RLR MSport to race two LMP3 prototypes in 2024 European Le Mans Series

RLR MSport can confirm it will race a pair of Ligier JSP320 LMP3s in the 2024 European Le Mans Series (ELMS), which commences with the 4 Hours of Barcelona (12-14 April).

Sharing the #5 Ligier will be James Dayson, Bailey Voisin and Daniel Ali, and the #15 prototype will be piloted by Michael Jensen, Nick Adcock and Gael Julien.

Dayson was a relative latecomer to motorsport, as he was in his thirties when he first entered the USF2000 open-wheel category in 2012, some four years before his maiden competitive outing in sportscars.

A season in Prototype Lites preceded campaigns in the IMSA United SportsCar Championship and Pirelli World Challenge, but the ELMS was his next port of call and the Vancouver, Canada-based racer eventually teamed up with RLR MSport.

Happily, the partnership will extend into 2024 and Dayson’s intentions are clear, as he said: “I’m very excited to be back with RLR MSport. It’s my third year with the team and I’m looking forward to being competitive, going into the new season with the aim of fighting for race wins and podiums each time out.

“Bailey (Voisin) isn’t new to LMP3 and Daniel (Ali) has a lot of potential, having driven the tracks in the Michelin Le Mans Cup. We have a good line-up and my job is to do whatever I can to be one of the quickest Bronzes. The level keeps going up, but we made a good start to the year in the Ultimate Cup Series and have something to build on.”

Like many of his compatriots, Voisin took his first steps into motorsport through karting, but he made his car racing debut in the 2019 Ginetta Junior Championship.

His rookie season yielded a top-three result, but seven victories, six podiums, eight pole positions and nine fastest laps followed the next year in 2020.

Those successes preceded a title-winning 2021 campaign in the GT4 European Championship and an invitation to the BRDC’s ‘Rising Stars’ programme, and he has since earned silverware as a competitor in the ELMS’s LMP3 class

“I’m really happy to be back in the European Le Mans Series in 2024, this time with RLR MSport,” said Voisin. “It’s exciting to have kicked things off with testing at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya this week. A lot of work has gone in to making this campaign possible, so a big thank you to all involved. We have the necessary tools to be fighting at the sharp end of the LMP3 field, so I hope for a successful 2024 season.”

Ali, meanwhile, cut his teeth in the North American karting scene, winning several national titles and even representing Team Canada at the Rotax World Finals in Bahrain, but he joins RLR MSport’s ELMS line-up off the back of a solid maiden car racing campaign in the Michelin Le Mans Cup.

“I’m super excited to be driving with RLR MSport for the 2024 European Le Mans Series,” said Ali. “We have a very skilled driver line-up with James (Dayson) and Bailey (Voisin), and I look forward to competing with them. The team has a great history of success in the ELMS and all of the other series they have competed in, and I know we will be a strong competitor for the title. I can’t thank RLR MSport enough for this and I can’t wait to get started in Barcelona.”

Having raced LMP3 machinery in Europe and Asia, Jensen competed against teammate and friend Adcock in South Africa and had two learning years in the Le Mans Cup before entering the RLR fold for his maiden assault on the ELMS in 2022.

It was a successful driver-team combination that achieved podium finishes and Jensen is looking forward to more in 2024, saying: “Nick (Adcock) and I both enjoyed our time with RLR MSport in the 2022 European Le Mans Series and are really excited about rejoining forces for a strong 2024 season with Gael (Julien).

“While I’m from Denmark, I always want to race with British teams and RLR provides everything you could possibly need to succeed, such as excellent strategy and high standards of engineering. In fact, we will enjoy the support of Frank Larue, an engineer Nick and I have worked with before. Frank is very talented, he knows the Ligier JSP320 LMP3 very well and it’s a big positive that everyone is known to each other. The entire programme has melded together very well to create a strong package.”

Adcock, meanwhile, has raced in a broad spectrum of categories over the course of 24 consecutive seasons, and in 2022 he reversed a decision to step away from international competition in order to partner Jensen in the ELMS.

Having enjoyed some success with RLR MSport that year, the British entrepreneur who resides in South Africa is wholly enthusiastic about reuniting with the team.

“In 2022, we had a reasonably successful ELMS campaign with RLR MSport, finishing fourth in the LMP3 standings,” said Adcock. “We were very happy with the team and liked the RLR way of doing things, as it’s thorough in its preparation, cool-headed and provides very strong engineering. Basically, it gets all the fundamentals right and I’m really looking forward to building on what we achieved together two years ago during what is looking to be a highly competitive 2024 season.”

For Franco-Malagasy racer Julien, the several national and international karting championships he won in Singapore, Indonesia and the wider Asian continent served as a springboard into Formula 4 single-seaters in Europe.

However, he went on to lay solid foundations for a career in sportscar racing as part of RLR MSport’s 2023 ELMS roster, and he’s keen to build on what was a steep learning curve during his second consecutive year with the former LMP3 Teams’ Champion.  

“I’m really happy to be back with RLR MSport following a great year with the team in 2023, keeping the momentum going after securing pole position in the last race,” said Julien. “It was my first season in endurance racing and a big learning curve, as I gained so much knowledge about the car and myself as a driver. I have a background in single-seaters, which is a whole different game, but I came to understand everything and that showed towards the end of last season.

“I intend to attack from the very first laps of 2024 at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and I’m looking forward to a really strong year. There have been some big changes within RLR MSport over the winter and we’re definitely going into the new season with the strongest version of the team, as you have a combination of new and old faces who all know what it takes to be competitive and will undoubtedly move things forward together.”