TDS Racing x Vaillante has chosen Nyck De Vries to replace Philippe Cimadomo, who has been banned from competing in the 90th edition of 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Cimandomo was disqualified from the race after colliding with the barriers in third practice at Porsche Curves, nearly destroying the LMP2 pole-sitter #31 WRT.
Sean Gelal was in the car at the moment, and he evaded injury after Cimandomo caught the ORECA’s rear right. When the TDS driver swerved across the track to overtake traffic, he spun off and collided with the Armco barriers.
The crew spent the whole of Thursday reconstructing the car, only to learn late that night that Cimandomo had been barred from racing which is only for the current event.
The decision to add De Vries as the third driver was made at the last minute, but even it may not be enough to get the car on the grid for the 2022 edition of the renowned race.
De Vries, who has competed in the last three 24 Hours of Le Mans, has no night sessions left to complete the needed minimum laps in the dark. This means that his race entry will be subject to special approval from the race director, stewards, and marshals.
This is because De Vries is a platinum classed driver, the team had to apply to be made an LMP2 team rather than a Pro/Am team, hence there is no Am on board the #13 as Cimandomo was the Bronze driver.
De Vries will still have to set a minimum of three laps during Saturday’s warm up to be admitted into the race, with the fact that both requests and exceptions were granted.
