ELMS: G-Drive leads the championship as the ELMS arrives in Spa-Francorchamps

Round 5 for the European Le Mans Series this weekend on the iconic Spa-Francorchamps circuit in the Belgian Ardennes.  All is still to play for in the penultimate race of the championship, especially in LMP2 and LMP3 where both title contenders are just a few points apart.  Luzich Racing has a more comfortable lead in the LMGTE class and might be able to clinch the title already this weekend. 

Earlier this summer, LMEM - organiser of the FIA WEC and ELMS - has renewed its contract with Spa-Francorchamps for another 4 years, up to 2023. Entry is free all weekend, including paddock access, pit and grid walk for all the fans.  And with a dry weather forecast & temps up to 25 degrees over the weekend, there's no reason not to pass by Francorchamps if you're around!  Except maybe that "little" chance of rain during the race on Sunday ... 

G-Drive Racing leads the championship in the LMP2 class with their #26 Aurus 01, after two victories in Monza and Barcelona and a second place in Silverstone. With 81 points the Russian team has an advantage of 9 points of IDEC Sport who won their first-ever ELMS race at Silverstone.  Graff is third so far in the championship with 53 points with their #39 Oreca, followed by Le Castellet winners Dragonspeed (40 points) and Duqueine Engineering (35 points) in the #30 Oreca 07.  

Inter Europol Competition arrives with a new and very ambitious line-up for the race in Francorchamps this weekend. Belgian driver Sam Dejonghe who has been racing in LMP3 with the team so far, makes his debut in the LMP2 class in his home race next to regular driver Jakub Smiechowski.  They will be joined by the experienced Mathias Beche who makes his return to the ELMS after racing with High Class Racing at Le Mans. 

Sam Dejonghe said: “I’m thrilled to make the step up to LMP2! The car and way of doing things in the top class of ELMS is new to me, so it’s a big challenge with limited tracktime. But I know Spa very well, know how the championship works and I feel comfortable in our team. The focus is there, and I will do everything I can to adapt quickly and deliver a performance on Sunday. Can’t wait to get behind the wheel!”

United Autosports waived its second Ligier goodbye and now has 2 Oreca’s on the grid for the 4 hour race on Sunday.  Missing on the grid will be Carlin Racing after Jack Manchester’s fierce crash at Silverstone.  The team used Cetilar’s spare chassis to race in Silverstone with Harrison Newey taking Manchesters’ seat. Fractured ribs prevent Manchester from racing in Spa, so the team decided to sit out this race and will return at the final race of the season in Portimao next month. 

At Cool Racing, Alexandre Coigny hasn’t completely recovered yet from his crash during the race in Silverstone which caused him to miss the teams’ maiden race and victory in the FIA WEC on Sunday.  He won’t be replaced in the #37 Oreca, which will be driven by Nico Lapierre and Antonin Borga. The #35 BHK Motorsport is also back to a 2 man line-up with season regulars Francesco Dracone and Sergio Campana. In the #23 Panis-Barthez Oreca, Leonard Hoogenboom is absent for the race in Spa. 

In LMP3 the difference between both championship leaders is even tighter than in LMP2; just 7 points between the leaders in the #13 Inter Europol Competition (76 points for Martin Hippe and Nigel Moore) and the second-placed #11 Eurointernational of Mikkel Jensen and Jens Petersen with 69 points.  The #2 United Autosports of Garett Grist, Tommy Erdos and Wayne Boyd sits in third place with 53 points, followed by the #17 Ultimate Norma and the #7 Nielsen Racing Norma of Anthony Wells and Colin Noble. 

With Sam Dejonghe moving up to LMP2 at Inter Europol Competition, Constantin Schöll, a very promising 21 year old Austrian Driver will take his place.  He will join Paul Scheusner in the #14 Ligier JSP3.  Mike Guash is still recovering from his accident in Spa where he went hard into the wall, ending up with a fractured vertebra.  He will be replaced by Andrew Bentley in the second United Autosports Ligier. 

Nicholas Adcock takes Nobuya Yamanaka seat in the #8 Nielsen Racing Ligier while the #19 M Racing Norma will also have a two-man crew for this weekend, since Yann Ehrlacher and Yvan Muller are absent due to other racing commitments. Lucas Légeret and Laurent Millara will be up for double duty in the #19 over the weekend. 

Luzich Racing arrives in Spa as the points leader in the LMGTE class.  The #51 Ferrari 488 leads the class with a total of 77 points. Alessandro Pier Guidi, Fabien Lavergne and Mikkel Mac won the 4 Hours of Le Castellet and Monza, finished third in Barcelona and fourth in Silverstone a few weeks ago. 

