ELMS: First win for IDEC Sport in Silverstone

The 4 Hours of Silverstone saw changeable weather with sunshine and heavy showers which set the stage for an incident-packed and drama-filled race for the fans to enjoy. The UK round of the 2019 European Le Mans Series was won by the no28 IDEC Sport Oreca with Memo Rojas taking the chequered flag after the no26 G-Drive Racing Aurus pitted for fuel four minutes before the end of the race.  

© ELMS/David Lord Photography

The no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier of Nigel Moore closed down a two-minute gap to catch the no11 Eurointernational Ligier of Jens Petersen in the final hour of the race.  Petersen took the flag first but was given a 30-second penalty for not coming into the pits for a Black and Orange flag earlier in the race.   The no13 Ligier was declared the winner but was then handed a 1m43s penalty for not respecting the minimum driving time.  So the no11 Ligier was handed the win back and the no13 Ligier was second.

The no88 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR was victorious in LMGTE, with Thomas Preining taking the flag 27.8 seconds ahead of the no83 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Rahel Frey.

The race started in dramatic fashion with the track being declared wet at the start as the rain clouds on the horizon got closer. The no21 DragonSpeed Oreca of James Allen kept the lead while behind the leaders there were a few cars that went off at the first corner, with all rejoining the battle. In LMP3 the no17 Ultimate of Jean-Baptiste Lahaye took the lead ahead of pole-sitter Yann Ehrlacher in the no19 M Racing Norma.

In LMGTE, it was the no60 Kessel Racing Ferrari out in front at the start with Sergio Pianezzola moving ahead of the no88 Porsche of Gianluca Giraudi, the Italian dropping back to 3rd as the no83 Kessel Ferrari of Michelle Gatting moved up to second place.

The rain that had been forecasted duly arrived and most of the grid dived into the pits for wet tyres after just 5 minutes of racing. The no21 DragonSpeed of James Allen didn’t pit and stayed out on slicks gambling that the rain would quickly clear. Mikkel Jensen made the same gamble in the no11 Eurointernational Ligier and the Dane found himself in the class lead.

The no43 RLR MSport Oreca of Matthieu Vaxiviere was revelling in the wet conditions, the French driver moving up the field to take the lead as the no21 DragonSpeed Oreca pitted for wets. Vaxiveire held an 18 second lead over the no23 Panis Barthez Competition Oreca of Will Stevens. The no66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari of Wei Lu ended in the gravel at T7, bringing out the first Full Course Yellow of the race.  The car was quickly recovered and the race went green after only four minutes. A second FCY period was declared ten minutes later when the no22 United Autosports Oreca of Phil Hanson went off at Brooklands: the car lost all power and the British driver was forced to retire.

Once again the race went green very quickly after the car was placed behind the barriers at Luffield. The rain had stopped and the track had started to dry out. The no43 RLR M Sport Oreca was over 30 seconds ahead of the no24 Panis Barthez Ligier of Konstantin Tereschenko.  Mikkel Jensen also held a 30 second lead in LMP3 with Christian England in the no3 United Autosports Ligier in second. It was a Kessel Racing 1-2 as Sergio Pianezzola led in the no60 488 GTE, 15 seconds ahead of the no83 Ferrari of Michelle Gatting.

Matthieu Vaxiviere pitted from the lead to hand over to Canadian John Farano, rejoining the track with an 8-second lead. However, the more experienced drivers in the following cars soon caught and passed Farano, who was down to sixth a few laps later with James Allen back into the lead in the no21 DragonSpeed.

There were further woes for Farano when he was the innocent victim of a collision between the no30 Duqueine Engineering Oreca of Nicolas Jamin and the no14 Inter Europol  Competition Ligier of Sam Dejonghe. The no43 Oreca was clipped by the no14 Ligier and Farano had to return to the pits where a damaged wishbone needed replacing.  Nicolas Jamin was given a drive-through penalty for causing the accident.

A Safety Car was deployed when the no3 United Autosports Ligier of Mike Guasch and the no24 Panis Barthez Competition Ligier of Timothe Buret collided and the LMP3 car ended hitting the concrete wall hard. The American driver was conscious and taken to the circuit medical centre for checks. 

