Even though they already have a Le Mans contenders, jointly with their new partner Alpine, British sports car maker Caterham announced an independent entry to this year’s Le Mans 24 hours. The race car will be based on the Caterham SP/300.R sports prototype, and its goal, apart from finishing in a respectable place, is to pave the way for a new customer Sports Prorotype package in the future.

Caterham doe snot reveal much more about the plan, but they say it is part of the global expansion program started with the Renault Alpine alliance. The small British car maker is pretty busy these days, running a Formula 1 team alongside the racing series they have for the Seven, a new version of which will be revealed soon, and the prep rations to launch the new Caterham Alpine sports car.

The SP/300 racer that is going to take on the big boys at Le Mans LMP2 class this year is a single-seater machine developed for a one-make series. Caterham refers to it as a mini Le Mans-style sports prototype powered by a supercharged engine. With data relayed to Caterham from racing partner Greaves Motorsport, the engineers hope to convert the SP/300 into a proper Le Mans racer.

The driver lineup for Caterham Motorsport #41 Zytek Z11SN-Nissan in the LMP2 category include Caterham F1 Team Reserve Driver and Caterham Racing GP2 driver Alexander Rossi joining double LMP2 class-winner, Tom Kimber-Smith and gentleman driver Eric Lux.