdrawn. Muhelner Motorsports America’s entry has also been withdrawn, along with the FASTMD Racing No. 40. In FASTMD’s case, the team had actually announced a three-driver lineup with Adam Ali, Max Hanratty and Colin Noble last week.
Finally, Crucial Motorsport’s McLaren has been withdrawn from the GTD class. That car had no drivers listed on the original entry list.
The DPi class has seven entries for the final race for this particular class. Action Express Racing’s second car is back with Jimmie Johnson leading the way.
Following Racing Team Nederland’s withdrawal, the LMP2 class is down to six cars. Sebastian Montoya is back for his third race of the year along his father Juan Pablo and Henrik Hedman.
At Era Motorsport, Christian Rasmussen will make his IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship debut race with Ryan Dalziel and Dwight Merriman. Rasmussen comes from Indy Lights, where he drove this season for Andretti Autosport. He finished…
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