After twenty minutes the race resumed only for a second Safety Car to be deployed almost immediately as the no37 Cool Racing Oreca and the no19 M Racing Norma collided, the Oreca ending up in the middle of the track and was hit by the no30 Duqueine Engineering Oreca. With an hour to go the race resumed with the no39 Graff Racing Oreca of Jonathan Hirschi out in front of the field. The Swiss driver was judged to have acted dangerously during the Safety Car period and was given a drive-through penalty. The no26 G-Drive Racing Aurus of Jean-Eric Vergne took the lead with Memo Rojas in the no28 IDEC Sport Oreca following.

Jens Petersen in the no11 Eurointernational Ligier was nearly a lap ahead of the no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier of Nigel Moore, the British driver lapping over five seconds faster than the leader.

In LMGTE the no83 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Rahel Frey was leading with the no88 Proton Competition Porsche of Thomas Preining closing rapidly.  The Austrian passed the Swiss driver on the run into Stowe Corner and started to open up a gap. The no51 Luzich Racing and no60 Kessel Racing Ferraris were battling hard for third place with the no60 488 getting the upper hand.

With 30 minutes to go Ben Hanley in the no21 DragonSpeed was out in front, passing the no26 G-Drive Aurus for the lead.  However, it was short-lived when Ben Hanley had to pit and Jean-Eric Vergne went back into the lead ahead of the no28 IDEC Sport Oreca and the no39 Graff Oreca 07.  It looked like Vergne was heading for the Russian team’s third win in a row, but the French driver had to pit for a ‘splash and dash’ fuel stop. This put Rojas into the lead and the victory.

The no11 Eurointernational Ligier was being caught by the no13 Inter Europol Ligier but it looked like Petersen was going to hold on.  But disaster struck when the team received a black and orange flag to bring the car in to repair a damaged splitter. The German driver stayed out and took the chequered flag but was issued with a drive-through penalty converted to a 30 second time penalty, dropping the no11 Eurointernational Ligier down the order. This promoted the no13 Ligier of Martin Hippe and Nigel Moore into the class winning position.

However, it all changed again when the no13 Ligier was handed a 1m43 second penalty for not respecting the driving time for the bronze driver.  This switched the two cars around again so Mikkel Jensen and Jens Petersen were declared the LMP3 winners of the 4 Hours of Silverstone.  The no2 United Autosports Ligier of Wayne Boyd, Garret Grist and Tommy Erdos took the final podium place.

In LMGTE the no88 Proton Competition Porsche crossed the line to take a debut ELMS win for Thomas Preining, Gianluca Giraudi and Ricardo Sanchez, with the no83 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Michelle Gatting, Manuela Gostner and Rahel Frey taking their second podium finish of the 2019 season.



Source: www.europeanlemansseries.com

Pictures: Kristof Vermeulen & jellybaby.media

FIA WEC 2019/2020: LMGTE Pro season preview

The GTE Pro class lost 2 manufacturers and is down to six cars for season 8 of the World Endurance Championship.  With Ford ending its program as predicted, and BMW pulling out of the championship after just 1 (and a half) season, this leaves Ferrari, Porsche and Aston Martin with 2 cars each on the grid. 

It should be another interesting season though, with the “new” Aston now in his second season after a promising first one with two wins and pole position at Le Mans (although the BoP prevented them from being competitive during the race). Porsche arrives with an almost completely (95%) 911 RSR and will be eager to defend their Super Season title.  Ferrari returns with the 488 EVO which will also have some improvements to stand up against the 2 other manufacturers. 

AF Corse

#51 & #71 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO

Ferrari is back with 2 488 EVO’s but with a slightly changed driver line-up where Miguel Molina replaces Sam Bird.  There have been no significant announcements made about any changes to the car, but the 488 showed its strength and reliability last season, winning the race in Silverstone and Le Mans. 

Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado return to the #51 Ferrari, after winning the driver’s and team title in 2017 and this years’ 24 Hours of Le Mans together with Daniel Serra.  Davide Rigon will be joined by Miguel Molina in the #71, the Spanish driver taking over Sam Bird’s seat in the championship.  Molina has been racing with Ferrari since 2017 and has been active in the WEC as the third driver at Le Mans and the ELMS where he raced with the JMW Ferrari last season.  The uncertainty about the Formula E calendar, which clashes a few times with the WEC may have been the reason that Bird lost his seat for the season. It is most likely however that the British driver will return to the squad for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. 

