ELMS: Dragonspeed wins 4 Hours of Le Castellet

The opening race of the 2019 European Le Mans Series gave us 4 hours of uninterrupted racing under sunny French skies and more than a few interesting battles over all three classes.  Dragonspeed scored their first overall win since Spa 2016 in the LMP2 class, while Ultimate scored their first ever win in the LMP3 class.  In LMGTE it were the series debutants who took the top 2 spots of the podium with the Luzich Racing Ferrari on top, followed by the all female Kessel Racing Ferrari.

Roman Rusinov started from pole in the #26 Aurus G-Drive with Paul Lafargue in the #28 IDEC Sport Oreca and James Allen in the #21 G-Drive close behind him.  Allen had a flying start and went on from fifth to third in the first round before taking over the lead from Rusinov in lap 10.  It took Allen only 5 laps to ease away from the competition, building his lead already up to 20 seconds in lap 15. 

Rusinov dropped back to fifth place in his first stint, while Andrea Pizzitola stormed through the field from P12 to P2 in his #25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca 07.  Behind him, Paul Lafargue held on to third place, followed by another Oreca, the #30 Duqueine Engineering of Pierre Ragues.  Ragues moved ahead of Lafargue and Pizzitola and after nearly 20 laps into the race, he got into second place, although 24 seconds behind Allen in the leading Dragonspeed. 

Henrik Hedman took over the leading car in the first round of pitstops but saw his lead over Ragues, who stayed in the car, dropping down quickly before Ragues took over the lead.  Hedman was up against some of the quickest drivers of the field, dropped back a bit in the order but managed to hold on to sixth place before handing the car back over to James Allen at the second stop. Meanwhile Job Van Uitert was in the G-Drive Aurus, making up lost time caused by a tyre problem Rusinov had in his first stint.

After the third round of pitstops, all was still to play for in the LMP2 class. Nicolas Jamin still lead the pack in the #30 Duqueine but had Ben Hanley now behind him in the Dragonspeed, who was in a different pitstop strategy.  When Jamin had to stop for fuel, Hanley got in the lead with a margin of 46 seconds on the #28 IDEC Sport of Paul Loup Chatin with Norma Nato in the G-Drive right on his tail. 

Hanley held on to the lead and scored the team’s first victory since Spa 2016. Chatin crossed the line in second place 16 seconds later with a comfortable margin over Richard Bradley in the Duqueine Engineering who went past Nato in the closing stages of the race.  Behind the leading pack, the #22 United Autosports Ligier was the first non-Oreca at the finish in sixth place, one lap down from Hanley & co. 

French team Ultimate scored their first victory in the series with their #17 Norma M30 LMP3 after 4 years thanks to a late race challenge over the #11 Eurointernational.  Mikkel Jensen went on from fifth on the grid to first in the opening lap, holding off Lucas Legeret in the #19 M.Racing Norma and Jean-Baptiste Lahaye in the #17 Ultimate. David Droux in the #9 Realteam Norma also had a strong opening stint, moving up to second place tailgating Jensen in the Eurointernational Ligier, but unable to take over the lead. 

The top 2 remained the same after the first round of stops with Jensen still in front of Droux.  Damiano Fiorivanti who had been quick all week and set Saturday’s pole time now was in the #10 Oregon Norma and up to third place right behind Droux.  The two battled for several laps until Fiorivanti was cut off by the #39 Oreca who went into pitlane and sent the Italian into a spin. Luckily without any damage, but Fiorivanti lost precious time to the leading 2 cars. 

Jens Petersen took over the #11 Eurointernational but was chased by the more experienced Matthieu Lahaye in the #17 Ultimate Norma who quietly got up into the order after the second round of stops. Lahaye quickly caught up with Peterson, passed him and never looked back.  By the end of the race the French team had a gap of 1 lap over the rest of the field. Petersen managed to hold on to second place and a well deserved podium finish, despite being under pressure from Nigel Moore in the #13 Inter Europol Ligier who drove an impressive final stint from sixth to second.   The #10 Oregon and #7 Nielsen Racing Norma’s completed the top 5 of an exciting race in the LMP3 class.  

