Strakka Dome withdraws from Le Mans; Krohn Ferrari takes its place

The new Strakka Dome LMP2 coupe has been withdrawn from the Le Mans 24 Hours next month after a serious accident during testing at Spa last week.

Team regular Danny Watts crashed the Nissan-powered Strakka Dome S103 heavily late last Tuesday, the first of three days of running at Belgian track planned by the team.

"Crucially, Danny is absolutely fine, but we don't have time to be able to assess [the accident], repair the car and acquire sufficient spares in time," Strakka team manager Karl Patman said. "It has been a tight program and this put any chance of competing out of the window."

The Strakka Dome was absent from the first two rounds of the World Endurance Championship at Silverstone and Spa after encountering undisclosed problems in pre-season testing.

The entry for Le Mans on June 14-15 will remain at 56 cars after the U.S.-based Krohn Racing Ferrari team, which is run out of the Risi Competizione workshops in Texas, accepted a late invitation from race organizer the Automobile Club de l'Ouest to take part in the GTE Am division. Its Ferrari 458 Italia will be raced by team owner Tracy Krohn, longtime teammate Nic Jonsson and Briton Ben Collins, who was replaced by Archie Hamilton in the Ram Racing Ferrari line-up earlier this month.

Krohn said: "We could not be happier to receive this invitation from the ACO to race at Le Mans again this year. It will be the ninth year for Nic and I and we are excited to have Ben joining us.

"We've got plenty to do in the next couple of weeks to get our car prepared and to ACO specs, but we'll do it and be ready for race week."

The team is not required to take part in this weekend's Test Day at Le Mans because Krohn, Jonsson and Collins are on the list of approved drivers allowed to compete in the race.