The Swiss team has a lead of 21 points over three teams who share second place after 4 rounds. The #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR, #66 JMW Ferrari and #83 all-female Kessel Racing Ferrari all have scored 56 points so far in the championship. Further down is the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari (41 points) and the #88 Proton Competition Porsche. 

There are a few changes in the driver line-ups to be noted compared to the 4 Hours of Silverstone. In the #60 Kessel Racing Ferrari, Nicola Cadei will be replaced by South African David Perel.  In the #88 Proton Competition Porsche, Thomas Preining will be joined by … 

The #56 Project 1 Porsche of Egidio Perfetti, won’t race at Spa due to the team’s participation with 2 cars in the FIA WEC and the logistics needed for the upcoming 6 Hours of Fuji. The team has a third car in order at Porsche, but apparently, it hasn’t been delivered yet.  As in Silverstone, the Ebimotors Porsche also didn’t make it Francorchamps this weekend. 

Kristof Vermeulen.
Pictures: Kristof Vermeulen & Jellybaby.Media

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

ELMS: Second win in a row for G-Drive in Barcelona

G-Drive Racing raced their way to their second consecutive European Le Mans Series (ELMS) win tonight at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with Roman Rusinov, Job van Uitert and Jean-Eric Vergne putting in a faultless drive in the Aurus 01 Gibson.

A decision by the TDS run team to double-stint its Dunlop tyres saw it take an early lead while the cars in front opted to change tyres and spent longer in the pits at the first pit stop helping the Russian team to a 1 lap lead over the #39 GRAFF by the end of the race.

“It’s a couple of good weekends I’m very happy,” said Vergne. “There was not a single mistake from my teammates. It was a straight forward race for me, but I had fun pushing.”

Behind the Aurus, it was a thrilling race for the remaining podium spots. The #39 GRAFF of Gommendy, Cougnaud and Hirschi eventually took second place after an epic tussle with the #30 Duqueine Engineering Oreca in the closing laps of the race in total darkness, which came to an end after Gommendy made a move stick and snatched second place for GRAFF. Then, on the final lap of the race, Bradley was passed by Antonin Borga in the Cool Racing Oreca to snatch third spot.

Pole-sitters IDEC Sport could only manage fifth place by the end of the race, an additional pit-stop all but sealing the team’s fate.

In LMP3, despite a late drive-through penalty for contact with the #10 Oregon Team Norma, Inter Europol Competition took its first win of the season with their #13 Ligier JS P3 by 11.806s from the #17 Ultimate Norma M 30 but it was no walk in the park with the class showing some of the most battle-scarred racing of the series to date.

“It was a really good race.” Moore said afterwards “We struggled all weekend – to be fair. We know we don’t have the highest speed amongst the Ligiers or the Normas but we have consistency. We had a reasonably strong race and we were very good in the traffic too. Well done to Inter Europol Competition”

 As the flag dropped Jean-Baptiste Layahe in the #17 Ultimate Norma M30 suffered a terrible start and dropped to last position overall promoting Jan Ehrlacher in the #19 M.Racing Norma M30 to third. 13 laps later the Frenchman would inherit second position as the #10 Norma M30 was boxed for repairs.  Soon after the first stops Millara in the #19 had contact with David Heinemeier Hansson in the #56 Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR resulting in the Frenchman having to stop for repairs. Next up, Ross Kaiser in the #6 360 Racing Ligier spun at turn 7 causing a Full Course Yellow (FCY).

At almost the same time the second 360 Racing Ligier was the victim of a fuel fire as Andreas Lasteratos brought the car in at the end of his stint that saw him and one of the crew members suffer minor burns and the car garaged for repairs. Following attention at the circuit Medical Center Laskeratos was cleared fit and returned to drive the final stint and take the car to 13th overall, some 6 laps down.

Having started on pole and traded first place through the race the #11 Eurointernational Ligier went off at Turn 7 and then was eventually retired while another Full Course Yellow episode kicked off.  Despite a valiant tussle in the closing laps with Lahaye in the #17 Ultimate, Tommy Erdos in the #2 United autosports Ligier couldn’t quite hang onto second place and closed out the podium 7.169s behind Lahaye.

In GTE, Luzich Racing’s #51 Ferrari 488 GTE took a comfortable win as Alessandro Pier Guidi, Nicklas Nielsen and Fabien Lavergne finished over half a minute clear of the rest of the field; the win giving the AF-Corse run team the points lead in the series.

“We did a very good job working together. We worked hard to get race pace sorted here. We knew tyre degradation would be key. Nicklas did a good job, I just had to manage the pace. Luzich Racing did an amazing job,” Pier Guidi said of the team’s second win of the year.