In LMGTE it was ELMS debutants Luzich Racing who took the honours after dominating the race from start to finish. Fabien Lavergne got into the lead in the opening lap, passing the #77 Dempsey-Proton Competition Porsche of Christian Ried. The Frenchman stormed away from the rest of the field giving himself a comfortable lead. Behind him, Egidio Perfetti in the #56 Team Project 1 passed Ried and Felbermayr in the second Proton Porsche up to second place. By the end of the first stint, Wei Lu got up to the front in the #66 JMW Ferrari in third position. 

By the end of the second stint, Lavergne had a gap of about a minute when he handed over the #51 Ferrari to Nicklas Nielsen. The second round of pitstop shook up the order quite significantly, with Rahel Frey now in second place in the #83 Kessel Racing Ferrari after passing Christian Ried in the #77 Porsche. Frey had a scare when she clipped the #8 Nielsen LMP3 into a spin but got away with a warning flag before she turned the car over to Michelle Gatting. 

© ELMS/ Jakob Ebrey-JEP

Alessandro Pier Guidi ran the final sting in the #51 Luzich Ferrari, bringing the car home with a one lap lead over Michelle Gatting in the #83 Kessel Racing Ferrari. 12 seconds behind her, Matteo Cairoli finished third in the #77 Dempsey-Proton after a late pass over the #66 JMW Ferrari. The #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari completed the top 5. 

The second round of the 2019 European Le Mans Series is scheduled for Sunday May 12th at  the Italian temple of speed in Monza. 

Race results

 Kristof Vermeulen.

ELMS: Racing Engineering win thrilling first race of the season

Racing Engineering took the first win of the 2018 season when Olivier Pla took the chequered flag in the Spanish team’s Oreca-Gibson to claim their debut win. After four hours there was less than 8 seconds separating the top three cars. 

Victory in LMP3 went to the #15 RLR MSport Ligier, when Rob Garofall passed the chequered flag with fumes in his fuel tank after a 65 minute stint to take his first LMP3 win since Imola 2015. In LMGTE the win went to the JMW Motorsport’s #66  Ferrari, Miguel Molina taking victory on the very last lap from Matteo Cairoli in the #88 Proton Competition Porsche.

Frenchman Nicolas Lapierre made a good start in the #21 DragonSpeed Oreca of to take the lead from the #28 IDEC Sport Oreca of reigning ELMS Champion Memo Rojas, with the #24 Racing Engineering Oreca of Norman Nato and Pierre Ragues in the #29 Duqueine Engineering Oreca in 3rd and 4th respectively. 

The #17 Ultimate Norma of Jean-Baptiste Lahaye took the lead of the LMP3 category as pole position holder David Droux, in the bright yellow camouflage Norma, dropped back to 5th following the first corner melee, with the #15 RLR MSport Ligier of Job Van Uitert moving up from 4th to 2nd at the end of the first lap. Van Uitert put the pressure on Lahaye and on the third lap the Dutch driver took the lead.

The start of the LMGTE race saw the #88 Proton Competition Porsche head into turn 1 in the lead from Pole Position, Gianluca Roda opening up a good gap to the #66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari after Liam Griffin made a good start to move ahead of the #77 Proton Competition Porsche of Christian Ried. Mike Wainwright was making progress up the field from the back of the grid in the #86 Gulf Racing Porsche.

The #22 United Autosports Ligier of Phil Hanson came into the pits after contact with another LMP2 car, which damaged the exhaust and punctured the rear left tyre. Another early casualty was the #8 DKR Engineering Norma of Jean Glorieux, the Belgian driver ending up in the barriers after contact with another car. Glorieux couldn’t restart the car and the Norma was retired after just 14 laps.

After the first set of pitstops Lapierre was still leading the race from Nato, with Pierre Thiriet in the #36 Signatech Alpine up to 3rd place. Job Van Uitert was still leading the LMP3 category in the #15 RLR MSport Ligier from the recovering David Droux in the #19 M Racing-YMR Norma. Droux handed over to Nicolas Ferrer but Ferrer spun at Turn 5, dropping the Norma down the field and out of contention.

Giorgio Roda had taken over the driving duties of the leading #88 Porsche, who now had Ben Barker in the #86 Gulf Racing Porsche closing rapidly. The British driver passed the Italian and opened up a lead but then a fuel pressure issue brought the Gulf Racing 911 to a halt and the race had another retirement. The #21 DragonSpeed also hit trouble as Lapierre headed for the pitlane with a puncture. Henrik Hedman jumped into the car and rejoined the track but this allowed Norman Nato to take the lead. 

