Sunny weather at the
start of the second round in the 2016 European Le Mans Series in
Imola past Sunday. Dark clouds filled with rain were expected by the
end of the race, but they might pass by without losing a drop ... at
least that's what the weatherforecast looked like. After two pretty
eventful practice sessions and a nailbiting qualifying on Saturday
afternoon, expectations were high for the race on Italian soil.
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| © ELMS - Adrenal Media |
In LMP2, Dragonspeed
started from pole after a thrilling qualifying session with the top
four within 44 thousands of a second. Nicolas Lapierre put in the
fastest lap, ahead of Mathias Beche in #46 TDS Racing Oreca 05. Paul
Loup Chatin qualified third in the #23 Panis-Barthez Competition
Ligier, which was fastest in both practice sessions.
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| © ELMS - Adrenal Media |
Lapierre took the start
on Sunday and managed to keep his first place, slightly driving away
from the competition. Behind the Dragonspeed Oreca, Chatin got into
second after passing the Thiriet Oreca. The battle for fourth was
fierce between Simon Dolan in the #38 G-Drive Racing Oreca03, Bjorn
Windheim in the #40 Krohn Ligier and Gommendy in the #33 Eurasia
Oreca05. Meanwhile the #41 Greaves Ligier of Memo Rojas lost was out
of the running for the podium after a puncture due to a contact with
the #48 Murphy Oreca03. Rojas rejoined at the back of the field, but
was out of contention for the podium.
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| © ELMS - Adrenal Media |
During the first
pitstops, Lapierre handed the car over the Hedman. Both chasing cars
didn't do any driver change, allowing them to get out again before
the Dragonspeed Oreca. Chatin got to the lead in the #23 Ligier,
Thiriet following close until the second round of pitstops. Fabien
Barthez now took over the #23, but wasn't able to hold off Ryo
Hirakawa in the #46.
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| © ELMS - Adrenal Media |
2 Full course yellows
were deployed when an LMP3 car spun or got off the road and ended
into the gravel trap. Both times, Hirakawa eased away and built up a
comfortable lead before handing over the car to Mathias Beche for the
final stint. Now it was the Gibson #38 of Simon Dolan, Harry
Tincknell and Giedo van der Garde who was up to second. Tincknell
took over from Dolan in sixth position, quickly got up into the order
but was ultimately stopped by the saftey car. Behind him, polesitters
Dragonspeed were still locked in third.
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| © ELMS - Adrenal Media |
With just over an hour
to go, dark clouds gathered over the track. Moments later the rain
started to fall down, initially only on some parts of the track, but
pretty soon the whole circuit was wet. Several cars struggled with
the conditions, spinning off. One of them was Mathias Beche in the
leading Thiriet Oreca, luckily for him, he managed to recover without
losing the lead. After a while, the full course yellow went over into
a safety car period, which went all the way untill the chequered
flag.
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| © ELMS - Adrenal Media |
Thiriet by TDS took its
first victory of the season, ahead of the G-Drive Racing Team in the
#38 Gibson and the #21 Dragonspeed Oreca 05. SMP Racing, Eurasia
Motorsport and Krohn Racing rounded out the top 6.
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| © ELMS - Adrenal Media |
Second race in the LMP3 class, second win for the United Autosports
#2 of Alex Brundle, Mike Guash and Christian England. The #3 United
Autosports sister car started from pole ahead of the #11
Eurointernational Ligier and the #2. Right at the start, Brundle got
ahead of the #11 and settled into second place. Behind them Roman
Rusinov, reigning LMP2 champion with G-Drive Racing made his first
appearance in LMP3 and seemed to enjoy himself in the #12
Eurointernational Ligier.
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| © ELMS - Adrenal Media |
He was quickly into third and took the lead during the first pitstops
when both United Autosport Ligiers came in and changed drivers. Mike
Patterson, who took over the #3 lost time after a drive through
penalty for speeding in the pitlane, losing contact with the top 3.
Both Eurointernational cars were leading the race now, Rusinov
building up comfortable lead. Behind him, Mike Guash was closing in
on the #12. After the next round of pitstops – due to 3 full course
yellows, strategy started playing its role in the race – the #16
Panis Barthez competition took the lead. Guash was still second, but
took over the lead when the leading car came in for his third stop.
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| © ELMS - Adrenal Media |
A few laps later, the race was neutralised with the full course
yellow and safety car, freezing all positions. United Autosports took
its second win in a row, ahead of the #12 Eurointernational and the
#19 Duqueine Engineering.
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| © ELMS - Adrenal Media |
Proton Competition was
impressive during the race in the GTE class, bouncing back from a
disappointing race in Silverstone last month. Starting from pole the
Porsche 911 RSR driven by Robert Renauer, Wolf Henzler and Mike
Hedlund drove the perfect, faultless race in Italy. Eventually
finishing an impressive 13th overall, ahead of all the
LMP3 cars.
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| © ELMS - Adrenal Media |
The yellow #66 Ferrari of JMW Motorsport took second
place, although it seemed to have the speed to compete for the win.
The full course yellow and safety car at the end decided differently.
Completing the podium is the #56 AT Racing Ferrari. Silverstone
winners Beachdean Aston Martin took fifth place, just enough to keep
the lead in the championship ahead of AT Racing.
No #60 Formula Racing
Ferrari at the start of the race. Christina Nielsen went hard into
the barriers in the second practice session, causing a withdrawal of
the car.
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| © ELMS - Adrenal Media |
Questions have been
asked if it was the right call to keep the safety car out until the
chequered flag dropped. Looking at the state of the track at a
certain point, yes. But – on a personal note – I'd rather see the
cars race to the flag instead of finishing a race behind the safety
car. With a big grid of 40+ cars and in LMP3 still a lot of drivers
who aren't used to prototype racing, lacking experience of driving
inbetween faster LMP2 cars, this probably was the best decision.
Looking at the full course yellows this race, all of them came after
a situation with an LMP3 car. In a few weeks the Le Mans frenzy
starts with a lot of ELMS teams driving. It would be a shame to see
an LMP2 or GTE contender miss the race after an accident in a 45' or
30' shootout in wet and tricky conditions.
The next race in the
European Le Mans Series is the 4 Hours of the Red Bull Ring in
Austria, mid July.
Kristof Vermeulen.
