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

Electric-hydrogen LMPH2G debuts at Michelin Le Mans Cup in Francorchamps next week

A year ago, at the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps round of the 2018 European Le Mans Series, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest and GreenGT launched the MissionH24 project to promote hydrogen in motor racing. At the time the electric-hydrogen LMPH2G test car completed a solo demonstration lap to illustrate its development potential and the safety of the technology before a knowledgeable audience.

On 20th September 2019, MissionH24 will reveal the progress made in the last 12 months during which a household name – Total – have joined the project. The LMPH2G prototype, now in the hands of the H24Racing team for its development into a racing machine, will take part in the two practice sessions for the fifth round of the Michelin Le Mans Cup, part of the ELMS Spa-Francorchamps support bill. The LMPH2G will therefore make its track debut in a race environment, amid other competitors.

During the two free practice sessions, the LMPH2G will refuel at the first mobile hydrogen filling station, designed by Total, especially for racing. A world premiere!  Earlier this year the LMPH2G was the first hydrogen car to complete a lap of the full circuit of the Le Mans 24 Hours on Saturday just before the race. 

To see H24Racing drivers Norman Nato and Olivier Lombard in action and witness the world’s first mobile hydrogen station of its type refueling the LMPH2G prototype, be sure to come to Spa-Francorchamps on Friday 20 September, 10:15–11:15 and 17:00–18:00.

FIA WEC: 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps Qualifying report

A dry session with some sunshine turned to rain by the time the Le Mans Prototypes drew close to the end of their session.  As has become the norm it was Toyota leading the way in the top category the #7 of Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway, the former setting a 1:53.812 which Conway proceeded to beat with a Spa WEC qualifying record of 1:53.683. The #8 Toyota almost half a second adrift on a combined average (1:54.243) secured the front row.   

“Nice lap, Kamui was quick in FP3 and again in Qualifying so the pressure was on, it was all looking good and the car was pretty hooked up so I was happy to cross the line a little bit quicker.” Conway said. “A good gap to the sister car. All credit to the guys on car#7 all weekend. Tomorrow is going to with conditions so its good to start in the right position. “

Toyota confirmed to SCG that the two cars/6 drivers are free to race each other as long as there is no contact with each other. Given the changeable conditions forecast for tomorrow we could well see some drama.

 

Third on the grid goes to the #17 SMP Racing BR / AER, boosted by its turbos and without restriction they were closer to Toyota pace but still half a second down (1:54.711) on the second place car.  Fourth is the normally aspirated Gibson Tech powered Rebellion #3 a further nine-tenths behind the SMP #17.  So despite the numbers in LMP1 there is still the prospect  of some good inter-team battles going on. 

#4 ByKolles effectively brought an early end to the session with a roll to a stop on pit straight, with the session Red Flagged with 5mins remaining.  The session did re-start, but as track conditions had deteriorated only the #50 Larbre Competition Ligier of Nick Boulle ventured out to no effect.

LMP2

The non-championship entry of G-Drive Racing #26 took the category pole with the Aurus 01 version of the Oreca 07. Jean-Eric Vergne clocked a lap within 3-thousands of a sec of breaking the 2-minute  barrier and Job Van Uitert (2:01.346) combined to set the average, a 2:00.674, breaking the previous LMP2 lap record.

“The car was absolutely amazing out there today. I felt that it was one of the best laps I ever drove in my life,” claimed Vergne. “Breaking the 2-minute barrier would have been nice, but it was more the gap we pulled on the other guys thanks to the lap that Job, all in all a very good qualifying.”

Without the non-championship interloper, we would have had a  Jackie Chan DC Racing category front row, with the might of #38 conquering its sister car the Fortune Cat #37. They were respectively six and nine-tenths behind the average of #26.  Speaking with Sam Hignett (Team Principal at JCDC Racing) he was content that they as championship would still get the pole point and suggested that the wet FP2 had indicated good pace for teams like them running the Dunlop wet weather tyres (#26, 28, 37 & 38). We ran it past our colleagues @theBPillar, and nothing indicative on pure pace, but perhaps we are looking at wear and sustainability over an extended wet duration.. Time (and race conditions) will likely tell us more.. 

Lets just hope they don’t need snow chains! 


A brief note of commendation to the squad in the #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca 07.  Following the loss of sponsorship for their Malaysian predecessors, David Heinemeier-Hansson, Jordan King and Will Stevens have shown themselves to be a strong and competitive trio from the get-go. Lets hope they stay out of trouble and achieve further success this weekend.

