The 24 Hours of Le Mans this year will be one for the record books. It will be the 100th anniversary of the first race, and top-level prototypes from Toyota, Peugeot, Ferrari, Porsche, Cadillac, Glickenhaus, and Vanwall will all be there to compete for first place. A lot of people want to see it, which might not be a big surprise. Pierre Fillion, the president of the ACO, told Dailysportscar.com that the race is sold out.
Fillion said that he thinks 300,000 people will watch Le Mans this year. “As most people know, we’re out of Le Mans tickets,” Fillion said. “I know that many people are upset that they don’t have a ticket, but we’re really at the limit of how many people we can let in. I’m sorry we can’t let everyone who wants to come.”
Fillon’s comments came during the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona weekend, which had a record number of fans who wanted to see Acura, BMW, Cadillac, and Porsche’s new LMDh prototypes. We don’t know how many people were there, but based on what we saw on the ground and on TV, we have no reason to doubt that the record was broken.
In addition to the new and returning prototypes that will compete in the Hypercar class, NASCAR and Hendrick Motorsports are planning to use the experimental Garage 56 entry to run a Cup Series stock car. Technically, the team hasn’t been asked yet, but that’s just a formality at this point. Its driver lineup will include NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson, F1 champ Jenson Button, and Le Mans vet Mike Rockenfeller.
When you add a grid full of lower-class prototypes and GTE cars racing in their last Le Mans before being replaced by GT3s, you have all the ingredients for a very exciting race. If you didn’t get tickets for this year, don’t worry. Alpine, BMW, and Lamborghini will all have new Hypercars at next year’s Le Mans.
