ELMS: First pole for Cool Racing in Monza, Légeret outstanding in LMP3

Nico Lapierre scored Cool Racing’s first pole position in the ELMS this afternoon in a qualifying session that was red flagged with just seconds to go. Lucas Legeret emerged on top of a very exciting LMP3 session, taking pole in his final lap, while Matteo Cairoli was outstanding in the LMGTE Class. 

LMP2

© ELMS/JEP - www.jakobebrey.com

Nicolas Lapierre gave Cool Racing their first pole position in the European Le Mans Series this afternoon.  The Frenchman’s mid session best time of 1.34.967 was enough to start from the lead in tomorrow’s 4 Hours of Monza.  

Paul Loup Chatin set the first benchmark with his #28 IDEC Sport Oreca in 1.35.214. 6 minutes into the session Lapierre did his quickest lap of 1.34.967, taking over provisional pole in the Cool Racing Oreca.  Chatin wasn’t able to further improve his time, so it was up to Norman Nato in the G-Drive to challenge Lapierre for pole.

© ELMS/JEP - www.jakobebrey.com

With 2,5 minutes left in the session, Norman Nato set a 1.35.213, taking up the second spot on the grid with just 1 thousand of a second.  The Frenchman was “en route” for another flyer - and a possible pole position - when Nicolas Jamin went off at Ascari, straight into the safety barriers.  The session was almost immediately red flagged, denying Nato to finish his second flyer and his chance for a third flying lap. Jamin did get out of his #30 Oreca, but the car seems to be heavily damaged in the front, giving the mechanics perhabs an overnight job to get it race ready tomorrow. 

An all French top 3 then, with the Oreca’s dominating again up to P8 in qualifying with all cars within one second. Filipe Albuquerque was ninth fastest in the #22 United Autosports Ligier (1.35.984), after locking up at the brake zone of the second chicane early in the session. The Portuguese only setting his best time just before the red flag was being waived. Alex Brundle in the second United Autosports Ligier will start next to Albuquerque on the fifth row of the grid. Both Dallara’s follow further down the order with the #45 Carlin in P11 and the #47 Cetilar Racing in P15. 

All cars made it out for qualifying, including the #34 Inter Europol Competition which had a big crash this morning in the Parabolica. 

LMP3

It was obvious after both practice sessions that the Norma’s would be on top to fight for pole position this afternoon, but no one expected such a tantalizing 10 minutes of qualifying.  All five Norma drivers had claimed provisional pole at a certain time, but in the end it was Lucas Légeret in the #19 M.Racing Norma who took pole position with a gap of 0.207 seconds over Colin Noble in the #7 Nielsen Racing. 

Noble looked set for pole position when Légeret saw his penultimate lap deleted due to track limits.  The Swiss youngster who turned 18 yesterday didn’t seem to care and squeezed out an impressive 1.44.017 out of his Norma in the dying minutes of the session, scoring his second pole position in the series after Portimao last year and an improvement of yesterday’s lap record with almost 0.9 seconds. 

Damiano Fioravanti was third fastest in the #10 Oregon Team Norma (1.44.377), followed by Le Castellet winner Matthieu Lahaye in the #17 Ultimate and David Droux in the #9 Realteam Racing. Wayne Boyd in the #6 United Autosports Ligier was the quickest non-Norma driver in P6. 

2 cars didn’t make it out on track during qualifying: the #11 Eurointernational and the #5 360 Racing Ligiers. 

LMGTE

Matteo Cairoli was unbeatable in the LMGTE class, taking pole position 0.4 seconds clear from the rest of the field in the #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche with a time of 1.46.351.  “I’m over the moon with pole position on my home track said the Italian who lives nearby in Como.  My first lap wasn’t that good, but I got 2 clear laps after that, enough to take pole position.  We’re ready to finish the job tomorrow” said a very happy Matteo Cairoli straight after qualifying. 

Jörg Bergmeister was the only driver who found a pace within a second from Cairoli, but his best lap of 1.46.773 was still 0.422 seconds off pace. The second row of the grid will be reserved for the Ferrari’s of Spirit of Race (#55, Matt Griffin in 1.47.395) and Kessel Racing (#60, Andrea Piccini in 1.47.468).  The #80 Ebimotors Porsche of Fabio Babini will start from fifth position. 

Qualifying results LMP2

Qualifying results LMP3

Qualifying results LMGTE

Free Practice 2

An eventful session this morning with several Full Course Yellows and a long red flag interruption when Leo Roussel in the #34 Inter Europol Ligier went off at Parabolica and hard into the barriers. Roussel got out of the car on his own but was brought to the medical centre and hospital for some precautionary checks.  The session was ended a few minutes before the 90 minute mark when the #11 Eurointernational Ligier got off at Ascari. 