With the race approaching the 2 hours mark a full course yellow was declared when Hedman in the DragonSpeed Oreca and the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari F488 of Duncan Cameron collided, both cars hitting the barriers hard at Turn 9. Hedman recovered the Oreca back to the pits but the damage was beyond the ability of the mechanics to repair in time. The Ferrari was lifted onto the back of a flatbed while Cameron was given lift back to the pits. 

The Full Course Yellow turned into a Safety Car while the barriers were repaired but the FCY gave the teams plenty of opportunity to pit. The race went green again after 25 minutes with Paul Petit, now at the wheel on the #24 Racing Engineering Oreca, leading the race from the Signatech Alpine of Andre Negrão, with Nelson Panciatici in the 29 Duqueine Engineering Oreca in third.

John Farano had taken over from Job Van Uitert and soon had a comfortable lead over the #11 Eurointernational Ligier of Kay Van Berlo and the no2 United Autosports Ligier of John Falb.  Liam Griffin was leading the LMGTE class in the #66 Ferrari but the British driver was soon caught and passed by the #88 Porsche of Gianluca Roda. Griffin dropped back to third when he was again caught and passed by a Porsche, this time the #80 Ebimotors 911 of Riccardo Pera.

Andre Negrão caught the leading Racing Engineering Oreca of Paul Petit and battle commenced to see who would lead the race with 90 minutes remaining. Petit held off the challenge from the Brazilian until the next set of pitstops where he handed over to Olivier Pla for the final stint. Negrão handed the #36 Alpine back to Pierre Thiriet, who held the lead before Pla caught and passed on the outside at Signes Corner with just under an hour of the race remaining.

Thiriet was passed by the #29 Duqueine Oreca and then came under pressure from the #33 TDS Racing Oreca of Matthieu Vaxiviere. The two cars were side by side on the Mistral Straight but Thiriet held his nerve and his place as the final set of pitstops approached. Thiriet stayed out longer than his rivals but when he finally came in for fuel he rejoined in third place and was under pressure from Nicolas Jamin in the Duqueine Oreca. Jamin made his move with 25 minutes remaining to take the final podium position.

The LMP3 class was led by the #11 Eurointernational Ligier when Van Berlo came back in for his final stop. Rob Garofall in the #15 RLR MSport Ligier was now in the lead but there was some doubt if the British driver had enough fuel to reach the flag. The RLR MSport mechanics even looked like they were getting ready to bring Garofall, in but it was all a Ruse de Guerre and Garofall drove to the chequered flag to claim victory and the 25 championship points. After an eventful race the M.Racing Norma finished in second place with Lucas Légeret taking the chequered flag ahead of the Eurointernational Ligier of Kay Van Berlo.

The LMGTE battle came down to a duel between the Proton Competition Porsche 911 of Matteo Cairoli and the JMW Motorsport Ferrari of Miguel Molina. Molina was reeling the Italian in with every lap and with less than five minutes remaining the Spaniard was right on the rear wing of the leading Porsche. The pair crossed the line and on the final lap Cairoli ran wide at turn 7 allowing Molina to take the lead and snatch the victory on the very last lap of the race.

Relive the race here with a 52 minute recap:

Race results 

Words: Jeff Carter/FIA - Sportscarglobal - Club Arnage
Pictures: JellyBaby.Media & Kristof Vermeulen

ELMS: First pole positions for IDEC Sport and M.Racing-YMR

IDEC Sport in LMP2 and M.Racing-YMR in LMP3 both scored their first ever pole positions in the European Le Mans Series this afternoon, after a highly entertaining qualifying session for the 4 Hours of Le Castellet tomorrow. 

A bit of a surprise in the LMP2 class, where Paul Loup Chatin scored pole for IDEC Sport in the #28 Gibson powered Oreca 07 in a smashing 1.41.194.  We all know Chatin is quick and the Oreca – even after the adjustments Ligier and Dallara were allowed to do to their cars – is still the car to beat, but the #28 hasn't been amongst the top runners in class all weekend.  That didn't stop Chatin from beating the rest of the field with exactly 0.444 seconds. 

The session was shortly red flagged when Bruno Senna stopped on the Mistral straight in his #22 United Autosports Ligier. When the session went green again, only six minutes were left for the drivers to fight for pole position.  Chatin set his time with only two minutes left on the clock, leaving the other teams almost no chance for improvement.  Matthieu Vaxivière once again was second quickest in the #33 TDS Racing Oreca, 0.266 seconds faster than Ben Hanley in the #21 Dragonspeed Oreca 07. 

