ELMS: 2019 season to kick off with the Official test at Paul Ricard today

The European Le Mans Series is ready for what promises to be another exciting season of endurance racing in 2019.  As last season, the season kicks off at Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet with the 2-day official test ahead of the 4 hours of Le Castellet on Sunday.  All 41 full season entrants are at the track, setting up their garages and getting the cars through scrutineering yesterday. 

The weather has been pretty unpredictable in the south of France so far.  Sunday starting in glorious sunshine before the rain started pouring down, only to do so over and over again for a few times during the afternoon.  Today (Monday) appears to be the best day of the week, and probably the only dry one until next weekend.  Fingers crossed that all teams will make the most of the available track time without any major incidents. 

Setup day ahead of the official test is also the moment to take the annual group shot of all contenders.  A massive job this season with no less than 41 cars on the grid for the European Le Mans Series.  Luckily the sun stayed out just long in enough in the afternoon, after some heavy showers earlier to get all cars staged.  

So here's your ELMS class of 2019 with the three title defenders on front row: the #88 Proton Competition Porsche, the G-Drive Aurus and the RLR Msport Ligier JSP3.

"Funky" livery for Project1

Project1 expands its efforts in endurance racing beyond their FIA WEC campaign and will make their debut in the European Le Mans Series this week.  The team fields a new Porsche 911 RSR in a rather striking new livery. 

The drivers for the #56 Porsche will be Egidio Perfetti and Jörg Bergmeister, both also active in the FIA WEC with the team.  They will be joined by defending ELMS champion Giorgio Roda. 

Nigel Moore returns to the ELMS with Inter Europol

Inter Europol Competition have confirmed Nigel Moore as  their second driver for the #13 Ligier JSP3 in the LMP3 class.  Moore will join Martin Hippe who is in his third season with the Polish team.   Moore is obviously delighted to finally be able to sign with Inter Europol Competition and be part of the team for the ELMS series. "Hopefully we shall be competitive from the start of the season."  It's a return to the ELMS for the English driver after competing in LMP2 and LMP3 with Tockwith Motorsports in 2016.

Martin Hippe said : “I am really happy and proud to race another year with Inter Europol Competition in the ELMS. It will not be easy, but I hope we can better the great performance from the last ELMS with one place. I am really happy with my new teammate, Nigel, as has shown a stunning performance in Asia and I am really looking forward to work with him.”

Sascha Fassbender (Team Manager): “I am very happy to welcome Nigel in our team as one of the strongest drivers in LMP3. He has shown his speed in many LMP3 races. We have Martin for the third year running, a great constant in our team as well as the reigning champion in the Asia Le Mans Series and Vice champion of ELMS.”

New mascot

Meet Rooky, the new mascot of the European Le Mans Series.  Rooky will makes his "debut" at the 4 Hours of Le Castellet next weekend !   His name was chosen by the ELMS fans on facebook.

Babini, Fortuna and Frazza in the #80 Ebimotors Porsche

Ebimotors is set for its second season in the European Le Mans Series with their Porsche 911 RSR.  Fabio Babini returns as the lead driver for the Italian team after an impressive debut season with four podium finishes in six races and a sixth place finish in the GTE-AM class at Le Mans.

This season, Babini will be joined by Italian French driver Sébastien Fortuna and Italian Marco Frezza.  Fortuna has veen working together with Ebimotors for several years while Marco Frezza had a very succesfull season with the team in the 24 Hours series last year (wins in Imola, Navarro and Spa-Francorchamps). 

New Media Center at Le Castellet

The Official test and 4 Hours of Le Castellet is be the first time that the European Le Mans Series will use the new Media Center at Circuit Paul Ricard.  The new media center was created for the return of the F1 last year in June, and is located at the back of the paddock. 

The return of the infamous Felbermayer livery

No more grey liveries for the #77 and #88 Proton Competition Porsches this year, but 2 new designs.  One of our personal favourites is back in the paddock: the infamous Felbermayr Porsche.  Thanks to Horst Felbermayr Jr who is sharing the #88 Porsche RSR with Marco Seefried and Thomas Preining.  

More news, updates and new liveries to follow in the upcoming days leading on to the first race of the 2019 season.  But first there's the 2 day "Official test" which kicks off this morning.  Over the span of 2 days all contenders will have 18 hours of track time, including a "night practice" tonight from 19h to 21h. 

Kristof Vermeulen.

ELMS: G-Drive to race with the "Aurus 01" in 2019

G-Drive Racing announced a new cooperation with Russian car manufacturer Aurus for the upcoming season in ELMS, WEC and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.  The team will field an Aurus 01 prototype as from the 4 Hours of Le Castellet at the first race of the 2019 European Le Mans Series. 

Aurus made its international debut at the last Geneva International Motorshow where it presented its Senat limousine. The Aurus Senat limousine is in fact the benchmark of Russian technology, and announces the arrival of new luxury car manufacturer on the international automotive markets.