GTE-Pro – Priaulx and Tincknell Fly!

The #67 Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK team took pole in GTE Pro as Andy Priaulx and Harry Ticknell set a combined time of 2:12.885 record GTE-PRO pace once more, but it was Andy Priaulx who demonstrated that hooking up a lap was very much a trick for the old dog and not just the young pups like ‘H’!  The #97 Aston Martin Racing AMR crew of Maxime Martin and Alexander Lynn looked to be on for pole but were beaten out by a mere 0.067sec around the 7-kilometre Spa countryside.

Talking about his lap of 2:12.797 Andy Priaulx said “When you get to my age you can’t remember what happened yesterday! It was a nice special experience, Harry nailed a fantastic 12.9, I got back in the car, I knew I had to be on my A game to try and better that, it just came together really well… Those moments when you find that sweet spot in your driving and you give everything and it works, I’m just enjoying every moment, I look in the mirror and ask myself when am I going to stop racing and moments like that, I just want to carry on. Its still in me and I’m really enjoying it.”  

The BoP calculator is clearly at the top of its game around Spa as it is the #82 Team BMW MTEK BMW M8 GTE of da Costa/Farfus in third just 0.092 from pole themselves. As mentioned in our GTE Free Practice Report, it is good to see the men from Munich getting some pace under their belt, and it will hopefully bode well for a fascinating and variety packed race on Saturday.

Porsche and Ferrari seem to have gone off the boil, though wet weather conditions could certainly make the RSRs a strong proposition on raceday. Of course the cynic in the paddock may see this as gamesmanship a month prior to the double-points season finale, but we could never suggest that was a motivation to hold back flat out pace at this time, oh no never…  Both were some 1.2 seconds off the pole time, enough said. Lets see what the race brings.

GTE-AM

The sole casualty of the session was a lurid spin at Raidillon for the #70 MR Racing Ferrari 488 GTE. Ishikawa-san was exceptionally lucky to not do considerably more damage than he did, all of which is understood to be repairable. Indeed he recovered the car under its own power to the pit garage where we suspect a man with a coal shovel and bucket was required to empty the cockpit! The car took no further part in the session.

Pole for the very first time went to TF Sport #90 Aston Martin Vantage with a last lap effort from Salih Yoluc pipping the #88 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR. Yoluc and team-mate Charlie Eastwood set an average time 2:16.061 just 0.110 ahead of Cairoli/Roda in the RSR. 

“It was really amazing, its the first time I have been able to do a qualifying in WEC, so to go out and get pole was great,” said Eastwood. “In terms of the lap again it was one of the best I have done in the GTE car… We have been very close to it a lot of times this year, and Salih at the end to go quickest -AM driver to give us pole overall.” 

Third in category was #56 Project 1 Porsche RSR with a time of 2:16.390. The remainder were all in the 2:17 with the exclusion of the #86 Gulf Racing RSR (2:19.225) and the aforementioned #70 MR Racing Ferrari which failed to set a time.

Nick Holland - Sportscarglobal.com

Qualifying results

FIA WEC: Rain and sunshine on day 1 at Spa-Francorchamps

Spa-Francorchamps showed a few of its many faces yesterday during both 90 minute practice sessions for the 6 Hour race on Saturday. While the first practice session around noon managed to stay dry and was run in rather sunny and enjoyable conditions, the afternoon session was just the opposite. 

Rain started to come down just before the start of the session, and never really stopped falling down.  Conditions improved a little bit just over mid session, only to get worse again by the end of the session when the rain was really pouring down. SMP Racing dominated the dry morning session, but when the rain started to fall down in the afternoon it was business as usual with both Toyota’s on top of the timesheets.

The tricky conditions in the afternoon brought out a few red flags, SMP Racing the most unlucky team when Stephane Sarrazin lost control of his BR1 in Blanchimont and went hard into the barriers.  The car was brought back to the pits with what looked like some expensive damage both at the front and the back.
 

Sergey Sirotkin was the fastest in the dry and sunny midday session yesterday, setting the pace in the #17 SMP Racing BR1 with a best time of 1.56.264.  Sirotkin was just under 2 seconds faster than sportscar debutant and home driver Stoffel Vandoorne who had a quickest laptime of 1.58.236, putting both SMP Racing cars on top of the timesheets for the first time.  Both Toyota’s followed about half a second behind the SMP’s, with Sebastien Buemi in the #8 TS050 slightly quicker than Mike Conway in the #8.