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Paul Loup Chatin put the #28 Idec Sport Oreca on top, with a new lap record of 1.35.701, beating Ben Hanley’s record from qualifying last year (1.35.837).  A strong run from Arjun Maini in the #43 RLR Msport put him into second place, 0.114 seconds behind the leading Oreca. The #26 G-Drive Aurus 01 completed the top 3 with Norman Nato quickest in 1.36.035.  The Oreca’s 07 occupied the top 5 this morning, series debutant Renger Van Der Zande on fourth place in the #21 Dragonspeed and Andrea Pizzitola in the #25 Algarve Pro Racing fifth fastest. 

Best of the rest were both Gibson powered Dallara P217’s. Ben Barnicoat (1.36.795) in the #45 Carlin beating Giorgio Sernagiotto in the #47 Cetilar Racing machine with 0.346 seconds. United Autosports had the fastest Ligier with them, Filipe Albuquerque finishing on P11 with the #22 Ligier, 1.6 seconds off the leader’s pace.

LMP3

2 Norma’s were on top again in LMP3, with this time the #9 Realteam Racing M30 of David Droux on top of the timesheets.  His best time of 1.46.531 was 0.036 seconds faster than the inevitable Damiano Fioravanti in the #10 Oregon Team Norma. The #11 Eurointernational Ligier of Mikkel Jensen was the quickest non-Norma chassis again in 1.46.962. Wayne Boyd in the #2 United Autosports Ligier and Lucas Légeret in the #19 M.Racing Norma rounded out the top 5. 

LMGTE

In LMGTE Matteo Cairoli was the fastest man on track this morning. The Italian was really in the mix with the LMP3 cars, setting a best laptime of 1.47.098 in his #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche.  Another track record on this session, and just over 0.4 seconds faster than last year’s track record set by Ricardo Pera in the Ebimotors Porsche (1.4.493). Cairoli set the 25th overall time, with only 5 LMP3 cars faster than his Porsche. 

Jörg Bergmeister was quick again in the #56 Team Project 1 Porsche, finishing the session in P2, 0.346 seconds behind Cairoli. Alessandro Pier Guidi set the third time this morning in the #51 Luzich Racing Ferrari, followed by Matt Griffin in the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari and Fabio Babini in the #80 Ebimotors Porsche. 

Free Practice 2 results 

The 4 Hours of Monza are set to start tomorrow at noon local time.

Kristof Vermeulen. 

ELMS: G-Drive quickest on the first day in Monza

Sunshine this morning in Monza, when the first practice session for the 4 Hour race later this weekend got underway.  A few incidents were to be noted in the first 90 minute session of the weekend, all without major damage. 3 Full course yellows had to be brought out when the Highclass Oreca and Cetilar Dallara stopped out on track, and the 360 Racing Ligier lost a wheel.  The session was red flagged just before the end when the #35 BHK Motorsport and the #26 G-Drive of Job Van Uitert collided and had to be recovered.  Damiano Fioravanti in the #10 Oregon Team Norma set a new track record in the LMP3 class. 

LMP2

Norman Nato set the pace this morning with the #26 G-Drive Aurus 01 in 1.36.243, an average speed of 216,7 km/h around the 5.793 meter long track in Monza. Nato beat Paul Loup Chatin in the #28 IDEC Sport Oreca with 0.276 seconds.  Nico Lapierre made it an all French and Oreca top three in his #37 Cool Racing Oreca, going round in 1.36.884.  

Quickest of the non Oreca cars was Ben Barnicoat in the #45 Carlin Dallara P217, just under a second slower than the leading Aurus 01 (1.37.156).  No real surprise there as the high speed Monza track suits the Dallara’s very well, as the Norma’s in LMP3.  Barnicoat was followed by 2 more Oreca’s; the #21 Dragonspeed of Renger Van Der Zande and the #30 Duqueine Engineering driven by Nicolas Jamin.  Alex Brundle was the fastest Ligier driver, putting his #32 United Autosports on seventh place in 1.37.173.  

The #47 Cetilar Racing Dallara, which makes its sole appearance in the ELMS the season before moving over to the FIA WEC, finished 14th fastest, it’s quickest lap set by Andrea Belicchi.  Belicchi did the most laps in the session, setting up the car for the rest of the weekend, Roberto Lacorte only managing 3 laps this morning, and Giorgio Sernagiotto not completing one single lap in the Dallara. 

In the aftermath of the collision between BHK and G-Drive, Francesco Dracone saw his laptimes from this morning's session cancelled by the race stewards and got a through penalty which has been suspended until a similar infringement.  