The first non-Oreca chassis was the #23 Panis Barthez Competition with Will Stevens behind the wheel, just over a second behind the leading Oreca. The #35 SMP Racing set the fastest time of the Dallara's in ninth place with a 1.42.507.

The LMP3 qualifying session was a nailbiting one, laptimes improving and positions changing right into the final moments. Ultimately it was a clean sweep for Norma, with three cars on the first three places for tomorrow's grid.   David Droux in the #19 M/Racing-YMR Norma took pole after a flying lap of 1.51.930. He outpaced Matthieu Lahaye in the #17 Ultimate Norma with just 0.061 seconds. 

Reigning Michelin Le Mans Cup champion Alexander Toril took third place, giving in 0.113 seconds to Lahaye.  Job Van Uitert in the #15 RLR Ligier has been fast all weekend and led the field early in the session, but lacked only 4 thousands of a second to qualify in the top 3.  Completing the top 5 was last year's champion Sean Rayhall in the #2 United Autosports Ligier, over half a second slower than Van Uitert. 

Matteo Cairoli starred again in the GTE class, taking pole in his #88 Proton Competition Porsche in a time of 1.53.777.  Ben Barker in the #86 Gulf Racing Porsche took second place for the grid tomorrow, 0.209 seconds behind Cairoli. Third place went to Miguel Molina in the #66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari, almost a second slower than the quickest of the Porsches. 

The 4 Hours of Le Castellet will start tomorrow at 12h local time in France.  A live stream will be available on www.europeanlemansseries.com and the series' youtube channel.  Motorsport TV also has a live broadcast.

Qualifying results

Kristof Vermeulen

Photos: JellyBaby.Media

ELMS: Duqueine Engineering sets the pace in Free Practice 2

In what has been the first completely dry session since the WEC prologue last weekend here at Paul Ricard, Nelson Panciatici was fastest during today's final practice session. 

The Frenchman's best time of 1.41.215 in his #29 Duqueine Engineering Oreca was 0.658 seconds faster than Nicolas Lapierre in the #21 Dragonspeed Oreca. Matthieu Vaxivière got third fastest in the TDS Oreca, ahead of the #24 Racing Engineering of Norman Nato.  First of the non-Oreca chassis' was the #30 AVF Dallara of Konstantin Tereschenko and Henrique Chaves, 1.555 seconds adrift of Panciatici. 

Job Van Uiterst set the fastest time in the LMP3 class, managing a 1.52.290 in the #15 RLR Msport Ligier.  Matthew Bell in the #3 United Autosports was second fastest time, 0.328 seconds behind the Dutchman.  Third quickest was Giorgio Mondini in the #11 Eurointernational Ligier . The #17  Ultimate was the quickest Norma again, now with Jean-Baptiste Lahaye behind the wheel.

Porsche outpaced Ferrari this morning in the GTE class.  Proton Competition finished 1-2 at the end of the 90 minute session, Matteo Cairoli quickest again in his #88 in a time of 1.54.253.  Dennis Olsen in the #88 sister followed close, only 0.221 seconds behind the Italian. Ben Barker in the #86 Gulf Racing 911 RSR was right on the heels of Olsen, missing out second place with 0.018 seconds. Best of the Ferrari's was the #55 Spirit of Race, just under 0.4 seconds behind Cairoli.

Track action resumes this afternoon with qualifying at 13h40. 

FP2 results

Kristof Vermeulen.
Pictures: kristofvermeulen.com

ELMS: Setup day for the opening race of the 2018 season at Circuit Paul Ricard

It's almost time tot kick off the 2018 European Le Mans Season !  With the official test completed earlier this week, all the teams are now setting up for the opening race of the season: the 4 Hours of Le Castellet. 

Weatherwise it still seems like someone moved the Le Castellet region up north, with cold temperatures and rain pooring down almost all day.  Luckily the rain stopped for an hour or two this afternoon, even with a bit of sunshine trough the clouds for the first time in 2 days, so we managed to get at few pitlane shots in from this afternoon. 

Track action for the 4 Hours of Le Castellet starts tomorrow at 11h15 for the first 90 minute practice session. A Bronze driver test is planned for 16h35 in the afternoon. 

Kristof Vermeulen
Pictures © www.kristofvermeulen.com