Gustavo Menezes was the fastest Rebellion driver in 1.59.106.  The Bykolles Enso CLMP1/01 ran for the first time with its new Gibson engine, but was 7 seconds off the pace, with only Oliver Webb and Tom Dillman running in the first session of the day.

© Erik Junius - http://motorsport.image-ine.net/

It’s the first time the non hybrid LMP’s are allowed to race without any fuel restrictions per lap, and Sirotkin managed a lap time which was only 0.1 seconds slower than Toyota’s fastest time in last year’s free practice sessions. Qualifying times dropped significantly last year, but the SMP pace of yesterday morning gives a nice idea about the raw speed that is inside those privateer prototypes. 

Nico Lapierre was once again the fastest man in the LMP2 class, leading the way in his #36 Signatech Alpine Matmut in 2.03.441.  Jean Eric Vergne followed close in the #26 G-Drive Racing Aurus 01, 0.236 seconds behind Lapierre. Giedo van der Garde was quick in the Racing Team Nederland Dallara, setting the third fastest time, 0.9 seconds off the Alpine’s pace.  Pastor Maldonado in the #31 Dragonspeed Oreca and Gabriel Aubry in the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca completed the top five.

GTE Pro couldn’t be any closer between the two leading cars. Maxime Martin in the #97 Aston Martin and Harry Tincknell in the #67 Ford GT setting exactly the same time of 2.15.290; not even a thousand of a second difference between both cars. Antonio Felix Da Costa was thid quickest in the #82 BMW M8 at 0.116 seconds. The 66 Ford GT of Olivier Pla and Nicki Thiim in the first Aston Martin both followed within a second of the leading Aston and Ford. Both Ferrari’s were at the back of the LMGTE Pro pack yesterday morning, although only 1.2 and 1.4 seconds slower than both leaders.

GTE Am was a close one too, with the first six cars within 0.9 seconds from each other.  Ben Barker in the #86 Gulf Racing Porsche lead the dance in 2.17.068, just 0.070 seconds ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella in the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari. Matt Campbell in the #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche, Charlie Eastwood in the TF Sport Aston Martin and Jörg Bergmeister in the Project 1 Porsche (please bring your ELMS livery to the WEC), rounded out the top 5 in class. 

Fernando Alonso was outright fastest in the afternoon session; his best time of 2.19.483 was over 1.3 seconds quicker than Mike Conway in the second Toyota TS050 Hybrid. Vitaly Petrov in the #11 SMP Racing BR1 set the third quickest time (2.21.429), followed by Neil Jani in the #1 Rebellion R13.

In LMP2 Pastor Maldonado set a dominant pace of 2.27.682 in the #31 Dragonspeed Oreca.  The former F1 driver was 1.6 seconds faster than Matthieu Vaxiviere in the #28 TDS Racing Oreca and 1.7 seconds than Gabriel Aubry in the #38 Jackie Chan. Nicolas Boulle spun in the #50 Larbre Competition at La Source mid-session, without any damage to the car. 

The Aston Martins stayed quick in the Ardennes, Marco Sorensen now quickest in the #95 AMR Vantage in 2.32.648, just 0.025 seconds ahead of Gimmi Bruni in the #91 Porsche 911 RSR. Alexander Lynn put the second Aston Martin on third place, followed by Sam Bird in the #71 AF Corse Ferrari.

Porsche stayed on top in the GTE Am class, this time with the #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing 911 of Matt Campbell who put himself right inbetween the Pro drivers with a laptime of 2.34.093. Oliver Beretta in the #70 MR Racing Ferrari and Ben Barker in the #86 Gulf Racing Porsche completed the top 3 for the afternoon session. 

Results FP1
Results FP2

Kristof Vermeulen.
Pictures: Kristof Vermeulen, Erik Junius and JellyBaby.Media

FIA WEC: 34 cars to race at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps this weekend

The FIA World Endurance championship returns to the iconic Spa-Francorchamps this weekend for the penultimate round of the 2018/2019 super season ahead of the big finale in Le Mans.  While Toyota in LMP1 and Porsche in GTE Pro are miles away from the competition in the championship, LMP2 and LMGTE Am still have all to play for.

The weather forecast for Francorchamps looks very interesting to say the least.  While we had sunny weather and warm temperatures in the past years, 2019 might be the one race with some real “Spa-weather”.  Temperatures in the Ardennes are dropping down as from Thursday on with (heavy) rain predicted, (almost) freezing temps at night and even a hint for snow on Saturday.