LMP3

As expected on the high speed Monza track, the Norma’s dominated the morning session, taking up the first 4 spots after 90 minutes of practice. Damiano Fioravanti - who was quickest all weekend at Le Castellet - put his #10 Oregon Team Norma M30 on top again with a time of 1.44.908, a new lap record in the LMP3 class.  Colin Noble followed swiftly in the #7 Nielsen Racing, only 0.080 seconds slower than the Italian.  Rounding out the top thee was Swiss driver Lucas Legeret in the #19 M.Racing, 0.134 seconds behind the leading car.  

David Droux in the #9 Realteam Racing completed Norma’s top 4 sweep, just under half a second slower than Fioravanti. Mikkel Jensen was the best of the Ligier drivers, finishing fifth fastest in the #11 Eurointernational, followed by the #17 Ultimate Norma of Matthieu Lahaye. 

LMGTE

Jörg Bergmeister set the pace in the LMGTE class, with a 1.48.075 in the #56 Team Project 1 Porsche.  Matteo Cressoni in the #66 JMW Ferrari was second quickest (1.48.290), just ahead of Matteo Cairoli in the single Dempsey Proton Porsche which will be on the grid this weekend.  Rounding out the top 5 were Andrea Piccini in the #60 Kessel Racing Ferrari and Alessandro Pier Guidi in the #51 Luzich Racing Ferrari who carries 30kg of succes ballast with him. 

BRONZE DRIVER TEST

In the bronze driver session this afternoon it was Alexander Coigny in the #37 Cool Racing Oreca who was fastest in 1.38.630.  Henrik Hedman in the #21 Dragonspeed Oreca (1.38.836) and John Farano in the #43 RLR Sport (1.39.813) completed the top 3.  Roberto Lacorte in the #47 Cetilar Dallara was the quickest non Oreca in fourth place, Erik Maris in the #27 IDEC Sport the fastest Ligier in 8th position. 

Oregon Team topped the LMP3 time sheets again, now with Lorenzo Bontempelli behind the wheel, with a personal best of 1.46.963. Another Norma was second fastest: the #17 Ultimate of François Heriau (1.48.103), followed by Jens Petersen in the #11 Eurointernational Ligier.  James Dayson (360 Racing) and Anthony Wells (Nielsen Racing) completed the top 5. 

Egidio Perfetti was the fastest bronze driver in GTE, putting his #56 Team Project 1 on top (1.49.119).  Fabien Lavergne followed close in the #51 Luzich Racing Ferrari (+ 0.080 seconds), with the #60 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Sergio Pianezzola behind him. 

On track action for the 4 Hours of Monza will resume tomorrow morning at 09.00h for the second practice session.  Qualifying will be run from 13.40h onwards. 

Free Practice 1 results
Bronze driver test results


Kristof Vermeulen.

ELMS: 42 cars in Monza this weekend for the second race of the season

The European Le Mans Series set up camp in Monza this weekend for the second race of the season.  After an exciting opening race at Paul Ricard, with 4 hours of uninterrupted racing, 42 cars will be on the grid for Sunday’s 4 Hours of Monza. 

Dragonspeed arrives in Monza as championship leaders after winning in France last month, with Renger Van Der Zande making his debut in the series. In LMP3 Ultimate will want to build further on their success from last month while the LMGTE sees the introduction of success ballast for the first time in the championship. It will be interesting to see how this will affect laptimes and race strategy over the weekend.   

LMP2

19 cars are on the entry list for the LMP2 class, one up from last month at Le Castellet.  Cetilar Racing Villorba Corse joins the LMP2 class for a one-off race in the series this season before heading to Le Mans and the FIA WEC next season. The now blue and green Dallara will be driven by the team’s regular drivers Roberto Lacorte, Giorgio Sernagiotto and Andrea Belicchi.  

Harry Tincknell returns to the series this weekend taking up his seat in the #45 Carlin Dallara after missing out the first race last month due to a clash with the IMSA race at Long Beach. Tincknell will race the remainder of the season with the British team.  Another new face in the LMP2 paddock is Will Owen in the #32 United Autosports Ligier.  Owen also missed Le Castellet due to the IMSA race and will now join Alex Brundle and Ryan Cullen for the rest of the season. 

No Ben Hanley at Dragonspeed this weekend.  The winner of last months race will be replaced by Dutchman Renger Van Der Zande, who will make his debut in the European Le Mans Series.  Henrik Hedman and James Allen will join him in the #21 Oreca. 

Unfortunately Mark Patterson won’t be able to race in the #25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca.  Patterson had a big accident during testing on Thursday at the first chicane in Monza. Breaking away at the rear, his Oreca spun across the track into the second Algarve Pro car of Tacksung Kim. A huge impact, writing off Patterson’s chassis and causing some heavy damage to the #31 car.  Both cars will run at the 4 hours though, the team getting an ex Graff chassis and having repaired the #31. Patterson is reported to suffer from a broken pelvis and will also miss Le Mans next month, Kim lucky got away from the incident with some bruises.  

