Driver changes in LMP2, LMGT3 ahead of first Le Mans sessions

With public scrutineering and Sunday’s preliminary tests for the 94th 24 Hours of Le Mans taking place this weekend, the entry list for the race has seen two noteworthy driver changes in the LMP2 and LMGT3 classes.

On May 19th, it was announced that Japanese Honda factory driver Kakunoshin Ohta will make his Le Mans debut, driving Proton Competition’s No. 9 ORECA 07-Gibson LMP2 (main image, pictured in 2025). Ohta will race alongside Jonas Ried – the elder son of Proton’s Team Principal Christian Ried – and first-year IMSA GTD Pro driver Harry King. Alongside his part-time schedule at Acura Meyer Shank Racing, Ohta drove two LMP2 races in IMSA last year, at Sebring and Road America for Era Motorsport.

Bundled with the addition of Ohta is Japanese luxury hotel brand Seven x Seven becoming a primary sponsor of the No. 9 ORECA LMP2, specifically to promote a new property being built in Miami. Seven x Seven also fields a team in the Super GT Series GT300 category, and has had success in other Japanese sports car racing series.

Most recently, on Monday, British driver Lorcan Hanafin was added to the No. 2 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R run by Malaysia’s Johor Motorsport Racing (JMR) team, driving alongside Malaysian royal Prince Jefri Ibrahim and former DTM driver Ben Green. Hanafin made his Le Mans debut last year in an Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO; he currently splits time between the European and American GT World Challenge series, and the European Le Mans Series.

Ohta replaces Jonas Ried’s younger brother Lenny, while Hanafin replaces Malaysian driver Afiq Ikhwan Yazid, a multi-time Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia champion.