Ferrari’s plans for an additional entry fielded on the customer basis outlined by its sportscar boss Antonello Coletta earlier this month were firmed up with the publication of the 37-strong 2024 WEC entry on Monday.
The third Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercar will be run under the umbrella of AF Corse, which also runs the factory cars, and entered in the Endurance Trophy for Hypercar teams rather than the full manufacturers’ championship, which is limited to two entries per marque.
Kubica is listed in the car after being announced as an AF signing for 2024 last week without his programme being revealed.
The Formula 1 race winner moves up to the Hypercar ranks following three years in LMP2 and taking the class title in 2023 with WRT.
Ferrari’s extra car is one of seven additions to the Hypercar division on the 2024 list.
Two cars each from BMW and Alpine and a solo entry from Lamborghini, all LMDh prototypes, were confirmed along with one Isotta Fraschini LMH and the Jota team’s second Porsche 963 LMDh.
There was no room for the ByKolles-run Vanwall Racing team and its Vandervell 680 LMH, which completed its maiden season in the WEC in 2023.
Glickenhaus Racing, a fixture in the WEC for the past three seasons with its Pipo-engined 007 LMH, had already confirmed its intention not to return to the series in 2024.
The newcomers join the two-car factory teams from Ferrari, Toyota, Porsche, Peugeot and the solo Cadillac Racing entry run by Chip Ganassi Racing.
The Hypercar class has expanded from 13 full-season entries in 2023 to 19.
That means there are 18 entries representing nine manufacturers in the new LMGT3 class.
BMW have so far nominated Dries Vanthoor and Sheldon van der Linde to race its two M Hybrid V8s entered under the BMW M Team WRT.
Alpine has listed Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere in its pair of A424s to be run in conjunction with the Signatech squad.
It has already announced a six-strong roster including Mick Schumacher for its return to the Hypercar class, but teams and manufacturers are only required to nominate a single driver at this stage.
The Renault brand will reveal its driver combinations in February when it officially launches its 2024 programme.
Lamborghini, which will run under the Lamborghini Iron Lynx banner, has listed Mirko Bortolotti against its solo S63 LMDh.
Isotta Fraschini has secured a solo entry, but the Vector Sport squad that had been due to run the Tipo 6 Competizione LMH announced ahead of publication of the list that it had split with the revived Italian marque.
Team boss Gary Holland cited “minimal access and input into the development” of the car as the reason.
The two drivers nominated so far for the Tipo 6 are 2017 TCR International Series champion Jean-Karl Vernay and Alejandro Garcia, who was victorious in the European Le Mans Series LMP3 class in 2023 alongside a Formula 3 campaign.
Hertz Team Jota has listed Will Stevens and Olivier Rasmussen, who were respectively part of its Hypercar and LMP2 line-ups in 2023, against its two Porsche 963s.
F1 world champions Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button are known to be in talks to race for the team in 2024.
The Porsche Penske Motorsport line-up has been tweaked, with Matt Campbell switching over from the sister IMSA SportsCar Championship squad to replace Dane Cameron in the #5 963 in an otherwise unchanged line-up.
Toyota is the only other manufacturer in Hypercar to nominate its full driver roster after the confirmation last week that Nyck de Vries is replacing Jose Maria Lopez in the #7 GR010 HYBRID LMH.
Alex Lynn has been confirmed in the Cadillac Racing entry alongside Earl Bamber, but a replacement for Richard Westbrook who will return to IMSA to race for the JDC-Miller Porsche squad has yet to be named.
Harry Tincknell is the first driver announced by Proton Competition for its customer Porsche, though he will miss the two rounds that clash with his commitments with Ford in the IMSA SportsCar Championship.
The nine manufacturers in LMGT3, which replaces GTE Am for 2024 and is the only other class in the WEC on the disappearance of LMP2 from the full championship, are Ferrari, Porsche, Chevrolet, Aston Martin, BMW, Lamborghini, Ford, McLaren and Lexus.
