Tower Motorsports, owned by businessman and driver John Farano, on Friday confirmed its participation in this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans by hiring the services of French team TDS Racing and in the No. 13 Oreca-Gibson livery in the comics Michel Vaillant entered Stripe, in the LMP2 class.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans celebrates its 100th anniversary this year (June 11-12) and the Canadian team is poised to challenge for victory in LMP2, a goal set at the 12 Hours last week was achieved by Sebring in the IMSA championship WeatherTech sports car.

John Farano and his team were also IMSA LMP2 champions last year. At Le Mans they will be joined by two very experienced drivers to complete the crew with Ricky Taylor racing with Wayne Taylor Racing this season in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship in the GTP class (Acura LMDh program) and the Formula E driver and former DTM champion René Rast.

John Farano has therefore assembled a very competitive team and is confident that the team will be up to the challenge. “To compete in the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans, and in particular this year’s edition which marks the 100th anniversary of the event, is an honor and a dream that very few drivers in the world get to compete in,” said John Farano . “It’s a race that every driver in the world wants to win and I truly believe Tower Motorsports, in partnership with TDS Racing, has the resources to achieve that goal. We have two highly qualified teams joining forces which will result in one of the best prepared cars backed by a dedicated and hard working team ready to compete at the highest level. As a pilot, I’m very happy to have two world-class pilots by my side in Ricky Taylor and René Rast. I’m very happy to have her in the team,” added the Canadian.

“We are delighted to support John Farano and his team for the 100th anniversary of the Le Mans 24 Hours,” added Xavier Combet, co-owner of TDS Racing. “TDS Racing will be taking part in this legendary event for the twelfth consecutive year. Our goal is to use our prior knowledge of the 24 Hours of Le Mans to try and win the highly competitive LMP2 class, Pro-Am division, with Tower Motorsports. I have no doubt that Ricky Taylor and René Rast will also be two very good allies who will help us achieve this goal,” he concludes.

The 2023 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans will take place on June 10th and 11th at the Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans in France. 62 crews were selected to compete in this race, divided into Hypercar (LMH/GTP), LMP2 (Pro/Pro-Am) and GTE (Am) classes.

John Farano is one of the 4 confirmed Canadian drivers alongside Jacques Villeneuve in Vanwall Hypercar as well as Zach Robichon (Porsche / Proton Compétition) and Paul Dalla Lana (Aston Martin / AMR Northwest) in GTE Am.