WEC: U.S. teams working on Le Mans slots

The Wayne Taylor Racing and Scuderia Corsa teams are working to take up the guaranteed entries for the Le Mans 24 Hours awarded to them by the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. WTR, runner-up in the Prototype class this year with a Dallara-Chevrolet Corvette DP (pictured), is looking to forge a joint venture with a European team to run in the LMP2 division at Le Mans next June. "There is time to do it, but whether I can get it together in time, I don't know," said team boss Wayne Taylor. "There would definitely be a lot of my guys there if we manage it, but we would have to bring in other resources." Taylor, who confirmed that eldest son Ricky would be part of the Le Mans project, said that the plans were "50-50 at the moment." "There are a couple of things in the system and I should know more by the end of the week," he added. Should 13-time Le Mans starter Taylor succeed in his plans, it would be the first time that he has taken his own team to the 24 Hours, although he was a key constituent in the Riley & Scott-run and Doyle-Risi Ferrari prototype entries in 1996 and '98. Scuderia Corsa, which ran in the GT Daytona class in 2014, will be on the grid in the GTE Am division next year, according to boss Giacomo Mattioli. "We are very excited about receiving this entry and we are going to make it happen; we will definitely be there," said Mattioli, who owned a Ferrari 430 GT2 run by Risi Competizione at Le Mans in 2006-'07. Mattioli explained that the details of Scuderia Corsa's first Le Mans campaign had yet to be worked out. "I'm talking to AF Corse about a joint-venture, but we could do it with our own team," he continued. The Corsa entry will be the Ferrari 458 Italia owned by team regular Bill Sweedler, who competed in it with the Alex Job Racing in the 2013 American Le Mans Series.Sweedler will share the car with regular co-driver and Indy 500 regular Townsend Bell, with whom he won the GTD class at last year's Daytona 24 Hours driving for the Level 5 team, and a third US driver. Le Mans organizer the Automobile de l'Ouest has announced a further eight firm entries for next year's 24 Hours. Audi Sport Team Joest, Jota Sport, AF Corse and Aston Martin Racing all get one entry in the class in which they triumphed at Le Mans this year. AF gets a second entry, in either GTE Pro or Am, for finishing second in GTE in the European Le Mans Series. The Franco-Russian SMP Racing team also gets two entries for winning both the GTE and GTC classes in the ELMS. Signatech has a firm spot on the Le Mans entry list for triumphing in LMP2 in the ELMS. OAK Racing has been granted one entry for winning the Asian Le Mans Series LMP2 title and Taiwanese squad Team AAI two in GTE AM for finishing first and second in GTC.