Derani to make prototype debut

Luis Felipe Derani, a race winner in British Formula 3, will make his prototype debut with the Murphy squad at this month's Paul Ricard European Le Mans Series round.

The 20-year-old Brazilian, who won two F3 races with Fortec in 2012, has been confirmed aboard Murphy Prototypes's ORECA-Nissan 03R LMP2 for the Ricard round on Sept. 14 after a successful test in the car at Snetterton late last month.

"Pipo did a good job at Snetterton: he looks quick, he's the right age and is very mature, so he could have a bright future in sports cars," said team boss Greg Murphy. "He will be in the car at Ricard and we hope he'll be with us for Estoril [the ELMS finale in October] and in 2015, subject to the normal commercial conditions."

The Anglo-Irish Murphy team has yet to firm up the remainder of its line-up for its return to the ELMS after missing last month's round at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.

Murphy said that he had "four or five candidates" for the remaining two seats. They are known to include Nathanael Berthon and Alex Kapadia, who have already driven for the team this year.

British GT regular Steve Tandy, ELMS regular Jonathan Coleman and Khaled Al Mudhaf, who has one P2 start to his name with the Boutsen team, all tested for Murphy at Snetterton, but are thought not to be in the running for drives at Ricard.

RICARD ENTRY LIST INCREASES

Frenchman Pierre Ragues has been confirmed at the Swiss Morand team for Ricard and Estoril after racing its Morgan-Judd/BMW LMP2 at the Le Mans 24 Hours and then the Red Bull Ring.

Sebastien Loeb Racing is aiming to return to the ELMS after missing the Austrian round with its ORECA-Nissan but has yet to confirm drivers for the car. The same goes for its GTC class Audi R8 LMS ultra, which has been missed the past two ELMS races.

Team sporting director Franck Tine said: "We are expecting some final answers today, which will decide what we can do or not."

Rodolfo Gonzalez, who parted company with Murphy after Le Mans, is listed in the Race Performance ORECA-Judd/BMW alongside team boss Michel Frey and Franck Mailleux.

Originally on Autosport.com