Akkodis ASP Team has confirmed a two-car Lexus RC F GT3 effort in the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship, which will be the first season for the LMGT3 category.

Next year, Jerome Policand’s team celebrates their 25th anniversary, and will take on the WEC and the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first time.

The championship itself has yet to feature a Lexus competitor, and so the new LMGT3 formula will enable two RC F GT3s to be represented.

In an online statement, ASP said: “The team will enter in the LMGT3 category, in a championship that they will be discovering, and notably with a new car, the LEXUS RC F GT3; this is a familiar approach for the Akkodis ASP Team, who is specialised in GT3 at the highest level.

“The Team intend to enter two cars in 2024 subject to the decision of the ACO/WEC selection process next month.

“The crews will be announced in a few weeks.”

ASP won consecutive 2022 and 2023 Endurance Cup titles in GT World Challenge Europe, and led the charge on landing Mercedes’ first win in almost a decade at the 24 Hours of Spa.

Most recently in international sportscar racing, the Lexus has been represented in Vasser Sullivan’s GTD efforts in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, as Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth won the GTD Pro title in the RC F GT3 package.

This will mark the fifth automotive manufacturer ASP has collaborated with in their history, having ran with the likes of Renault, Porsche, Ferrari and Mercedes machinery.

As part of an ongoing two-day Goodyear tyre test at Portimao, ASP are running a Lexus RC F GT3 to gain data with their LMGT3 tyre manufacturer.

Next year’s WEC season will begin with a 10-hour event in Qatar in March, before traveling to Europe for the Imola, Spa-Francorchamps, and the historic 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.

In July, the WEC will return to Sao Paulo in Brazil having not raced there since 2014, and will then travel to the United States at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas venue for September.

A six-hour race in Fuji and an eight-hour race in November will conclude the 2024 WEC season.

Porsche has revealed Manthey, a German-based outfit, will run two Porsche 911 GT3 Rs in the new LMGT3 class introduced for the 2024 World Endurance Championship season.

Manthey was behind the 10 years of GTE-Pro running for Porsche up until the category’s departure in 2022, first entering the 2013 WEC campaign and claiming a class-Le Mans victory.

The outfit are behind many of Porsche’s other GT3 commitments across the GT racing scene, such as competing in the Nurburgring and Spa 24 Hours and currently running two Porsches in DTM with Dennis Olsen and 2018 Carrera Cup Champion Thomas Preining.

Including their Le Mans debut (LMGT) victory in 1999, a total of four Le Mans victories in GT machinery accompanies five WEC championship titles.

Thomas Laudenbach, Vice President of Porsche Motorsport, said: “Our choice fell on Manthey for a number of reasons.

“Besides the fact that it is a subsidiary, several other factors speak in favour of Manthey: the team is very familiar with the Porsche 911 GT3 R from DTM races and major endurance classics, among others.

“Moreover, Manthey is closely acquainted with the special characteristics of the FIA WEC thanks to many years of factory racing with the Porsche 911 RSR.”

Nicolas Raeder, Managing Director of Manthey Racing GmbH, added: “I am proud that we are returning to the WEC, expanding our GT3 programme next year.

“We have already been able to celebrate some successes in the WEC with Porsche and have a lot of experience and know-how regarding the tracks and procedures.

“The 2024 season will be exciting and I am very glad that we will be back at Le Mans.”

Regulations state that each LMGT3 manufacturer will have a maximum of two cars, so the team entry and the driver line-up will be announced at a later date.

The FIA World Endurance Championship has confirmed it will not feature the LMP2 class at any rounds other than the 24 Hours of Le Mans next year.

The news, which was expected, will see the championship drop down to 2 classes — Hypercar and LMGT3. LMP2 will continue to be featured at the Le Mans 24 Hours, with a possible 15 car limit.

While WEC CEO Frederic Lequien would not confirm the amount of Hypercars expected for 2024, he did confirm the new-for-2024 LMGT3 class, replacing GTE, will feature a 2-car manufacturer limit.

This will see each GT3 manufacturer limited to 2 cars each in the championship. However, contrary to rumours in recent months, the class will not be limited to manufacturers competing in the Hypercar class, with the manufacturer selection “open” according to Lequien, rather than giving priority to Hypercar manufacturers.

“It’s through the selection committee, but I think that when you are Hypercar manufacturer, I do not see how it’s possible to refuse the entry for a GT3,” said the Frenchman.

When asked why the ‘priority’ for Hypercar manufacturers in LMGT3 idea had been abandoned, he said, “One of the strengths of the championship is to have diversity and different car manufacturers. So the question is, number of places available on the grid. If we had enough places, I would say that we would be happy to welcome all the GT3 manufacturers. At the moment, they all want to come.”

American amateur Ben Keating has said he is not expecting to race in the new WEC LMGT3 class next year, when the GTE-Am category concludes at the end of 2023. 

When asked by MotorsportWeek.com during the Super Sebring weekend if he had any idea of his plans for next year, Keating replied: “I don’t know yet. I’ve often said I don’t expect to race in GT3. But, I’m kind of waiting to see what happens in LMP2. I really enjoy racing in LMP2 in IMSA — the structure in IMSA is similar to the way GTE-Am is structured in WEC. 

“So I think there’s a pretty good chance I would come back over here and run in LMP2, try and win a Le Mans entry in Pro-Am. But, I don’t know how long they’re going to have the Pro-Am category at Le Mans. So we’ll see.”

LMP2 currently races in WEC, with a Pro-Am category added to the field for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. While LMP2 currently has high-take up in both the world championship and at Le Mans, with 24 cars registered on the entry list for the French endurance classic, including eight in Pro-Am, its existence in WEC is under threat. 

That threat is due to the number of expected Hypercar and LMGT3 entries expected in WEC next year. With a hard limit to grid numbers in regular WEC rounds in the mid-high 30s, it’s possible that number will be reached by entries across both classes — which would leave LMP2 out to dry in the world championship. 

Additionally, while LMP2 is expected to survive at Le Mans into at least 2024, this boom in Hypercar and LMGT3 could have a knock-on effect for the LMP2 Pro-Am subclass for Le Mans. 

It’s known many teams currently competing in LMP2, have plans to step up to the Hypercar class next year, meaning amateurs such as Keating may struggle to find a team willing to run a car for them at all next year.