New retro series for recent sportscars to support WEC

A new series featuring LMP1 and LMP2 prototypes built up to the mid-2010s, along with GT cars from the same era, will support rounds of next season’s World Endurance Championship.

The new Le Mans Legends Series has been created by prolific historic racing organiser Peter Auto and the cars will race at some of the same events as their current counterparts.

Organisers expect a wide range of machinery to participate, with LMP2 cars from as recent as 2016 set to be eligible.

Peter Auto wanted to introduce a more modern series to follow on from the Endurance Racing Legends category that Peter Auto currently administers for predominantly pre-2005 machines.

“We see a lot of interest for classic cars but we see also a young generation who are more fascinated by more modern cars like cars from the year 2000 and they’re already 25 years-old,” Peter Auto managing director Marc Ouayoun told Autosport.

“So we have the Ferrari F430, the Pescarolo and, more recently, the Peugeot 908, all the Audis [LMP1s], the Zytek, the Corvettes. These cars sound so well and they’re totally iconic already today.”

Alongside the WEC outings, the Le Mans Legends Series will also feature at the Le Mans Classic, which will now become an annual event.

The historic racing extravaganza will take on two different forms that will alternate each year.

The Le Mans Classic Heritage events will be geared towards pre-1975 cars and categories, while the Le Mans Classic Legend will cater for newer machinery.

“The idea is we have a full event already with the six grids, and when Le Mans Classic was created in 2002, the grids were for until the beginning of the ’80s,” explained Ouayoun.

“Now we have the Endurance Racing Legends, we have the Group C, and we have even cars that are more recent, like we just announced with the Legends of Le Mans.

“We thought that it would be great to give more running time to our gentlemen drivers and also to create two different events – one that’s a bit more vintage, tribute to the endurance legends pre-’70s and all the big battles for Ferrari, the 917 story, the Jaguar years. Lots of historic motor cars, very nice atmosphere.

“And the other Le Mans Classic will be a bit more dynamic. There will be five grids instead of six so we have a little bit more racing time for every grid.”

Ouayoun said more details would be revealed at this year’s Le Mans Classic, including some “exciting” support races to the Peter Auto categories.

He explained the 1975 cut-off between the two versions of the event was selected to distinguish between the turbo and naturally-aspirated eras.

A further announcement concerned a new tie-up between Peter Auto and SRO to run a GT3 Revival Series that will be open to GT3 cars built between 2006 and 2013.