The British RLR Motorsport squad will field a new Ligier LMP3 alongside its race-winning Ginetta in next year’s European Le Mans Series.

RLR, which won the P3 class at Imola in May, will run a Ligier-Nissan JSP3 purchased by historic racer Mike Smith. The two cars will race under the banner of the University of Bolton, in which RLR’s workshops are based.

“I looked after Mike’s Caterhams years ago and we have remained friends,” RLR boss Nick Reynolds told AUTOSPORT. “The Ligier was Mike’s preferred choice of chassis, but we will continue to run the Ginetta. It makes sense for us to be involved with two manufacturers, because it helps with placements for our students.”

No drivers have been confirmed for the program. Smith, who also races a Radical SR8, will not drive in the ELMS, but is planning to race the Ligier in selected VdeV Endurance Series events.

RLR missed the most recent round of the ELMS at the Red Bull Ring earlier this month after loaning its chassis back to the factory Ginetta Team LNT squad.

“They were short of a car and we were short of drivers,” explained Reynolds, who said that RLR would return to the ELMS at either Paul Ricard next month or Estoril in October.

This is the second Ligier P3 to be sold to the UK. It was announced last week that Steve Donovan, who races in the club-level Open Sportscar Series in Britain, had purhased a JSP3.