LMP3

The LMP3 grid for Monza remains unchanged, with just one driver change compared to last months race in the south of France. 

Inter Europol Competition added Belgian driver Sam Dejonghe to the crew of the #14 Ligier JSP3.  Dejonghe, who is currently development driver for Mahindra Racing in the Formula E championship and races in the Belcar championship, will share the #14 with Paul Scheuschner for the rest ion the season. Dejonghe said to be happy to be back in the paddock, and to do so with a team like Inter Europol Competition. “I love my role with the Mahindra team, where I spend most of my time doing development and in the simulator, but am aware that I need to race to keep my competitive edge, and the ELMS feels like the perfect environment for my ambition to climb up the prototype ladder. The LMP3 is a very good-looking car, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it!”

LMGTE

According to the new regulations for the 2019 season, the LMGTE class will see the addition of succes ballast for the first time this season. The amount of ballast is based on the result of the previous race and championship standings and will be calculated in three stages: 

• Table A is the result from the previous race, with 15kg for the winning car, 10kg for second place and 5kg for third.
• Table B is the result from the race preceding the previous event with the same ballast of 15kg, 10kg and 5kg.
• Table C is the current championship positions, with 15kg for the championship leaders, 10kg for the second placed car in the championship and 5kg for third.

For the Monza race, the success ballast is calculated by adding the three tables together. The no51 Luzich Racing Ferrari, which won the 4 Hours of Le Castellet, will receive 30kg of success ballast for the 4 Hours of Monza (15kg for winning the race (Table A) and 15kg for leading the championship).  As there was no event prior to Le Castellet then the ballast for Table B is 0kg. The no83 Kessel Racing Ferrari will have 20kg of ballast for the 4 Hours of Monza (10kg + 10kg) and the no77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche will have 10kg (5kg + 5kg) for this weekend.

The #88 Proton Porsche won’t be in action this weekend in Monza.  Although present at the track, only Thomas Preining has been listed as driver. Apparently the other two seats couldn’t be filled for this race. The car has also been rebadged, not longer featuring the Felbermayr livery from Paul Ricard last month. 

Timetable

Entry list

Success Ballast Monza

Spotter Guide

Kristof Vermeulen. 

ELMS: G-Drive takes victory in an eventful 4 Hours of Monza

G-Drive Racing took victory last Sunday in the #26 Gibson powered Oreca 07 making it two weekends with two race wins after the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps and three in a row for Jean-Eric Vergne who won the Formula-e race in Paris three weekends ago. 

In an eventful race strewn with accidents and what was certainly questionable driving standards, the Russian backed car (which also won last weekend at Spa, the first round of the World Endurance Championship’s Super-Season) took today’s win at the European Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Monza.

The #33 TDS Racing Oreca 07, which started the race at the back of the LMP2 pack after having Matthieu Vaxiviere’s qualifying times cancelled when tape found on the car in post-session scrutineering was deemed a technical infringement, took advantage of the multiple safety car periods to work back to the head of the pack and claim second place. French team IDEC Sport completed an Oreca 07 clean sweep of the podium with Paul Loup Chatin, Paul Lafargue, and Memo Rojas bringing the #28 car home for third place. 

The Safety Car was called into action four times along with various Full Course Yellow periods in what was certainly the most eventful of races. Somewhat unusually for Monza all of the pack made it through variante Retifillio unscathed, thanks no doubt to Race Director Eduardo Freitas mandating two warm-up laps to ensure that the cars brakes and tyres were up to temperature. However, soon after that, mayhem started. 

The #19 YMR Norma of David Droux was hit on the first lap causing a rear puncture and damage to the legality panel that would plague the car for the rest of the race. Soon after the #39 Graff Racing Oreca hit the tyre wall at Lesmo 2 so hard it nearly launched over the top bringing out the Safety Car whilst the barriers and tyres were repaired. Luckily Alexandre Cougnaud emerged from the wrecked car unscathed.

With the barriers repaired and 3h 24 minutes to go the SC came in and green flag racing recommenced ….. for a while! The battle for the lead was between the #26 G-Drive Racing Oreca and, showing certain pace following the ‘Joker’ updates this year, the two United Autosports Ligier JSP2s, #22 and #32 with the #49 High Class Racing Dallara snapping at the leading trio’s heels. 

As this battle raged, Enzo Guibbert planted his #40 G-Drive backed Oreca firmly into tyre wall at entry of Ascari, ending the race for the TDS run car. As the SC was again deployed while the mess was cleared up we saw a bunch of cars dive into the pits including the #19 YMR Norma for it’s third visit, still suffering problems with the legality panel. With so many cars on the grid (43), there was eschewing chaos as cars jostled for position and mechanics pushed and manhandled them about to get the vehicles lined up to leave!

