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Autosport
Autosport

Kubica joined by Deletraz, Edgar for ELMS title push with TF Sport

Kubica and Deletraz won the 2021 ELMS title with WRT alongside Ye Yifei, and were a lap away from adding class victory at the Le Mans 24 Hours when an electrical fault denied them.

After switching to the WEC with Prema for 2022, the duo were reunited at WRT last season and claimed the final WEC P2 championship alongside Rui Andrade as the swelling Hypercar grid and the arrival of LMGT3 left no grid capacity for the secondary prototype class.

Kubica, who will race a third Ferrari 499P Hypercar in the WEC this year, had already been signed up to race for the British TF Sport team and appeared against its entry when the ELMS announced its 43-car grid last month.

He'll be joined by Deletraz for their fourth consecutive season together, the Swiss continuing with the team after a race-winning campaign in the 2023 ELMS alongside his commitments for Acura squad Wayne Taylor Racing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship, and FIA Formula 3 graduate Edgar.

"This line-up is fantastic, it took a lot of work in the background to put it together," said team boss Tom Ferrier, whose outfit won the ELMS's LMP2 pro-am title in 2022.

"We have three fantastic drivers who are not only very fast, but are also great guys and real team players.

#41 Team WRT Oreca 07 - Gibson: Rui Andrade, Robert Kubica, Louis Deletraz (Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images)

"As a team, we have shown great speed and results last year and in the ongoing Asian Le Mans Series.

"I feel we are now ready to step up and win the European Le Mans Series overall, and that is our clear goal."

The ORECA-Gibson 07 will be entered under the ORLEN Team AO by TF banner in deference to Kubica's personal sponsor, an eastern European utilities company, and the AO Racing team of Americans Gunnar Jeanette and PJ Hyett that has a presence in IMSA's LMP2 and GTD Pro divisions.

"Coming back to ELMS with Robert means a lot to me after we won the championship in 2021," said Deletraz, who also won the 2022 ELMS title with Prema alongside Ferdinand Habsburg.

"It will be our fourth year together, I think I will have to start thinking about buying him a ring!

"Also, Jonny's arrival is fantastic: he is young, fast and a great driver with a bright future ahead of him. I have no doubt that he will fit in perfectly."

Former Red Bull junior Edgar will make his LMP2 debut in this month's Daytona 24 Hours in a Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier, having made his sportscar bow in last year's British GT finale aboard a McLaren 720S GT3.

Jonny Edgar, Envision Racing (Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images)

ELMS grid takes shape

Defending series champion Algarve Pro Racing has already confirmed its driver lineup, and has secured a return for Alex Lynn alongside two new co-drivers.
After claiming the title with Kyffin Simpson and James Allen, Cadillac Hypercar racer Lynn will be joined in 2024 by Olli Caldwell and Matthias Kaiser, who both raced in the WEC's P2 class last year with Alpine and Vector Sport respectively.
Richard Bradley, a P2 class winner at Le Mans in 2014, leads the lineup in its second pro-am entry, one of eight contesting the sub-division while a total of 14 crews will target the outright title.
Vector has switched to the ELMS, with Kaiser's 2023 team-mates Gabriel Aubry and Ryan Cullen remaining with the Gary Holland-led team that had also been slated to contest the WEC's Hypercar class with Isotta Franschini until it made a late change to Duqueine.
The French squad has hired reigning champion Allen to its revised lineup which is completed by Carl Bennett and Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer, while its WEC Hypercar driver Alex Garcia will campaign a second Cool Racing ORECA.
The Swiss team co-owned by Nicolas Lapierre fields reigning Super GT champion Ritomo Miyata, Peugeot protege Malthe Jakobsen and Lorenzo Fluxa in its lead entry.
Former Duqueine driver Nico Pino has landed in an expanded two-car Nielsen Racing roster alongside Jota Hypercar driver Will Stevens.
#21 United Autosports Usa Oreca 07 - Gibson: Daniel Schneider, Andrew Meyrick, Nelson Piquet Jr (Photo by: Eric Le Galliot)
United Autosports has expanded to three cars, with team stalwart Filipe Albuquerque returning for a first full campaign since his 2020 title-winning campaign alongside Fabio Scherer, who returns to the British outfit after two years with Inter Europol Competition.
Ben Hanley parlayed his impressive performances as a stand-in for United's WEC operation last year into a full-season drive alongside Marino Sato and former Prema WEC racer Filip Ugran, while experienced Britons Oliver Jarvis and Andy Meyrick will join Daniel Schneider in a pro-am entry.

Following its Le Mans P2 class victory with Scherer in 2023, Inter Europol has expanded its ELMS roster to two cars with single-seater graduates Oliver Gray and Clement Novalak leading its lineup. Former Vanwall WEC driver Tom Dillmann headlines its second car.

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