WEC reveals 28-car entry list for 2017

The list was unveiled during the annual ACO press conference held in Le Mans, along with the entry lists for the Le Mans 24 Hours and European Le Mans Series.

As expected, the LMP1 division consists of just five cars for the full-season following Audi's withdrawal from the championship and Rebellion Racing's move down to LMP2.

Two Porsche 919 Hybrids, two Toyota TS050 Hybrids and a sole ByKolles CLM - to be driven by Robert Kubica - make up the class entry, with a third car from Toyota joining for Spa and Le Mans only.

The new-look LMP2 class remains stable at 10 cars, all of them Oreca 07s - albeit with two rebadged as Alpine A470s by defending class champion Signatech Alpine.

As well as previously-confirmed efforts from Rebellion, TDS Racing and DC Racing (now in partnership with Jota Sport), Manor's return is confirmed with a two-car entry, entered under the 'CEFC Manor TRS Racing' banner in deference to new sponsor CEFC China Energy.

Tor Graves and Roberto Gonzalez are the team's nominated drivers, while the entry list also confirms Stephane Richelmi's return at Signatech, albeit no longer alongside fellow reigning champions Nicolas Lapierre and Gustavo Menezes.

Bruni in doubt at Ferrari

The GTE Pro entry is up by one to eight for 2017, thanks to the return of Porsche with a full two-car works entry alongside rivals Ferrari, Ford and Aston Martin.

Richard Lietz and Michael Christensen, who were teammates in the semi-works Dempsey-Proton entry last year, are split apart as the nominated drivers for cars 91 and 92 respectively.

Frederic Makowiecki has already been confirmed as a Porsche WEC driver, although it remains unclear who he will partner, while the identity of the fourth driver has also yet to be confirmed.

This is partly down to Gianmaria Bruni, who is believed to be locked in a legal battle with Ferrari to escape his commitments with the Italian marque in order to join the Porsche camp.

Bruni's name is notably absent from the provisional entry list, with 2016 teammate James Calado the nominated entry in the #51 car, and it remains possible the ex-Minardi F1 driver may be forced to sit out the season entirely.

Elsewhere, Pipo Derani joins Ford as the third driver for the #67 car at Silverstone, Spa and Le Mans, with Billy Johnson reprising a similar role in the sister #66 machine.

The GTE Am entry is down by one to six cars, with Larbre Competition and KCMG exiting the series and Proton Competition scaling back to a single Porsche 911 RSR.

Bolstering the entry are two Ferrari 488 GTEs from Spirit of Race and Clearwater Racing, which join returnees Aston Martin, Gulf Racing and the remaining Proton Porsche.

Entry list:

N°	Team	Car	Confirmed drivers
LMP1 - 5 cars
1	Porsche Team	Porsche 919 Hybrid	Neel Jani  Andre Lotterer  Nick Tandy
2	Porsche Team	Porsche 919 Hybrid	Brendon Hartley  Timo Bernhard  Earl Bamber
4	ByKolles Racing Team	CLM P1/01-Nissan	Robert Kubica  Oliver Webb TBA
7	Toyota Racing	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	Mike Conway  Kamui Kobayashi  Jose Maria Lopez
8	Toyota Racing	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	Anthony Davidson  Sebastien Buemi  Kazuki Nakajima
LMP2 - 10 cars
13	Vaillante Rebellion	Oreca 07-Gibson	Nelson Piquet  Mathias Beche  David Heinemeier Hansson
24	CEFC Manor TRS Racing	Oreca 07-Gibson	Tor Graves TBA TBA
25	CEFC Manor TRS Racing	Oreca 07-Gibson	Roberto Gonzalez TBA TBA
26	G-Drive Racing	Oreca 07-Gibson	Roman Rusinov  Pierre Thiriet TBA
28	TDS Racing	Oreca 07-Gibson	Emmanuel Collard  Francois Perrodo  Matthieu Vaxiviere
31	Vaillante Rebellion	Oreca 07-Gibson	Nicolas Prost  Bruno Senna  Julien Canal
35	Signatech Alpine	Alpine A470-Gibson	Stephane Richelmi TBA TBA
36	Signatech Alpine	Alpine A470-Gibson	Nicolas Lapierre TBA TBA
37	Jackie Chan DC Racing	Oreca 07-Gibson	Ho-Pin Tung TBA TBA
38	Jackie Chan DC Racing	Oreca 07-Gibson	David Cheng TBA TBA
LMGTE Pro - 8 cars
51	AF Corse	Ferrari 488 GTE	James Calado TBA
66	Ford Chip Ganassi Racing	Ford GT	Stefan Mucke  Olivier Pla  Billy Johnson*
67	Ford Chip Ganassi Racing	Ford GT	Andy Priaulx  Harry Tincknell  Pipo Derani*
71	AF Corse	Ferrari 488 GTE	Davide Rigon  Sam Bird
91	Porsche GT Team	Porsche 911 RSR	Richard Lietz TBA
92	Porsche GT Team	Porsche 911 RSR	Michael Christensen TBA
95	Aston Martin Racing	Aston Martin Vantage GTE	Nicki Thiim  Marco Sorensen
97	Aston Martin Racing	Aston Martin Vantage GTE	Darren Turner  Jonny Adam
LMGTE Am - 5 cars
54	Spirit of Race	Ferrari 488 GTE	Thomas Flohr  Francesco Castellacci TBA
61	Clearwater Racing	Ferrari 488 GTE	Matt Griffin  Keita Sawa  Weng Sun Mok
77	Dempsey-Proton Racing	Porsche 911 RSR	Christian Ried TBA TBA
86	Gulf Racing	Porsche 911 RSR	Mike Wainwright TBA TBA
98	Aston Martin Racing	Aston Martin Vantage GTE	Paul Dalla Lana  Mathias Lauda  Pedro Lamy

* - first three races (Silverstone, Spa, Le Mans) only