Toyota arrives in Spa, one of their home tracks with the factory based in Cologne, leading both the drivers and manufacturers championship with the TS050 Hybrid.  The TS050 will be equipped in the team’s new low downforce spec, which has been tested recently in a 4.000 km test at Paul Ricard. 

With 151 points after 6 races, Toyota can secure the teams championship this weekend in Spa. They have an advantage over Rebellion Racing of 53 points (98) and 80 points over SMP Racing (71). In the driver’s championship Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Fernando Alsono are in the lead with 135 points; 15 points more than Jose Maria Lopez, Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway in the #7 Toyota. Gustavo Menezes and Thomas Laurent (Rebellion #3) are in third position with 81 points, followed by Mathias Beche with 73 points and André Lotterer & Neel Jani with 63 points. 

For the first time this season, the non-hybrid LMP1 cars will have no restriction in the amount of fuel energy they are allowed to use per lap. This means they will no longer have to lift and coast on the long high speed sections at Spa and finally are allowed to race flat out. Whether this will be the case at Le Mans too is still unclear at this moment.  The Rebellion, ByKolles and Dragonspeed however did get a weight increase.  Their minimum weight now up to 824 kg instead of 818 kg.  

At Rebellion, Andre Lotterer takes his seat back in the #1 R13 after missing out the last race in Sebring due to his Formula E commitments.  Both Rebellions are expected to be racing in their new low drag body kit which has been tested in Aragon last week.  James Allen will race the #10 Dragonspeed BR1 instead of Renger Van Der Zande. Allen had a strong performance with the team at Le Castellet, winning the opening race of the ELMS 2 weeks ago with Hedman and Hanley in the Dragonspeed LMP2. (Update: The #10 Dragonspeed entry will not race this weekend at Spa.  The team have not been able to acquire  the electronics that needed fixing after their DNF at Sebring.)

© Erik Junius - http://motorsport.image-ine.net/

A big driver change in the #11 SMP Racing BR1, where Belgian driver Stoffel Vandoorne will make his sportscar debut at Spa this weekend.  Even more, it’s only the second time the former F1 driver will race a closed cockpit car in his career.  Vandoorne, who now races in the Formula E championship, will take Jenson Button’s place in Spa and at Le Mans, racing together with Vitaly Petrov and Mikhail Aleshin. 

ByKolles will race its Enso CLM P1/01 for the first time with the Gibson engine after sitting out the 1000 miles of Sebring in March. Tom Dillman and Oliver Webb return to the Austrian team, and will be joined by Italian driver Paolo Ruberti.  Ruberti will make his debut in the LMP1 class, and returns to the FIA WEC after racing with the Larbre Corvette in 2016. 

The race for the title in LMP2 seems to be the one that will go down to the wire.  With the top 3 cars only separated by 7 points, all is still to play for between Jackie Chan DC Racing and Signatech Alpine Matmut.

Jackie Chan DC Racing has both of his cars in the top 3, separated by the Signatech Alpine Matmut.  The #37 Jackie Chan Oreca 07 leads the championship after rather win in Sebring with a completely new driver line-up.  With 130 points after 6 races, the Jota run Oreca has an advantage of just 5 points over the #36 Signatec Alpine.  The second Jackie Chan Oreca (#38) follows closely with 123 points. Best of the rest is the #31 Dragonspeed, which has collected 92 points so far. 

Andre Negrao, Nicolas Lapierre and Pierre Thiriet are leading the drivers championship with 125 points, 2 points more than the #38 crew of Gabriel Aubry, Ho-Pin Tung and Stéphane Richelmi. The former drivers of the #37 Oreca are still in third place but won’t race anymore, so third place in the championship is basically for Pastor Maldonado and Roberto Gonzalez in the #31 Dragonspeed with 92 points. 

G-Drive is using the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps as their annual prep for Le Mans by with the recently rebadged Aurus 01 (Oreca) for the first time in the FIA WEC.  Roman Rusinov will share the car with Job Van Uitert and Jean-Eric Vergne, the latter one missing out the ELMS Le Castellet race due to a clash with Formula E in Rome.  After winning the race in 2017 and 2018, Rusinov & co will certainly be out for a third win in a row. 

Norman Nato, who took pole position for G-Drive at Le Castellet earlier this month, will now race with TDS Racing where he will replace Loic Duval.  Duval is tied with the DTM race at Hockenheim next weekend, but will be back with the team for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. 

