ARC Bratislava Enlists Vaxiviere, Ehrlacher for Series Return

Photo: Asian Le Mans Series

ARC Bratislava has announced that Matthieu Vaxiviere and Yann Ehrlacher will complete the team’s Asian Le Mans Series LMP2 lineup.

The Slovakian squad returns to the championship after it missed the 2024-25 season, fielding the No. 44 Oreca 07 Gibson that had team owner Miro Konopka as the sole listed driver when the provisional entry list came out in September.

On Monday, the team revealed that Konopka will be joined by Vaxiviere and Ehrlacher, with the latter making his LMP2 debut.

Although Ehrlacher has mainly made his name in touring car competition, winning three world championships racing for Lynk & Co, he has previous LMP3 experience through several years of European Le Mans Series appearances.

He notably also sampled the Peugeot 9X8 at the FIA World Endurance Championship rookie test in 2022, although that did not lead to any race opportunities with the French brand’s Hypercar program.

Vaxiviere, meanwhile, joins ARC Bratislava after contesting last year’s Asian Le Mans season with AF Corse. The Frenchman has extensive LMP2 experience, having also raced the Oreca 07 Gibson in the FIA World Endurance Championship and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

“I am very much looking forward to working with these drivers,” Konopka said.

“They will bring top-level experience and help us as a team to move forward again.

“Of course, we’re not building any castles in the sky, we’re realists.

“Only the winner of the LMP category will advance to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and with such strong competition from former F1 drivers, 24 Hours of Le Mans winners, and WEC world champions, it’s a really tough task.

“For us, it is already a success that our application has been accepted and that the Slovak flag will once again be at the start of this prestigious race.

“About ten teams were not as lucky as we were.”

Source: Sports Car 365