Porsche GT Team

#91 & #92 Porsche 911 RSR - 19

Porsche arrives well prepared in Silverstone with a brand new 911 RSR.  The new nine-eleven received several improvements over the former car in areas such as driveability, efficiency, ergonomics and ease of servicing. 95% of the car is new, the only components that have been kept unchanged from the predecessor are the headlights, brake system, clutch, driver’s seat and parts of the suspension. It’s powered by a 6-cylinder boxer engine with a 4.2-litre displacement.  From the outside, the most visual updates are the redesigned exhausts which now has side pipes and the whole back of the car with new fenders and a new (larger) diffuser. 

No changes in Porsche’s driver line-ups for the new season.  Reigning champions Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen will defend their title with the #92 car, while Richard Lietz and Gianmaria Bruni are back in the #91. 

Aston Martin Racing

#95 & #97 Aston Martin Vantage AMR

Aston Martin’s pro-line-up hasn’t changed for the new season.  The #95 “Dane Train” will be driven by Nicky Thiim and Marco Sorenson, while Alex Lynn and Maxime Martin once again occupy the #97 Vantage GTE. 

In its first season, the new Vantage scored 2 victories and pole position at Le Mans.  The stakes are high in the 2019/2020 season as the car has been optimized and they are challenging for the championship, both in the Pro and Am class. Could this be the final season for AMR in the GTE Pro class when they move up to the Hypercars in 2020?  Let’s hope not, or this might well be the swansong of a class that gave us some of the best racing in the past 7 seasons. 

"We are coming into Silverstone far better prepared and with a better package than last year," said Martin. "It’s going to be a really tough fight with our rivals as they are really competitive, and as a team we will have to put everything together to be able to win and be at the front consistently. The target for everybody is to try and win the championship this year with the Vantage GTE.”

Nicky Thiim added: "The car is only one season old, and because the season was so long, sometimes people forget that it has only done eight races! We are really proud of what it has achieved already. Now we want to attack the championship and I really want to bring it back to the 'Dane Train' along with Marco and the rest of the team."

ELMS 2017 - United Autosports win highly entertaining 4 Hours of Silverstone

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 28^th 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.

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.

Race results

Kristof Vermeulen.

ELMS 2017 - 4 Hours of Silverstone: G-Drive fastest in FP1, trashing the LMP2 lap record

The ELMS season kicked off this afternoon with the first free practice session for the 4 Hours of Silverstone. The sun got through the clouds a few times in a relatively quiet first session, only interrupted by a few short full course yellows, but without any incidents. The 90 minute session ended under FCY when the #16 Panis-Barthez Competition LMP3 came to a halt at the first corner with only 3 minutes remaining.

Ryo Hirakawa was fastest overall in the #22 G-Drive Oreca 07. Hirakawa managed a lap in 1.44.699, with an average speed of 202.9 km/h. The Japenese driver trashed the former lap record set by Harry Tincknell in the Jota Gibson in 2015 with more than 5 seconds. It was known that the new breed of LMP2's would be fast, but such an improvement is still a bit of a surprise ... and this was only the first free practice session !

Second fastest in the LMP2 class was Ben Hanley in the #21 Dragonspeed Oreca, almost a second (0.980) behind Hirakawa. Andrea Pizzitola was the quickest Ligier driver in the #25 Algarve Pro Racing JSP217. Fastest of the Dallara's was Roberto Lacorte in the #47 Cetilar Villorba Corse Dallara P217 in 1:47.618, placing him fouth ovrall.

Another lap record went down in the LMP3 class this afternoon. Sean Rayhall went fastest in the #2 United Autosports Ligier JSP3 in 1.54.222. Compared to last year's fastest lap set by Alex Brundle in the same car, the American took off 1.6 seconds of Brundle's best lap. Alex Kapida was second quickest this afternoon in the #15 RLR MSport Ligier (1.55.092), ahead of Giorgio Mondini in the #11 Eurointernational (1.55.843).  The Norma M30 of M.Racing - YMR has been repaired after its heavy shunt at Monza two weeks ago, and took 12th position in class. 

Nicki Thiim set the pace in LM GTE in his #90 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage V8. With a fastest lap of 1:58.771, Thiim put himself in the middle of the LMP3 pack. Birthday boy Darren Turner made it an Aston 1-2 today, driving the #99 Beechdean Aston Martin round the track in 1.59.583. The third placed car in class was the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 driven by Matt Griffin. 

Second free practice is scheduled for Friday morning at 09.00h.  Qualifying is due in the afternoon from 14.05h onwards. 

Our picture gallery of the first practice session can be found here.

Results FP1


Kristof Vermeulen.

ELMS 2017 - 4 Hours of Silverstone: Thursday gallery