Akkodis ASP has unveiled their full six-driver crew and their liveries for their two Lexus RC F LMGT3 entries ahead of their FIA World Endurance Championship debut next year.
Akkodis ASP Team has confirmed their two driver crews for their #78 and #87 LMGT3 entries into the 2024 FIA WEC.
The #87 will feature Jose Maria Lopez joined by Esteban Masson and Takeshi Kimura, as the #78 will utilise the likes of Kelvin van der Linde with Timur Boguslavskiy and Arnold Robin.
Lopez will compete in the WEC for the first time in GT machinery, after a lengthy seven-year campaign with the Toyota GAZOO Racing team in which he secured the title in 2019 and 2021, winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the latter year with his #7 teammates Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway.
Prior to his pursuit in high level sportscar racing, he won several titles in the discipline of touring car racing, having taken the FIA World Touring Car Championship title on three occasions, as before that he won in Super TC 2000, Top Race V6, and the TC 2000 Championship in the late 2000s.
Masson, a 19-year-old Canadian-French driver, has established his career across junior single-seater racing having notably won the European F4 title in 2021, and concluded a dominant Eurocup-3 season in 2023 for Campos Racing, which led him to the title.
After making his WEC debut at the 8 Hours of Bahrain season finale with Kessel Racing’s Ferrari 488 GTE, he is set for his debut full season which will see him take on his first 24-hour race at Le Mans on 15-16 June 2024.
Kimura is regarded as a businessman and an experienced driver in GT racing, beginning the journey in 2005 with the Japan Carrera Cup.
Since debuting in the 2018 Super GT championship with his own team, he also debuted into the Asian Le Mans Series in which he claimed four GT-class victories.
The following year marked his first time at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, also finishing in the 2019-20 AsLMS as a vice-champion in GT, and in the following years, he added the European Le Mans Series to his GT racing endeavours.
Van der Linde was the youngest ADAC GT Masters champion in 2014 when he won the title at just 14-years-old. It was the first of two titles, having claimed his second in 2019.
Amongst his efforts in motorsport, he has two victories at the 24 Hours of Nurburgring (2017 and 2022), as well as at the 10 Hours of Suzuka in 2019.
The 2024 season will mark his WEC debut in the #78 Lexus RC F LMGT3.
Boguslavskiy is most affiliated with the Akkodis ASP team from his experience in GT3 racing, having driven for Jerome Policand’s team since 2019.
Beforehand in 2017 and 2018, he participated in his first endurance races in LMP3 machinery across selected races in the Michelin Le Mans Cup and the European Le Mans Series.
When he began at Akkodis ASP in 2019 and the Blancpain GT Series, himself along with Nico Bastian and Felipe Fraga ran a dominant campaign to secure the title.
The championship was renamed to the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, as he competed in the Pro category in Mercedes-AMG GT3 machinery once again.
His recent 2023 campaign saw him claim another Endurance Cup title, in addition to the Sprint Cup.
Finally, Robin has useful experience in Le Mans Cup and ELMS, the former feeding to the latter, which is followed by the WEC on the ladder.
He took the Le Mans Cup title in 2023 in GT3 machinery, having competed in the ELMS during its final year with the GTE formula, also experimenting with LMP3 and LMP2 cars.
With two Le Mans 24 Hours entered in 2021 and 2023, he will take on his third with Akkodis ASP.
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