Nicholas Boulle has been added to the #50 Larbre Competition Ligier JSP217.  He will join team regulars Erwin Creed and Romano Ricci in Spa.  Boulle is no stranger to LMP2 racing as he raced at Le Mans with Jackie Chan DC Racing last year, finishing 8th in the LMP2 class with David Cheng and Pierre Nicolet.  The American driver already ha some experience in Spa after finishing third in last year’s Spa 24 hours in the Rinaldi Racing Ferrari. 

Contrary to Sebring and Spa last year, all cars in LM GTE Pro will be driven by the team’s regular WEC drivers.  In other years, Spa was the ideal race for most teams to have their Le Mans line-up in the cars.  No driver changes to be noted, but an important change in the sporting regulations. As per decision by the FIA Endurance Committee, all Pro cars must be equipped with a homologated “Fuel Flow Meter”, starting at the Le Mans test day.  A decision that has been made with unanimous agreement of all LMGTE Pro manufacturers and the approval of the Endurance Commission.  So far the Fuel flow meter will only be used to collect data and won’t have any effect on the regulations or a restriction of the fuel flow as in LMP1.

After 6 of the 8 races in the Super Season, Porsche has built up a massive lead in the championship over the other manufacturers.  With a total of 227 points, Porsche leads Ferrari with 110 points.  A lead that big so the team from Stuttgart might be able to clinch the title even before the last race at Le Mans.  The battle for second place will be very intense though with just 2 points between Ferrari (127) and Ford (125).  Aston Martin isn’t far behind with 102 points so far, followed by BMW who have scored 87 points over the first six races of the season. 

Porsche also dominates the drivers championship, with Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen leading with 125 points.  Sebring winners Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz are in second place, with a total of 100 points.  Third place is for Ferrari drivers Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado with 80,5 points, followed by Ford drivers Olivier Pla and Stefan Mücke with 69 points so far.

Team Project 1 leads the GTE Am championship with a total of 103 points after 6 races.  Egidio Perfetti, Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Lindsey have an advantage of 25 points over the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari of Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci and Giancarlo Fisichella who have a total of 78 points so far.  9 points further down is the #98 Aston Martin of Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda with 69 points, with the #90 TF Sport Aston Martin right in their tail with 68 points. If Project 1 manages to win this race in Spa, they might take a big step to the WEC title in their first season in the championship. 

Two notable driver changes in the Am class, in the #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche and the #90 TF Sport Aston Martin.  Julien Andlauer won’t be able to make it to Spa due to his commitments in the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland in Hockenheim.  He will be replaced in the #77 Dempsey-Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR by Ricardo Pera who joins team owner Christian Ried and Matt Campbell .  Pera who races with Ebimotors in the European Le Mans Series already drove the #88 sister car during the 6 hours of Shanghai with Matteo Cairoli and Khaled Al Qubaisi.

Euan Hankey makes his return to the #90 Aston Martin Vantage of TF Sport alongside Salih Yoluc and Charlie Eastwood. Since Silverstone last year, Jonny Adam raced the blue Vantage, but will now be replaced by Hanley who returns to the team for the first time since Le Mans 2018.

Track action in Belgium starts on Thursday with the first two 90-minute practice sessions.  Race start is scheduled for Saturday, March 3rd at 13h30.  If you’re heading to the track, bring your snowboots and winter jackets, they might come in handy this year. 

Timetable 

Entry list 

Event map

Kristof Vermeulen.
Pictures: Kristof Vermeulen, Erik Junius & Jellybaby.Media

ELMS: Victory for United Autosports in rain shortened Spa-Francorchamps

With heavy rain & severe weather conditions predicted for race day, it was decided to move the start of the 4 hours of Spa-Francorchamps forward with 1h15’ to 10h45.  Despite the earlier schedule trying to avoid the worst weather, track conditions were very tricky at race start.  The 40-car field started behind the safety car, before being unleashed after 4 laps on a soaked track.  Drivers were very cautious on the wet and slippery track, but that didn’t prevent a lot of incidents bringing out three safety cars before the race was red flagged. 

© ELMS/JEP

Andrea Pizzitola in the #26 G-Drive held on to the lead at the start, but immediately had Nicolas Jamin in the #29 Duqueine Engineering under his rear wing. Jamin kept pushing and got into the lead when he passed Pizzitola at Fagnes a few laps into the race.  Jean-Baptiste Lahaye kept the lead in the LMP3 class early in the race, but eventually had to let Job Van Uitert pass in the #15 RLR MSport after a strong start from fifth position.  In the LMGTE class, Ricardo Pera had a perfect start, overtaking the #88 Porsche of Gianluca Roda and going straight into the lead. 

