ELMS: APR-Rebellion and SMP Racing fastest in today's final test sessions

Another weather compromised morning session at Circuit Paul Ricard today with a short but rather heave hailstorm setting the track blank in just a few minutes time. The session stayed dry afterwards, with rain coming back in about half an hour into lunch break.  

A frantic final 15 minutes saw laptimes dropping fast with more than a handful of drivers improving lap after lap right on to the end of the session. In the end it was Gustavo Menezes who clocked the fastest time in 1.44.537 in his #31 APR-Rebellion Racing Oreca 07. Right on his heels was Victor Shaitar in the #35 SMP Racing Dallara, just 0.123 seconds shy of the American. Out of the blue came Andrea Belicchi who suddenly put the #47 Cetilar Villorba Corse Dallara on the third spot, 0.369 seconds off the lead. Rounding out the top 5 were both United Autosports Ligiers, Hugo de Sadeleer (#32) 0.052 seconds faster than Bruno Senna in the #22.

Sean Rayhall set the #2 United Autosports Ligier JSP3 back on top of the LMP3 class with a laptime of 1.53.651.  Both young Dutch drivers who already showed their speed yesterday completed the top 3 this morning.  Kay Van Berlo in the #11 Eurointernational Ligier the fastest of the two in 1.54.161 ahead of 19 year old Job Van Uitert in the #15 RLR Msport.  Alexander Toril and his Norma didn't get any higher than fourth fastest this morning. 

For the first time, Ferrari went ahead of Porsche in the GTE class. Andrea Bertolini in the #83 Krohn Racing Ferrari 488 was quickest overall in 1.59.535.  Matt Griffin put the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari on second place, followed by the #88 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR.  The Ebimotors Porsche also made it back to the track after its crash yesterday managing 7 laps. JMW Motorsport and the #77 Proton Competition Porsche didn't come out for the morning session. 

Rain started to fall down again during lunch hour so the fifth and final session of the official test started on a wet track.  Teams waited to come out 'till the rain passed by & the track started to dry up again, only to run into a few short showers from time to time for the rest of the afternoon.

Fifth and final session of the official test and the fifth different car who went on top of the leader board this afternoon. After setting the second fastest time in the morning, Egor Orudhzev now was fastest overall with the #35 SMP Racing Dallara.  His time of 1.47.824 was over 1.4 seconds quicker over Will Stevens' 1.53.840 in the #23 Panis Barthez Ligier who managed to get into the top 3 for the first time this week.  More “new faces” behind Stevens with Alexandre Imperatori third fastest in the #26 G-Drive Oreca and Nelson Panciatici fourth in the #29 Duqueine Engineering.  Anders Fjordbach completed the top 5 with the #49 High Class Racing Dallara P217.  ``

In his final lap of the afternoon, Alexander Talkanitsa Jr set the fastest time of the LMP3 runners.  With a time of 1.58.690, he was ... seconds quicker than Jakub Smiechowski in the #13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier. Matt Bell put his #3 United Autosports on the third spot with a 1.59.525. Danil Pronenko (#5 Nefis by Speed Factory) and Giorgio Mondini (#11 Eurointernational) completed the final top 5 of the two day testsession.

All GTE cars got out on track for the final session except for the #77 Proton Porsche. Liam Griffin took the honours for the fastest lap this time in 2.03.958 with the #66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari. Big differences in the class this time, with Duncan Cameron in second place but almost 2 seconds slower than Griffin. Fabio Babini set the third fastest time with the #80 Ebimotors Porsche, over 4 seconds slower than the JMW Ferrari.  

Next up at the track in Le Castellet is the official test for the Michelin Le Mans Cup tomorrow (with a horrific weather forecast) before we head into the first racing weekend of the season at Paul Ricard later this week.  

Today's results: 

Morning Session

Afternoon Session

Kristof Vermeulen

Pictures: JellyBaby.Media

Porsche starts 919 "Farewell Tour" with impressive lap record at Spa

Porsche started its “Farewell Tour” with the 919 Hybrid at Spa-Francorchamps yesterday, breaking the lap record in the 919 Hybrid Evo, faster than a Formula 1 car has ever driven around the legendary track in the Ardennes.

