United Autosports scored a historic double last weekend at Silverstone, claiming victory in both LMP2 and LMP3 after a very entertaining 4 Hours of Silverstone.
After 3 hours and 45
minutes, G-Drive seemed to have the first ELMS race of the season in
the bag, until tyre wear decided to play its role. G-Drive racing was
through its allocated amount of tyre sets through the weekend and
could only watch how Felipe Albuquerque in the #32 United Autosports
Ligier catched up with Ryo Hirakawa in the #22 Oreca. Hirakawa's
radio communication also failed in the final stage of the race,
leaving him almost oblivious of what went on behind him.
Albuquerque was flying
in those final laps of the race, closed down the gap of 30 seconds
and took over the lead in the penultimate lap of the race. United
Autosport wrote history by winning in 2 different classes: LMP2 and
LMP3. A rather surprising third was the Danish High Class Racing
Dallara P217 of Anders Fjordbach & Dennis Anderson. In their
debut race, the Danes impressed with their pace and consistency,
fighting for a well deserved podium place.
Ben Hanley had a rocket
start in the #21 Dragonspeed Oreca, immediately flying away from the
rest of the field. A spin by Henrik Hedman and gearbox troubles would
put the American team out of contention dor the win, losing 6 laps. Behind the leaders, it was
Richard Bradley putting in an impressive drive in his #40 Graff
Oreca. Starting from 28th place on the grid, Bradley
stormed through the field and was leading the pack by the first round
of pitstops. Franck Matelli would take over the wheel of the #40 but
dropped down to third place after losing first place to the #25
Algarve Pro Ligier and being passed by Roussel in the G-Drive.
Roussel leads the race
at the half-time point, after passing Matt Mc Murray in the #25.
Behind the leaders, the #32 United Autosports now sits in third
place, ahead of the Dragonspeed Oreca and the #47 Cetilar Villorba
Corse Dallara. During the second round of pitstops, the #49 High
Class Racing Dallara shortly led the race with Anders Fjordbach, in
their ELMS debut race.
Ath the three hour
mark, the race seemed to stabilize a bit, now with the #22 G-Drive
Oreca in the lead, with a 30 second margin to to #32 United Autosport
Ligier and the #49 High Class Racing Dallara 17 seconds further
behind. A gearbox problem also hit the Algarve Pro Racing, forcing
them to park the Ligier. The Panis-Barthez Competition Ligier also
fell out of contention early in the race when Nathanaël Berthon lost
3 laps in the pits due to a transponder issue.
United Autosport also
took victory in the LMP3 class with the #2 Ligier of Americans John
Falb & Sean Rayhall. Rayhall took the lead in the first lap of
the race and literally never looked back. Both United Autosport
Ligier JSP3's quickly got in front of the whole field, with only the
#6 360 Racing Ligier able to follow their pace. Alexander Talkanitsa Jr in the #9 AT Racing Ligier, who started from pole dropped to fourth place after the first round.
The second United
Autosport Ligier seemed settled for second, but fell back a bit by
the end of the race, down to fourth. Second crossing the line after
four hours was the #6 360 Racing Ligier after a steady and faultless
race, but on a respectable distance from the winners.
After the race however, the team was handed a 1 lap penalty for not respecting the minimal driving time by their bronze driver Anthony Wells. The penalty left them seventh overall and promoted the #17 Ultimate Ligier to the second spot of the podium, followed by the second United Autosport Ligier and the M. Racing YMR Ligier.
After the race however, the team was handed a 1 lap penalty for not respecting the minimal driving time by their bronze driver Anthony Wells. The penalty left them seventh overall and promoted the #17 Ultimate Ligier to the second spot of the podium, followed by the second United Autosport Ligier and the M. Racing YMR Ligier.
TF Sport
steered their Aston Martin Vantage V8 to victory in the GTE class.
First race for the new team in the European Le Mans Series, first
victory. After winning the Michelin Le Mans Cup last year, TF Sports
new season couldn't have a better start. Salih
Yulok took the start from pole in the #90 Aston Martin, but soon
dropped into second hen Aaron Scott put in a ballsy move to the lead,
overtaking both Aston Martins in his #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari. A
few laps later, the Beechdean Aston had a spin after contact with
another car, dropping down to the back of the field.
Euan
Hankey took over the #90 at the first round of pitstops, went back
into the lead and started to build up a gap to the competition.
Things looked worse however when contact with the #51 Ferrari
resulted in a spin and losing the lead in the race. Joel Camathias
now took the lead in the #77 Proton Porsche, followed by the
surprisingly fast #66 JMW Ferrari F458. Duncan Cameron fell back to
third in the #55 Ferrari after their strong start.
Nicki Thiim took over the leading Aston Martin at the second pitstop and quickly got settled in a comfortable lead over the Porsche. Behind both leaders, Ross Gunn & Darren Turner were hammering down their Beechdean Aston Martin, getting back on a podium spot after overtaking the #66 and #55 Ferrari's. The third hour of the race was quite uneventful, with most cars and drivers settling for their spot in the race.
At the
final round of pitstops, Hankey had built up a lead of + 50 seconds,
handing the car back over to Nicki Thiim. Behind him Matteo Cairoli
got into the Proton Porsche, who now had Ross Gunn behind him in the
second Aston Martin. After 4 hours Nicki Thiim crossed the line with
a one lap lead over Matteo Cairoli. The young Italian drove his his
#77 Proton Competition Porsche to second place, just over a second
ahead of Ross Gunn in the charging #99 Beechdean Aston Martin.