While the chaos in the pits was underway, Christian Olsen somehow managed to smash his #7 ECURIE ECOSSE NIELSEN Ligier LMP3 into the barriers under the Safety Car causing extensive damage to the front; he did however continue to drive it, somewhat recklessly, back to the pits where the team managed to get a new front fitted and get the car back into the race, albeit some laps down. 

After the first hour’s ‘racing’ the #26 G-Drive had dropped back and the leading three cars were the #29 Duqueine Engineering Oreca followed by the Dallaras of AVF By Andrian Valles (#30) and the #47 of local team Cetilar Villorba Corse. 

As the race went back to green again there was contact between the #17 Ultimate and #20 Racing for Poland Ligiers. Mondini in the #11 Eurointernational was fighting hard with Sean Rayhall in the #2 United Autosports LMP3 for second position while Terrence Woodward held the lead position in the #6 360 Racing Ligier. Henrik Hedman in the #21 Dragonspeed Oreca earned himself a drive through penalty following an accident with the #18 YMR Ligier leding to its retirement and a thoroughly miserable weekend for the French team. 

Next ‘off the track’ was the #8 DKR Norma M30 which needed to be towed off to the pits to retire bringing out another FCY then SC while the #88 Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR dived into the puts with damage following contact with the (freshly repaired) #20 Racing for Poland Ligier. 

By half distance Andrea Pizzitola’s G-Drive Oreca lead the DUQUEINE ENGINEERING car of Nelson Panciatici in LMP2, Sean Rayhall was leading the P3 class from Kay van Bierlo in the #11 Eurointernational and in GTE, Aaron Scott in the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari was ahead of Marc Lieb in the #77 Porsche. 

The race continued until a big shunt at Lesmo 2 involving various P3 cars and the #66 JMW Ferrari brought out the fourth safety car of the race – due to some possible miscommunication, both of the United Autosports P2 Ligiers passed the safety car and then had to wait just before Parabolica to be collected, slotting in neatly behind the Jaguar Safety Car as it passed.

One lap later, with 1h 38 to go the race again went green, however Harisson Newey jumped the restart in the #31 Algarve Pro Rebellion Racing car earning himself a penalty. Phil Hanson in the #22 United Autosports Ligier was putting up a great fight against Andrea Pizzitola in the #26 Oreca but eventually succumbed and handed the lead to the Italian two laps later.

At the final scheduled round of pitstops, the #26 G-Drive Racing car retained its lead with Filipe Albuquerque still pushing hard in the #22 Ligier behind. Matthieu Vaxivière continued to work his way up from last to third position. 

With 45 minutes to go Albuquerque had to pit handing third to Vaxivière, Falb led Kay Van Berlo in the P3 class with Cameron leading GTE in the #55 Ferrari. The leading G-Drive car then dived into the pits for a splash and rejoined in third. 

As the chequered flag fell, Jean Eric Vergne brought home the G-Drive car just under 30 seconds ahead of Matthieu Vaxivière who’d battled his #33 TDS Racing Oreca all the way to the head of the pack. 

In the LMP3 category, the #11 Eurointernational Ligier JSP3 driven by Giorgio Mondini and Kay Van Berlo took first place after late race drama for the John Falb in the #2 United Autosports Ligier who saw a certain win vanish when a puncture forced the American for an extra pitstop with just eight minutes to go. The #6 360 Racing Ligier JSP3 driven by Terrence Woodward and Ross Kaiser came home second, some four seconds behind the leaders.  A strong effort from the team as James Swift was excluded from the race. Martin Hippe in the #13 Inter Europol Ligier seemed to be on his way to the podium, but almost ran out of fuel in the penultimate lap and had to come in for a splash & dash.  The final podium position in the LMP3 class went to the #3 United Autosports Ligier shared by Anthony Wells, Garret Grist and Matt Bell.

In GTE the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GTE of Matt Griffin, Duncan Cameron, and Aaron Scott took home the win after leading their class for a majority of the race. The #77 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR of  Christian Ried, Marvin Dienst and Marc Lieb finished the race in second with the #80 Porsche of Ebimotors rounding out the GTE podium.

Race Results

Text: John Stevens/Kristof Vermeulen
Pictures: JellyBaby.Media

ELMS: Monza update > TDS Racing loses pole position, Dragonspeed now on P1

A few hours after the end of the qualifying sessions for the 4 Hours of Monza tomorrow, several decisions of the race stewards have seriously affected the grid for tomorrow's race. 