© Porsche

Porsche works driver Neel Jani was behind the wheel of the 919 and lapped the 7.004 km long track in 1:41:770 minutes, beating Lewis Hamiltons record by 0.783 seconds. Jani achieved a top speed of 359 km/h and an average speed of 245.61 km/h on his record lap.  Even more impressive was his speed at the Raidillon: an unbelievable 307 km/h. 

Fritz Enzinger, Vice President LMP1: “This was an absolute fantastic lap – an outstanding drivers’ performance from Neel and the result of great engineering. Today’s track record impressively proves the ultimate performance of the most innovative race car of its time. Our target was to show what the Porsche 919 Hybrid is able to do when we loosen the restrictions that normally come from the regulations.”

Neel Jani: “The 919 Evo is brutally impressive. It is definitely the fastest car I ever drove. The grip level is at a fully new dimension for me, I couldn’t imagine this amount beforehand. The speed on which everything happens on a single lap with the 919 Evo is that fast that the demand on reaction speed is very different to what I was used to in the WEC. We are not only faster than the F1 pole from 2017. Today’s lap was twelve seconds faster compared to our WEC pole position from last year! We have had three very intense days at Spa. Today I knew on the very first lap in the morning that the car’s performance was super. The race engineers did a great job setting up the car and the Michelin tyres are sensational. A big thank you to Porsche for this experience.”

The base for this record is the 2017 919 Hybrid which raced in the World Endurance Championship, with some added developments that were prepared for the 2018 WEC but never have been raced after the end of the program in 2017. Several aerodynamic modifications have also been made.

The WEC regulations never gave the 919 Hybrid the ability to use its full potential due to several restrictions. A limited energy from fuel per lap, maximum amount of energy from its hybrid system.  The EVO version now has no limitation on fuel flow and the output of the combustion engine has also been improved from 500 hp to 720 hp.  The amount of energy from both recovery systems now is up to 8.49 megajoule instead of 6.37 which was used at the 6 Hours of Spa last year; which creates an output of 400 to 440 hp. Neel Jani had 1120 to 1160 horses underneath his right foot at Spa-Francorchamps. 

The aerodynamics of the 919 Evo have also been improved.  A new larger front diffusor, and an immense rear wing now both have actively controlled drag reduction systems. Underneath the car the turning vanes and floor have been optimised with fixed height side skirts to increase the aerodynamic performance again as efficiently as possible. In total the aero modifications resulted in 53 per cent higher downforce and an increase in efficiency by 66 per cent compared to the 2017 Spa WEC qualifying. 

Further adjustments are a  four-wheel brake-by-wire system, adapted power steering,  stronger suspension wishbones and a diet of 39 kilograms (down to 849 kg).  Michelin has developed new tyre compounds to increase the grip level and cope with more downforce generated by a Formula 1 car.

The record lap at Spa was the first appearance on the 919 Tribute Tour.  The next stop for the “919 Hybrid Evo” will be the legendary Nordschleife before the start of the Nürburgring 24 Hours on May 12th. Will this be a pure demo run, or will Porsche attack the long standing track record set by Stefan Bellof in a Porsche 956 on May 28th 1983 ?  Time to beat: 6:11.13 !

Later in the year, the 919 will make an appearance at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Porsche festival at Brands Hatch and Porsche Rennsport Reunion at Laguna Seca. If you get the chance to attend one of those events, this will be something not to miss !!! 

Kristof Vermeulen. 

Images: Porsche

ELMS: AVF by Adrian Valles fastest on the first day of the official test

The official two day test of the European Le Mans Series started on a wet and damp Paul Ricard circuit in the south of France yesterday. Quite a contrast with the sunshine we had down here over the weekend during the FIA WEC prologue. By the end of the day newcomes AVF by Adrian Valles had set the fastest time of the field in their Gibson powered Oreca 07.

Tricky conditions in the first session of the day with a few full course yellows and two short red flags during the four hour session. It wasn't Porsches day yesterday with two 911's going into the barriers early in the session. The #80 Ebimotors got damaged when Fabio Babini clipped the barriers with an impact on the front and rear of the car. The #77 Proton Porsche also went hard into the guard rails, presumably with some chassis damage to the brand new car.  Up until now it's unclear whether the team will be able to race on Sunday. 