The initial challenge from the #60 Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 GTE faded after multiple incidents for Sergio Pianezzola during his stint eventually dropped the car to last place finishing some 2 laps adrift.

Thus the battle for second ended up between the #66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari and #55 Spirit of Race 488 with the (still) Le Mans liveried car taking second after a strong run from Matteo Cressoni, Wei Lu and Jeff Segal. The Spirit of Race car eventually finished 6.486s behind to round out the podium.

ELMS: IDEC Sport and G-Drive set the pace in a warm and sunny Barcelona

G-Drive Racing in the afternoon and IDEC Sport in the evening/night session set the pace in Barcelona on Friday at the Circuit de Catalunya. Clouds and sunshine in Barcelona this afternoon, with temperatures reaching close to 30° all day while it never really cooled down and the evening session was driven under a very pleasant 24°.  

A lap of 1.34.242 early in the afternoon session was enough for Jean-Eric Vergne to claim the top spot in his #26 Aurus 01. Nico Lapierre in the #37 Cool Racing Oreca 07 was second fastest, just 0.15 seconds behind the double Formula E champion.  Anders Fjordbach really starts to feel at home now in the Oreca 07, setting the third-fastest time of the session in 1.34.456, just 2 tenths of a second shy of Vergne.

Rounding out the top 5 were Ben Hanley in the #21 Dragonspeed (1.34.729) and Ben Barnicoat in the #45 Carlin Dallara (1.34.860), the first non-Oreca on the timetable.  Alex Brundle followed in the #32 United Autosports Ligier in sixth position.  The first nine cars finished within a second this afternoon. 

In LMP3 it was Mikkel Jensen who set the pace again after winning the Monza round, with a time of 1.41.486 in the #11 Eurointernational Ligier JSP3.  Damiano Fioravanti set the #10 Oregon Team Norma M30 on second place, just over 1.2 seconds slower than Jensen.  Third fastest was another Norma; the #17 Ultimate of Matthieu Lahaye (1.42.882). Ross Kaiser in the #5 360 Racing and Nigel Moore in the #13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier completed the top 5. 

Ferrari took control of the LMGTE class with the #60 Kessel Racing F488 on top, driven by Andrea Piccini (1.44.721).  WEC GTE Am champion Jörg Bergmeister put the #56 Team Project 1 Porsche on second place, just over half a second slower than Piccini.  In third spot was the #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche of Matteo Cairoli (1.45.315), followed by the Ferrari’s of Luzich Racing (#51) and JMW (#66). 

The session was red-flagged 2 times: early in the session due to debris on track and right before the end when Ben Hanley got off track in the #21 Dragonspeed Oreca 07.  3 cars didn’t make it out for the first practice session: both United Autosports LMP3’s and the #7 Nielsen Racing LMP3. 

The second session of the day started right after sunset and saw the cars driving into the darkness.  A first for the European Le Mans Series, but very well received by teams, drivers and media. 

Paul Loup Chatin in the #28 IDEC Sport Oreca set the pace last night with a laptime of 1.34.359, which was only 0.117 of a second slower than Vergne’s quickest lap in the afternoon. Ben Hanley in the #21 Dragonspeed was second fastest in 1.35.018, followed by Arjun Maini in the #43 RLR Msport. 

Filipe Albuquerque in the #22 United Autosport Ligier was the first non-Oreca driver in fourth place, 1.377 seconds behind the leader. Ben Barnicoat was fastest again in the Carlin Dallara, putting him on sixth place by the end of the session. 

Norma was quickest in LMP3 with Yann Ehrlacher on top in his #19 M Racing M30, with a laptime of 1.43.331. Mikkel Jensen followed in the #11 Eurointernational Ligier, just under half a second behind the Frenchman. Wayne Boyd in the #2 United Autosports Ligier went third fastest in 1.43.888, followed by the #17 Ultimate Norma. 

The #10 Team Oregon Norma must have hit trouble somewhere as it only managed 4 laps with Damiano Fioravanti at the wheel. 

Matt Griffin was very quick in the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari, 1.45.421 his best time, right in the mix with the fastest LMP3 drivers. Nicklas Nielsen in the #51 Luzich Racing Ferrari F488 was a close second, only 0.079 seconds behind Griffin.  Michelle Gatting was a strong third in the # 83 Kessel Racing Ferrari 1:45.916. Matteo Cairoli was (once again) the fastest Porsche driver in fourth position. 

Qualifying is set for 10h40 Saturday morning, the start of the race into dusk will be given at 18h30. 

Results FP1

Results FP2

Kristof Vermeulen. 

Pictures: Kristof Vermeulen

The ELMS races into the night at Barcelona this weekend

For the first time since 2009, a Le Mans Series race will be held at the Circuit the Catalunya near Barcelona this weekend.  The 4 Hours of Barcelona take the place of the Red Bull Ring on which the ELMS have raced from 2013 to last year.  