TDS Racing who were fastest in LMP2 with Matthieu Vaxiviere at the wheel have lost their pole position for tomorrow's race due to the car not being in compliance to the technical regulations.  This means the #21 Dragonspeed Oreca of Ben Hanley, Henrik Hedman and Nicolas Lapierre inherits pole position. Apparently there was tape on the bodywork which is not allowed. All qualifying times of the car have been cancelled.  The #33 will start the race from the back of the LMP2 grid.  

The #31 APR - Rebellion which qualified third also saw its qualifying times cancelled due to the height of the front splitter not in compliance with the technical regulation.  This car will also start from the back of the LMP2 grid tomorrow. 

Same story for the #9 AT Racing Ligier in LMP3, that also saw his qualifying times cancelled due to the height of the front splitter.  They will have to start from the back of the grid tomorrow.   Mikkel Jensen qualified on third place, which now will be taken by the #2 United Autosports of John Falb and Sean Rayhall.  

James Swift in the #6 360 RACING Ligier JS P3 has been denied to start the race tomorrow.  Swift didn't comply with the minimum of qualifying laptimes (110% of the best time set by the fastest time in the group).  Terrence Woodward and Ross Kaiser will have to complete the race with the two of them and Kaiser has to be the starting driver. 

It's not all bad news that came from the stewards: the #66 JMW Ferrari have been given permission to race tomorrow, despite not taking part in qualifying. 

Text: Kristof Vermeulen
Pictures: JellyBaby.Media

ELMS: Pole position for Matthieu Vaxiviere and TDS Racing at Monza

After an incident filled qualifying session which saw 2 red flags, Matthieu Vaxiviere scored pole position for TDS Racing this afternoon in a warm and sunny Monza. With a time of 1.35.456, the Frenchman was almost 0.4 seconds faster than the competition, scoring his first pole position in the European Le Mans Series.  

© ELMS - Jakob Ebrey

Vaxiviere did his flying lap right before the session was red flagged with just under 3 minutes to go.  The other car starting from the front row is the #21 Dragonspeed Oreca of Ben Hanley, who set a time of 1.35.837. Gustavo Menezes was really quick in the #31 APR - Rebellion Racing Oreca, taking third spot on the grid in 1.36.034.  Nelson Panciatici in the #29 Duqueine Engineering Oreca will also start from the second row after setting the fourth fastest time. 

Jean-Eric Vergne completed an Oreca top 5 in the #26 G-Drive Racing which has been fast all weekend so far.  The quickest non Oreca chassis was the #32 United Autosports Ligier of Filipe Albuquerque.  Olivier Pla in the #24 Racing Engineering which won the race at Le Castellet had a spin coming out of the first chicane and wasn't able to have a clear lap during qualifying.  They will start from 12th position tomorrow.

The session was red flagged again in the dying seconds, when Ate De Jong parked his #25 Algarve Pro Racing Ligier in the barriers at Parabolica.  De Jong walked away from the incident, but there will be a lot of work on the car to get it on the grid by tomorrow. 

The 10 minute LMP3 qualifying was very tight, with several cars fighting for pole position right until the end of the session.  Mathieu Lahaye was fastest in the end, scoring the first pole position for Ultimate in the #17 Norma M30.  His laptime of 1.45.386 was 0.224 seconds faster than David Droux in the #19 M.Racing-YMR Norma who will start from second again tomorrow.  

Behind Droux, it was almost too close to call for the remaining cars in the top 5.  Mikkel Jensen in the #9 AT Racing ligier came just 0.005 seconds short for second place and was chased closely by defending LMP3 champion John Falb who was just 0.062 seconds slower.  Rounding out the top 5 was Job Van Uitert in the #15 RLR M Sport Ligier that won the race in Le Castellet.  Nine cars finished within one second in qualifying, LMP3 will be a close and very entertaining race tomorrow.

IN LMGTE, home team Ebimotors scored their first pole position in the European Le Mans Series with their #80 Porsche 911 RSR.  Ricardo Pera was the fastest man on track, beating Porsche works driver Gianmaria Bruni with just 0.018 seconds.  Pera took pole position in an impressive 1.47.493.  Third spot on the grid tomorrow is for the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari of Matt Griffin, just 0.081 seconds slower than Bruni.  Andrea Bertolini in the #83 Krohn Racing Ferrari and Marc Lieb in the #77 Proton Porsche completed the top 5.  The JMW Ferrari didn't come out for qualifying, still under repair after its crash this morning. 

Qualifying results: 

LMP2

LMP3

LMGTE

Morning free practice session

Dragonspeed and G-Drive continue to dominate the LMP2 class, this time it's the #26 G-Drive Racing Oreca of Jean-Eric Vergne who went quickest in this morning's free practice session.  With a laptime of 1.35.943 the Frenchman was 0.148 seconds faster than Ben Hanley in the #21 Dragonspeed Oreca.  Matthieu Vaxiviere in the #33 TDS Racing Oreca went third fastest in 1.36.276.

