The first 24 entries for next year's Le Mans 24 Hours have been confirmed, with the various 'automatic' qualifiers having been listed by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest.

With the two leading finishers in each category being given the right to return next year, Audi heads the entry following its outright victory with the diesel-powered R10, and gains two further slots courtesy of its success in both the American Le Mans Series and Petit Le Mans event.

Pescarolo Sport is the only other team to have secured multiple entries in the LMP1 class, having finished as runner-up in last year's 24 Hours and claimed a repeat success in the European-based Le Mans Series. Creation Autosportif fills the final spot in the top class, having finished as runner-up to the French outfit in the five-race championship.

Porsche prototypes should return to La Sarthe next season, with the two LMP2 class Penske-run RS Spyders having earned places on the automatic list via victory in the ALMS and Petit Le Mans. British-based RML also qualifies for two entries, having won the 24 Hours in 2006 and finished second in the Le Mans Series. LMS winner Barazi-Epsilon should also return to the June marathon, this time with a Zytek chassis to replace the venerable Courage that took it to title success. The six-car LMP2 pre-selection is completed by Binnie Motorsports, which took second in this year's 24 Hours.

The list for GT1 was clouded by the controversy surrounding the 'tweaking' the rulebook received in the ALMS, as series organisers attempted to balance the performance of the Corvettes and Aston Martins. The two DBR9s that claimed first and second place at Petit Le Mans had received a special waiver to compete as they did not conform to the ACO technical regulations, so the automatic selection from that event was passed on to Corvette Racing, which finished third on the road.

The 'yellow perils' had already been credited with one automatic entry thanks to victory in the 24 Hours, and will still be joined on the grid by a brace of 'works' DBR9s, as Aston Martin Racing gained an entry via its second place in class over the entire ALMS campaign, and another after finishing as runner-up to Corvette at La Sarthe in June.

The final GT1 places are awarded to a third Aston Martin, courtesy of Larbre Competition's success in the LMS, and Convers MENX, which took the veteran Ferrari 550 Maranello to second place behind the French squad.

The GT2 class also had to be manipulated a little, as the Petit Le Mans-winning Porsche 911 GT3 RSR had, like Aston Martin, received a technical waiver. As a result, the automatic selection was passed on to Risi Competizione, which gains a second place to accompany that earned for winning the class in the American series.

Team LNT's unexpected success in the 24 Hours with the Panoz Esperante has earned the British squad a return next June, and Lawrence Tomlinson's operation will be able to load two of the distinctive orange machines for the trip to France, having also taken runner-up honours in the LMS.. The final two slots fall to Porsche teams Seikel Motorsports - which claimed second in last year's 24 Hours - and Autorlando Sport, which won the five-race Le Mans Series.

All automatically selected entries have until 8 January to confirm their participation, but any places not taken up will not be passed on to other teams, which have until 24 January to register their interest in racing at La Sarthe in 2007. Those applications will then be passed on to the selection committee for consideration.