In the past, the faster Prototype cars practiced separately from the GTS and GT machines. The race's 48 eligible cars have already been chosen by the ACO's Selection Committee and 21 of them are teams that compete or have competed in the ALMS on a regular basis. Bentley officials have indicated that the racer may journey to America later this year to compete in the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. Following the practice session at Le Mans, many ALMS teams will leave their cars and equipment in Europe and will compete in the May 20 race for the European Le Mans Series at Circuito de Jarama near Madrid. As was the case with the recent ELMS race at England's Donington Park, ALMS teams that compete at Jarama have the option of using the finish and points from Jarama to replace a poor finish in one of the nine rounds of the ALMS in North America.
Teams can only use a finish from one of the two ELMS races.
The two-car Audi Sport North America team will run its Audi R8 Prototypes at Jarama, and Panoz Motor Sports will run two Panoz LMP 07 machines. More ALMS teams are expected to compete at Jarama and will announce plans as the event's entry deadline nears. Sonja Bayer, the champion of the Women's Global GT Series in its final season last year, has landed a ride in Porsche Carrera Cup competition in her native Germany. Bayer will drive for Team Knuepfing Motorsport in at least the first few events of the season, and more if additional sponsorship is found. In addition, she has a ride in the 24 Hours of Nurburgring in a Volvo S40.