Taylor, Rast team up at Tower LMP2 team for Le Mans 24 Hours
IMSA star Ricky Taylor and triple DTM champion Rene Rast will return to the Le Mans 24 Hours this year after joining Tower Motorsports in the LMP2 class.
Taylor and Rast will race as team-mates for the first time in the centenary edition of the French endurance classic this year, sharing an ORECA-Gibson 07 entered by the TDS Racing-run squad with Tower Motorsports owner John Farano.
The Canadian 63-year-old earned his entry for winning the IMSA LMP2 title last year, having been partnered for the bulk of the year by Louis Deletraz.
Farano's bronze driver grading means the crew will be entered in the Pro Am sub-category within the 24-car LMP2 field.
This will be the ninth consecutive Le Mans outing for two-time IMSA SportsCar champion Taylor, whose best LMP2 result was a seventh-place last year with Cool Racing.
For Rast, 2023 will mark his fifth appearance at Le Mans and fourth in the LMP2 division after previous outings with Sebastien Loeb Racing (2014), G-Drive (2016) and WRT (2022).
It means Rast will have at least one prototype racing outing to his name in 2023, as he prepares for a potential LMDh assault in the World Endurance Championship next year with new employer BMW.
His current 2023 programme includes another season in the DTM with last year's championship-winning Schubert Motorsport team and a return to Formula E with McLaren.
Rene Rast, NEOM McLaren Formula E Team
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
"We are very happy to support John Farano and his team for the Centenary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans," said TDS Racing team co-owner Xavier Combet.
"TDS Racing will be participating in this mythical event for the twelfth consecutive year. Our goal is to use our prior knowledge of the 24 Hours of Le Mans to try to win the very competitive LMP2 Pro Am class with Tower Motorsports.
"I have no doubt that Ricky Taylor and Rene Rast will also be two very good allies in helping us achieve this goal."
TDS Racing finished fourth in class under its name last year after bringing in Mercedes Formula E champion Nyck de Vries at the last minute to replace Philippe Cimadomo, who was banned from the weekend after being involved in a number of incidents during practice.
#10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 Acura DPi: Ricky Taylor
Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images
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