As with the ‘Alpine’ chassis the ACO (Automobile Club de l’Ouest) has agreed the addition of a ‘new’ LMP2 chassis by adding an additional VIN plate to the G-Drive Oreca 07 chassis (in the same way Alpine has run Oreca/Alpine) so that Aurus will now also enter the European and worldwide endurance races. In the upcoming race season of the 2019 year, the Russian team G-Drive Racing will perform on the prototype Aurus 01. 

G‐Drive Racing was FIA WEC World Champion in 2015 and has collected all the European championship titles since 2016. In 2019, the team will defend its title running the LMP2 Aurus 01 in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the ELMS season as well as some WEC races. Roman Rusinov, Jean-Eric Vergne and Job van Uitert will on driving duties in 2019. 

Roman Rusinov, racer and sports manager of G-Drive Racing: "The start of the cooperation between G-Drive Racing and the new Russian automobile brand Aurus is a landmark event. After its premiere at the recent Geneva motor show,  Aurus now goes racing around the world. We are excited to represent this domestic brand in the international autosport world. The G-Drive Racing Team, having won four consecutive championship titles, has already entered history as the most successful team in the FIA World Endurance Championship and the European Le Mans series. I am sure that we will become even stronger with the Aurus 01 prototype. 

ELMS: Carlin signes Tincknell in LMP2 and announces partnership with Thunderhead

Carlin, one of the new teams in the European Le Mans Series this season announced a title partnership agreement with British tech company Thunderhead for the upcoming season.  The partnership will see the team race under the banner of Thunderhead Carlin Racing with an exciting driver line-up.

Thunderhead Carlin Racing has already confirmed it will run the only Dallara P217 in the series, and announced 24 House of Le Mans LMP2 winner Harry Tincknell and Ben Barnicoat will join Jack Manchester in an all British team. Tincknell will however miss the opening round and will be replaced by Olivier Pla.  For Harry Tincknell it's a return to the championship he won in 2016 with Simon Dolan and Giedo van der Garde in the Jota/G-Drive Gibson 015S. 

Joining the team for the 2019 season Barnicoat said, “I’m delighted to be joining Thunderhead Carlin Racing for the 2019 European Le Mans series season. I’m extremely grateful to both Thunderhead and Trevor Carlin for giving me this opportunity to test my skills in the Dallara LMP2 machinery against some of the best drivers out there. I’ve been close with Carlin for many years but never had the opportunity to represent the team, I am extremely excited. I have great teammates in both Jack, who’s progressing rapidly, and Harry, who I am a big fan of and greatly respect, so I’m confident we will be a force to be reckoned with.”

2016 ELMS champion Tincknell, who will race for the team from Monza onwards added, “I can’t wait to get started with Thunderhead Carlin Racing at Monza. Jack and I are good friends and he’s really going places in sportscars, while Ben is already very established. As a trio, and with Carlin’s pedigree, we have an exciting year ahead! It’s great to be back racing with the team that guided and coached me back in my Formula 3 years, I wouldn’t be where I am now without them. I am sure Carlin’s debut sportscar season in the Thunderhead colours will be the start of something very special.”

Manchester, who was previously announced as embarking on an LMP2 programme with Carlin, said, “I am very excited to be racing with Ben and Harry, two incredibly talented fellow British drivers. We all get on extremely well, already there is a great team spirit and to get the opportunity to race with Olivier at Paul Ricard is a real bonus. It is going to be an exciting debut season for Thunderhead Carlin Racing.”

Substituting for the opening race of the season in Paul Ricard, Pla said of the upcoming race, “I am looking forward to joining Thunderhead Carlin Racing for their debut in endurance racing in the ELMS championship and sharing the car with Jack and Ben. It will be a new experience for most of the team and I look forward to helping them in Harry’s absence.”

Team Principal Trevor Carlin said, “We are extremely pleased to welcome Thunderhead to the team as a partner going forward. The ethos of the company is very similar to that of us here at Carlin – innovative, extremely professional and very proud of their reputation and results. We believe that this partnership will provide a fantastic foundation for the season ahead and we cannot wait for the first round in Paul Ricard next month. “Together we have created an exciting team of drivers. Jack, who is a very promising driver at the start of his career in sportscars, will have a great mentor in Harry who we know from our days together in Formula Three. Similarly, Ben is an extremely exciting driver who has made a big impact in testing and we have the best super sub you could wish for in Olivier for the first round. It’s going to be an exciting season.”

Thunderhead CMO Jason Hemingway said, “We feel as though there are parallels between Thunderhead and Carlin in terms of first-class engineering, impressive design and performance and a relentless commitment to innovation to achieve results. At Thunderhead we are continuously evolving and developing pioneering technology and we can see this level of commitment from Carlin too – it’s certainly a natural synergy. I’m looking forward to partnering as Thunderhead Carlin Racing and supporting Olivier and the young British driver trio Jack, Harry and Ben in the exciting season ahead.”