Track conditions improved however and the second part of the session even saw a few hints of sunshine by lunchtime. Tristan Gommendy set the fastest time of the morning in his #39 Graff Oreca with a 1:44.012. He held off Victor Shaytar in the #35 SMP Racing Dallara who's best lap was 0.159 seconds slower than the Frenchman.  Third fastest was United Autosports Hugo de Sadeleer in the #32 Ligier ahead of Enzo Guibbert in the #40 G-Drive and Bruno Senna in the second United Autosports Ligier.  

Last year's champion Sean Rayhall set the fastest time in the LMP2 class with his #2 United Autosports Ligier.  His time of 1.53.081 was 0.188 seconds faster than Matthieu Lahaye in the #17 Ultimate Norma M30. David Droux in the #19 M Racing-YMR Norma was third quickest.    Alexander Toril went off in the #8 DKR Engineering Norma, without causing any serious damage. 

The sole remaining #88 Proton Competition Porsche of Gianluca Roda was quickest in the GTE class in a time of 1.54.628.  Miguel Molina in the #66 JMW Ferrari set the second fastest time, 0.242 seconds behind the Porsche. Rounding out the top 3 was Andrea Bertolini in the Krohn Racing Ferrari. 

Better conditions in the afternoon session, now on a completely dry track and the sun occasionally coming through the clouds.  Nicolas Lapierre set the pace in the second session of the day, steering his #21 Dragonspeed Oreca round in 1.41.769.  Paul Lafargue set the second fastest time in the #28 IDEC Sport Oreca, just over three tenths of a second behind Lapierre. Another Frenchman on third place with Jean-Eric Vergne in the #26 G-Drive, just ahead of Enzo Guibbert in the #40 sister car. To complete a fully french top 5 was Matthieu Vaxivière in the #33 TDS Racing. Phil Hanson was the first non-Oreca driver, putting his #22 United Autosports on sixth place. 

After his off in the morning, Alexander Toril now set the fastest time in the LMP3 class: a 1.51.819. Matthieu Lahaye finished second fastest again, losing out 0.239 seconds to the other Norma. Third quickest was Matthew Bell in the #3 United Autosports Ligier, meaning two out of the three fastest drivers “graduated” from the Michelin Le Mans Cup last season.  

Gianluca Roda was quickest again in the GTE class, improving almost 2 seconds compared to the morning session.  His laptime of 1.54.628 was almost two seconds faster than in the morning session.  Miguel Molina was second fastest again in the #66 JMW Ferrari, now trailed by Andrea Bertolini in the Krohn 488 GTE.

The evening/night session was rather quiet, with just over half the field heading out on track for the 2 hour session.  Henrique Chaves set the fastest time of the day in the #30 AVF by Adrian Valles' Dallara, going round in 1:41.018, topping off 0.751 seconds from Lapierre's afternoon time. Second fastest in the session (and overall) was Ben Hanley in the Dragonspeed with 1:41.371. AVF and Dragonspeed had the fastest drivers of the day with Konstantin Tereschenko on fourth place.  Best of the rest was Norman Nato in the #24 Racing Engineering Oreca 07 – another new team debuting in the series – just under a second behind Chaves. 

Alexander Toril set the pace again in the LMP3 class, pushing his #8 DKR Engineering Norma round Paul Ricard in 1:51.363. The long Mistral straight – without chicanes – really suiting the speed of the Norma M30.  Mikkel Jensen in the #9 AT Racing Ligier was second fastest, half a second adrift from Toril. 17-year old Kay van Berlo was third fastest in the #11 Eurointernational Ligier in 1.51.612.  Van Berlo was the second young Dutchman of the day who got into the top spots after Job Van Uitert set the fourth fastest time in the afternoon session.

Just one GTE car on track yesterday evening: the Krohn Racing Ferrari of Nick Jonsson who did seven laps. 

The ELMS official test continues today at Le Castellet, with a four hour session in the morning and the afternoon.

Day 1 results: 
Morning session
Afternoon session
Evening session

Kristof Vermeulen.
Pictures: Jellybaby.media