Behind those three, 5 cars set a laptime within 0.2 seconds, the first eight cars finishing the session within one second. Oreca jeeps on dominating the class, taking up the first 7 spots in the session. The quickest non-Oreca was the #32 United Autosports Ligier of Will Owen, Hugo de Saedeleer and Wayne Boyd in 1.37.347, over a second behind the leading Oreca.  

Norma on top again in the LMP3 class although it wasn't a clean sweep as yesterday during the first practice session. David Droux in the #19 M.Racing YMR set the fastest time in 1.53.618. Mikkel Jensen is back in the #9 AT Racing Ligier in Monza and squeezed himself inbetween the Norma's of M.Racing-YMR and Ultimate, setting the second fastest time 0.188 seconds behind Droux in the #19.  Third quickest was Jean-Baptiste Lahaye in the #17 Ultimate in 1.46.874.  Rounding out the top 5 were the #4 Cool Racing Ligier and the #10 Oregon Team Norma which set the fastest time on Friday. 

The #15 RLR M Sport Ligier of John Farano, Job Van Uitert and Robert Garofall didn't make it out of its pitbox this morning. 

The session was interrupted by a red flag when Liam Griffin in the #66 JMW Ferrari went off and hit the barriers at turn 4.  The car was brought back into the pitlane with damage to the front. Matt Griffin set the pace in the LMGTE class in is #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari, mixing well inbetween the LMP3 cars in a fastest time of 1.48.022. Gimmi Bruni in the #88 Proton Competition set the second quickest time of the session in 1.48.229. Before Griffin's crash, Miguel Molina still ste the third time for the #66 JMW Ferrari, just over half a second slower than Griffin. 

Results FP2

The 4 Hours of Monza will start tomorrow at 12h30 local time (11h30 UK time).  The race will be live streamed on the ELMS website and their youtube channel. 

Text: Kristof Vermeulen

Pictures: JellyBaby.Media

ELMS: Dragonspeed fastest in Friday practice sessions at Monza

On track action kicked off at the Autodromo Internazionale Monza today for the second race in the 2018 European Le Mans Series. Despite the rainy weather forecast that was published in the past days, the sun came out over the track with temperatures up to 26 degrees.  A welcome change compared to the conditions at Le Castellet for the prologue and first race last month. 

Just one noteable incident in today's 90 minute session when the #25 Algarve Pro Racing ligier got stuck into the gravel trap at the outside of the second Lesmo. During a short full course yellow, the car was towed out and able to continue its way. 

Ben Hanley in the #21 Dragonspeed Oreca set the fastest time in the first free practice session for the 4 Hours of Monza.  Hanley's quickest lap of 1.36.284 round the 5,793 km Italian track was 0.695 seconds faster than Roman Rusinov in his #26 G-Drive Racing Oreca07.  Third fastest and first non-Oreca chassis was the #49 Dallara of High Class Racing with Anders Fjordbach at the wheel for a lap of 1.37.275, just under a second behind Hanley. 

Le Castellet winners Racing Engineering were fourth fastest with Olivier Pla in 1.37.404.  Felipe Nasr in the #49 Cetilar Villorba Corse Dallara debuted in the European Le Mans Series with the fifth time this morning, just in front of the first Ligier of Timothé Buret in the #23 Panis-Barthez Competition. 

In LMP3, the Norma's of Oregon Team, M.Racing-YMR and Ultimate outpaced the Ligiers in today's free practice sessions. Riccardo Ponzio in the colourful #10 Oregon Team Norma M30 was quickest overall with a laptime of 1.46.136.  David Droux in the #19 M.Racing-YMR Norma followed close, just 0.107 seconds behind in last year's winning car.  Third fastest was Matthieu Lahaye in the #17 Ultimate Norma.  Quickest of the Ligiers was last years ELMS champion SeaN Rayhall in the #2 United Autosports, just over half a second slower than Ponzio. 

Proton Competition was quickest in the LMGTE class, with Gimmi Bruni in the #88 Porsche 911 RSR.  Bruni set a time of 1.48.457, just under half a second quicker than Andrea Bertolini in the #83 Krohn Racing Ferrari F488 GTE. Miguel Molina continued on his good form from Le Castellet last month to set the third fastest time in 1.49.026. 

Earlier this morning, all 121 drivers competing in the 4 Hours of Monza gathered for the annual family picture.

© ELMS - Jakob Ebrey

This should have been taken last month in Le Castellet but the rain forced to cancel the photoshoot back then.  Luckily the weather gods were in a good mood this morning, bathing the track in sunshine instead of the predicted rainshowers.  