For the first time since 2013, when the 4 Hours of Le Castellet raced into dusk, the European Le Mans Series will race into the night.  With the race starting at 18h30, 41 cars will race into sunset and - for the first time in the series - into the dark.  A nice addition to the schedule and something to really look forward to on Saturday evening. 

LMP2 

G-Drive Racing arrives in Barcelona leading the championship after 2 races with a total of 38 points. Newly crowned Formula E champion Jean-Eric Vergne joins the team for the first time in the ELMS this year after missing out Le Castellet and Monza due to a clash with his Formula E commitments.  

Second in the championship so far is the #28 IDEC Sport crew of Paul Lafargue, Paul Loup Chatin and Memo Rojas with 36 points. 10 points further down, in third place, is the #21 Dragonspeed of Henrik Hedman & James Allen. Ben Hanley is 1 point down on his teammates as he didn’t race in Monza in May.  It appears Hanley won’t race in Barcelona either, with Renger Van Der Zande on the entry list. 

Léo Roussel is still recovering from his injuries after his crash at Monza, and will be replaced by Adrian Tambay in the #34 Inter Europol Competition Ligier JPSP2. Mark Patterson is also still recovering from his shunt at Monza. Olivier Pla will take the wheel of the #25 Algarve Pro Racing for the remaining races of the 2019 season.  In the #27 IDEC Sport Ligier, Frenchman William Cavailhes is taking the place of Erik Maris. 

LMP3

15 entries will race in the highly competitive LMP3 class, lead by championship leaders Jens Petersen and Mikkel Jensen in the #11 Eurointernational with 43 points.  Inter Europol Competition also had a strong start of the season with Martin Hippe & Nigel Moore on second place, 10 points behind the leaders. Paul Ricard winners Ultimate are third so far. 

ACE1 Villorba Corse makes its debut in the ELMS with the #18 Ligier, driven by Yuki Harata, Alessandro Bressan and Gabriele Lancieri  This new endurance project is the result of a partnership between Villorba Corse with Yuki Harata’s ACE1 Team. Villorba Corse has run the Cetilar Racing LMP3 and LMP2 project in the past years in the ELMS and at Le Mans and returns to the European Le Mans Series with a lot experience. 

The #7 Nielsen Racing is back on the entry list after a big shunt in Monza.  Nicholas Adcock replaces Nobuyu Yamanaka and joins James Littlejohn in the Ligier JSP3. One of the teams to look out for will be  360 Racing with the #5 Ligier.  The team struggled with setup and top speed in the first 2 races of the season, but seem to be back into their usual form after a few intensive test sessions after Monza. 

LMGTE

8 cars are on the LMTE entry list, equally divided between 4 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO’s and 4 Porsche 911 RSR’s.  The #88 Proton Competition Porsche is absent (again) on the entry list for Barcelona.  After racing in the stunning Felbermayr livery at Paul Ricard, it was withdrawn from Monza and unfortunately, it seems like the team didn’t find any drivers for this race too.

Dempsey Proton Racing does arrive at Barcelona as championship leaders; Christian Ried, Riccardo Pera and Matteo Cairoli collecting 42 points in the first 2 races of the season.  The #  Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi, Fabien Lavergne and Nicklas Nielsen follows close with 40 points. 10 points further down is the JMW Ferrari driven by Jeffrey Segal, Matteo Cressoni & Wei Lu. 

2 driver changes are to be noted in the GTE class: WEC champions Egidio Perfetti and Jörg Bergmeister will be joined by David Heinemeier Hansson in the #56 Project 1 Porsche. The Danish driver replacing Giorgio Roda who raced with the team in the ELMS so far this season.  In the #80 Ebimotors Porsche, Edward-Lewis Brauner replaces Sébastien Fortuna. 

There's some good news for the fans of the JMW Le Mans livery: the team has decided to have it on their Ferrari 488 for the remainder of the season ! 

Timing

Due to the race being driven on Saturday, there’s only a 2-day schedule for the 4 Hours of Barcelona.  Track action starts Friday afternoon with the first 90-minute practice session at 14h30 and night practice at 21h30.  Qualifying is scheduled for Saturday morning from 10h40 onwards.  The 4-hour race “into the night” will be green flagged at 18h30. 

Live streaming is available on the ELMS website from qualifying on. Club Arnage will have its usual live feed on twitter, reports and pictures over the course of the weekend. 

Timetable

Entry List

Kristof Vermeulen. 

Pictures: Kristof Vermeulen & Jellybaby.Media

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. 

© ELMS/JEP - www.jakobebrey.com

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.