Australian sportscar ace John Martin will compete in his third Le Mans 24 Hour following a late change to the entry list for the French classic on June 14-15.
The Queenslander will join British racer Oliver Turvey and Frenchman Fabien Groix in the Millennium Racing ORECA Nissan LMP2 after the squad received an invite to join the entry list yesterday.
Millennium Racing’s invite came as a direct result of Lotus’ withdrawal from the event. The German LMP1 team failed to complete the homologation of its AER engineered Lotus T129 in time.
Martin had been set to compete in the World Endurance Championship for Millennium Racing this year but budget constraints forced the team to withdraw from the championship.
Next month’s twice round the clock classic will be the Aussie’s third, with the 29-year-old’s best result coming in 2012 when he finished 13th overall.
The entry has confirmed there will be three Australians on grid with Martin joining Porsche LMp1 driver Mark Webber and GT regular Steven Wyatt.
Meanwhile, Australian-based Brit James Winslow will make his Le Mans 24 Hours debut after agreeing a deal with British LMP2 squad Greaves Motorsport.
The double Australian F3 champion will lead the team’s #41 entry alongside fellow rookies Rudolf Nunemann and Allesandro Latif.
Winslow, who was runner-up in the Asian Le Mans Series last year, says to race in the prestigious endurance race with the Greaves Motorsport LMP2 Nissan squad will rate as one of his career highlights.
“For as long as I could remember I’ve wanted to drive at Le Mans, but the dream was always to be behind the wheel of an open cockpit prototype,” the race winning Asian Le Mans Series LMP2 driver explained. “I have been focused on competing in prototypes for a while.
“I’d come very close to a deal with another team, but when Greaves Motorsport came to me with a great opportunity I really couldn’t say no – the time was right and I’m very pleased to be joining such an experienced operation.”