The first safety car was deployed when Jean-Baptiste Lahaye, under pressure of Matia Drudi in the #11 Eurointernational, lost control of his #17 Ultimate Norma and went into the barriers at the exit of Fagnes.  The safety car came back in after 20 minutes after the #9 AT Racing also was recovered when it stopped on the Kemmel straight.  Most of the teams used the safety car period to bring their cars into the pits and do their first driver changes. 

© Bob Ten Kley

The #26 G-Drive Racing Oreca was back into the lead after the pitstops but Pizzitola now had Gustavo Menezes behind him in the #31 APR-Rebellion who was pushing hard for the lead. Menezes forced Pizzitola to run wide at Stavelot and took the lead of the race. Pizzitola ran wide again the second lap at the same spot when he had to avoid the #12 Eurointernational Ligier who got stranded in the middle of the track.  The #26 G-Drive tumbled down to ninth place, Pizzitola now coming into the pits to hand over the car to Formula E champion Jean-Eric Vergne. 

© Bob Ten Kley

More incidents occurred when Nic Jonsson in the #83 Krohn Racing Ligier was pipped by Alexey Chulkin in the #5 Nefis BySpeed Factory Ligier in La Source and ran into the back of the LMP3 car. Jonsson made it back to pitlane but was forced to retire while Chulkin received a drive through penalty for causing a collision. 

© Bob Ten Kley

Meanwhile in LMP3, Job Van UItert was still in the lead but now faced Antonin Borga in the #4 Cool Racing Ligier who quickly closed the gap with the #5 RLR M-Sport. After an intense battle which lasted for several laps, the Dutchman ran wide at Fagnes and lost his lead to Borga

© Bob Ten Kley

Filipe Albuquerque took over from Phil Hanson in the #22 United Autosports Ligier and stormed into the lead in the team’s first race on Michelin rubber. Julien Canal followed in second place with the #23 Panis Barthez Competition, another Ligier with the #24 Racing Engineering Oreca close behind in third. Meanwhile G-Drive Racing was not having the race they hoped for.  After dropping down the order, their problems weren’t over yet. While Vergne was fighting for position with Ryan Cullen in the #31 APR Rebellion, Vergne pushed Christian Ried’s Porsche off the track at the brake zone into the Bus stop chicane, sending the Porsche sliding over the grass and straight into Cullen. Race over for both cars. 

© Bob Ten Kley

Minutes later disaster struck again for Algarve Pro Racing when their #25 Ligier got into the grass at the start of the Kemmel straight. At the same time the #7 Ecurie Ecosse went off at Combes. Conditions got worse again with several cars struggling to stay on track, and the third safety car was brought out again to give the marshalls the chance to recover the stranded APR Rebellion. Rain kept falling down and track conditions got even worse, forcing race director Eduardo Freitas to red flag the race after just over two hours of racing.  The cars lined up on the grid, but would never get to race again as weather conditions all but improved and 20 minutes later the race called off. 

© Bob Ten Kley

Filipe Albuquerque and Phil Hanson were leading the race when the red flag was waived and won the 2h20’ of Spa-Francorchamps. Second place was for the #21 Dragonspeed of Henman, Hanley and Lapierre, with the #23 Panis Barthez Competition of Buret, Canal and Stevens in third place on the podium.  A remarkable fourth was the #28 IDEC Sport which came into the pits very early in the race, and fought it’s way up through the field up to fourth place. 

Despite finishing on 12th position (their 2 minute stop & go penalty was converted into a 2 min 30 seconds time penalty), the #26 G-Drive was crowned champions with Roman Rusinov and Andrea Pizzitola winning the drivers title. 

© Bob Ten Kley

A double win for United Autosports this weekend, as John Falb and Scott Andrews finished first in the LMP3 class, ahead of the #15 RLR MSport Ligier of Job Van Uitert, Rob Garofall and John Farano. 360 Racing took hold of the third and final podium spot.

© Bob Ten Kley

Ebimotors scored their first victory in the European Le Mans Series after an almost perfect race up to the red flag. Riccardo Pera, Fabio Babini and Bret Curtis  went to to front of the class in the opening stages of the race, only to hold on to the lead, able to expand it every time when the safety car was called in again.  The #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari of Duncan Cameron & co finished second, with the #88 Proton Competition Porsche in third.  

Kristof Vermeulen.
Pictures: Bob Ten Kley/Jellybaby.media/ELMS-JEP

Race results