Bronze driver test

30 cars came out for the traditional Bronze driver test this afternoon.  Henrik Hedman set the #21 Dragonspeed back on top of the timetable with a laptime of 1.39.321. Roberto Lacorte in the #47 Cetilar Villorba Corse Dallara went second fastest, just over half a second behind Hedman. François Perrodo put the #33 TDS Racing Oreca on third place.  In LMP3 it was Alexey Chuklin in tyhe #5 NEFIS by Speed Factory Ligier who went fastest in 1.47.525. Kay Van Berlo in the #11 Eurointerntaional Ligier came in second, with Anthony Wells in the #3 United Autosports behind him.

Duncan Cameron in the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari F488 GTE was a fraction of a second (0.059) faster than Gianluca Roda in the LMGTE class, with a laptime of 1.49.824.  Raymond Narac in the #80 Ebimotors completed the top 3 in class.

The second free practice session is scheduled for 9h15 tomorrow morning.  Practice starts tomorrow afternoon at 13h50.



Results Free Practice
Results Bronze Driver test

Text: Kristof Vermeulen
Pictures: JellyBaby.Media

ELMS: 43 cars ready for the 4 Hours of Monza

The European Le Mans Series returns to the "Temple of speed" this weekend for the second race of the 2018 season.  43 cars are on the entry list for the 4 Hours of Monza, ready for another exciting and action filled weekend on one of Europe's finest racetracks. 

Another well filled grid in the LMP2 class, with 18 cars going through scrutineering in Monza today. 

In the #22 United Autosports Ligier, Filipe Albuquerque takes back his seat from Bruno Senna, after missing out the race at Paul Ricard due to a clash with the IMSA championship. Another "new" face in the paddock this weekend is Felipe Nasr in the #47 Cetilar Villorba Corse.  Nasr replaces Andrea Belicchi for the remainder of the season and Le Mans who had no choice than to take a step downdue to back problems at and after Le Castellet.

Two teams arrived in Monza straight from the WEC race at Spa last weekend: G-Drive Racing and TDS Racing.  G-Drive won its class in Belgium with their Oreca 07 driven by Roman Rusinov, Jean-Eric Vergne and Andrea Pizzitola.  TDS Racing added the 4 hours of Monza to its WEC schedule, the team's Oreca 07 racing again under #33 in the ELMS, with the same driver line-up: Matthieu Vaxiviere, François Perrodo and Loïc Duval.

Racing Engineering won their first ever race in the ELMS last month.  Norman Nato, Olivier Pla and Paul Petit arrived in Monza with the goal of doing it all over again this weekend after a flawless weekend in the south of France.  Dragonspeed (DNF) and United Autosports (9th  and 12th) will be out for a strong finish at Monza this weekend, making sure they'll still have a shot at the championship when they leave Italy Sunday evening. 

19 cars will be on the grid in the LMP3 class, one more than the opening race in La Castellet last month. The #20 Racing for Poland Ligier JSP3 joins the championship for this race.  The car will be driven by Henning Enqvist, Tomasz Blicharski and Alex Fontana.

Job Van Uitert won the 4 hours of Le Castellet in the #15 RLR M-Sport Ligier with John Farano and Rob Garofall, they will face some fierce competition again from M.Racing YMR which won here last season in their #19 Norma M30.  Nicolas Ferrer, David Droux and Lucas Légéret qualified on pole in Le Castellet and finished second. Monza is a high speed track that suits the Norma very well, the #19 should well be in the mix for the win this weekend.  There's six Italian drivers in the class, Giorgio Mondini in the #11 Eurointernational Ligier probably has the best shot for a podium place again, together with another young Dutchman: Kay Van Berlo.  

A few more driver changes to be noted: Mikkel Jensen returns to his seat in the #9 AT Racing, replacing Yann Clairey; Mark Kvamme takes the place of James Dayson in the #12 Eurointernational and Hendrik Still in the #14 Inter Europol Competition replaces Henning Enqvist (who moved to the #20).  

In LMGTE it's back to the six full season entries, equally split up between 3 Ferrari's and 3 Porsches. JMW Motorsport won in Monza last year, in which was the final race of their 458 Italia before switching to the new 488 in Le Mans. After their win at Paul Ricard, Miguel Molina & co will be out for a second victory this season.

2 remarkable driver changes have to be noted at Proton Competition, as Marc Lieb and Gianmaria Bruni join the team for the race in Monza.  Marc Lieb replaces Dennis Olsen in the #77 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR, joining Christian Ried and Marvin Dienst, while Gianmaria Bruni will race the #88 Porsche instead of Matteo Cairoli.  

Track action starts tomorrow with the first 90 minute free practice session at 11h45 and the Bronze driver collective test in the afternoon (16h15). 

Useful links:

Entry list

Timing

Kristof Vermeulen.