Caterham to make Le Mans 24 hours Debut

Caterham will make its debut at the Le Mans 24 Hours this year. Racing under the Caterham Motorsport banner, it will run the #41 Zytek Z11SN-Nissan in the LMP2 category, with Caterham F1 Team Reserve Driver and Caterham Racing GP2 driver Alexander Rossi joining double LMP2 class-winner, Tom Kimber-Smith and gentleman driver Eric Lux in the driving seat.

The move reflects Caterham’s growing status and ambition on the international stage. Caterham F1 Team is already competing in its second season. In November 2012 Caterham Cars announced a 50:50 Joint Venture partnership with Renault to develop and build its first new road model in 20 years.

The entry to Le Mans also builds on the launch, in 2010, of the Caterham SP/300.R, a supercharged, mini Le Mans-style sports prototype, which has garnered strong demand as an advanced trackday machine and race school car.

Caterham Technology CEO Mike Gascoyne said, “While there won’t be any specification changes we can apply to the car for this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours, because the car is homologated for the whole season, we will be looking in more detail at how our various areas of expertise across both Caterham Technology & Innovation and Caterham Composites can be applied to a customer Sports Prototype programme in future.”

The Caterham Motorsport #41 LM P2 car will make its on-track debut at the official ACO test at Le Mans on June 8/9, followed by the race itself on June 22/23.