Welcome, everybody to the 2022 European Le Mans Series as we bring you coverage of this championship and it’s sister championships the Le Mans Cup and the Road to Le Mans here on Endurance… The Sports Car Racing Blog. The first event of the year took place at the Paul Ricard circuit in Le Castellet in the south of France. In the European Le Mans Series, there are three main categories for LMP2, LMP3, and GT cars, very similar to lower-level classes we see in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship as well as the sister Le Mans Series sanctioned division, the Asian Le Man Series.
We join Hayley Edmonds for this race. 42 cars are set to start the motor race. The drivers are ready. We are going to present this race in highlighted form, kind of like a mini documentary movie. Drivers are happy to be back in competition as the 2022 season arrives. Louis Deletraz is the defending series champion from 2021, back with a new team, Prema, who have broken into endurance racing after many years of running in junior open wheel racing very successfully.
Job van Uitert, the Dutchman, he is racing this year with Panis Racing and the #65 car, also in LMP2. So far he is surprised at the professionalism and familiarity of the team. Another new driver is Jack Aitken, the Englishman, racing for Racing Team Turkey. As we wind back the clock to review this season, remember now, Aitken is the new endurance driver, in the IMSA WeatherTech Championship for my friends at Action Express Racing with the GTP Cadillac. But, since we wind back the clock for these races, we are looking at Aitken’s accomplishments as a member of Racing Team Turkey in ELMS in the LMP2 class.
Aitken says he is doing everything to learn as much as he can. The same is true in the LMP3 class for United Autosports driver Bailey Voisin. In the GTE class it is no different. Omani driver Ahmad Al Harthy is ready to race with his own team, Oman Racing, being assisted by Aston Martin campaigner TF Sport and team boss Tom Ferrier. This is car #69 that Al Harthy shares with Sam De Haan from England and Aston Martin GTE veteran Marco Sorensen of Denmark.
We are going to be following a team per race in our little miniseries about the 2022 ELMS season and in this episode, IDEC Sport will come into focus. During each race we will focus on a specific team and will tell the story of the race just the same. Race Engineer for the #28 IDEC Sport Oreca 07, Bastien Hanouet discusses the plan for Free Practice and qualifying with the drivers. With track conditions, we will do a lap and then come in and check the data for 15 minutes. You may get out of the car after or stay in. It is your call.
Team driver Paul Lafargue also part of the discussion. He says that when coming off the brakes, in the same gear, Lafargue says he is understeering and the same is not happening with Bastien Hanouet. So, the plot thickens. What will the team strategy be? Let’s continue dissecting their strategy discussion. Understeer? The moment the car rotates earlier when you are in second gear. You might be coming off the throttle a wee bit too early, and then, you must shift up to third gear. This is a quandary for the team to try and figure out.
Brake temps = 170 on the rears and 250 on the front. The rear brakes need more time to be bedded in so push them harder on your next practice laps. Lafargue is told to ignore others around him and manage the cars in front of him. That is the best he can do. As a driver, you are racing against the others but managing your own race at the same moment. It appears the track is gripping up as Free Practice continues. Second team driver Patrick Pilet says the pedal feels good. I think he is referring to the brake pedal in this case, not so much the accelerator. I told you we would go into strategy and getting into the mindset of what the driver’s are thinking. Paul Loup Chatin says that he is having a hard time keeping control of the car in certain corners on the circuit and so the team is refining and adjusting the handling on the car as best as possible.
So, that is the story of IDEC Sport to this point. We are next going to look into the sojourns of Cool Racing, the #37 Oreca in LMP2. Frenchman Nicolas Lapierre is the owner and lead driver for the team sharing the car with Yifei Ye from China and with Germany’s Niklas Krutten. They have two LMP3 entries as well. The #17 and #27 Ligier JS P320 Nissan’s. #17 to be driven by Mike Benham of England, Danish driver Malthe Jakobsen, and American Maurice “Mo” Smith. The second car #27 to be driven by 17-year-old rookie Antoine Doquin of France, with countryman Jean-Ludovic Foubert, and Swiss driver Nicolas Maulini.
Doquin says they had a mechanical problem. General interest question answers, they retired in the 2021 edition of this event. That is Doquin’s race day he’d rather forget. For Mikey Benham it is without a doubt the 2019 Barcelona race. He adds he does not like flying. Mikey Benham’s dream car, a McLaren F1 GTR. Driver Francoius Perrodo is a lucky dog to own one of those. For Antoine Doquin, his dream car would be the Porsche 919 Hybrid, the Le Mans winning Porsche LMP1 beast of a car from the latter part of a great recent era. Good choice.
Benham’s daily driver is a Toyota Yaris GR while, though he is a racing driver, at the time of recording this broadcast, Antoine does not have a road license yet. Favorite circuit. Good question. Both Michael and Antoine agree that Le Mans or Spa Francorchamps would be tied for their favorite circuits to race on. Once again, gentlemen, great choices! Best friend in the field? Race car drivers do have friends, off the track at the very least. On the track, well, it depends on the race.
Mike Benham is good mates with fellow driver Duncan Tappy. For Antoine Doquin, it is Mo Smith. Mo and Antoine did drive together at one point. The teammate you would like to have. Oh boy. This is going to be an interesting answer from both of these gentlemen as we build up to the start of this race. Antoine Doquin would like to drive with Nicolas Lapierre. For Mikey Benham, he would like to share a car with Malthe Jakobsen and he does in fact share the #17 with Malthe and with Mo Smith. The three amigos it seems.
Favorite teams in other sports? Take a stab at it. For Mikey Benham it is the Newcastle United football team. Of course, since this is the European Le Mans Series, we are talking about soccer as football, not to be confused with American football and a ball for the game of a completely different shape! Marseilles is Doquin’s favorite team, and I believe they would have to be a French league soccer team. Soccer and motor racing, those are the two biggest sports in Europe, by far. Biggest addiction (a good addiction of course). For Antoine, it is sports, and for Mike, it is family. Good answer!
Ultimate motorsports dream. Ooh. Fire away. This is a good question! For both Antoine and Mikey, they really want to do the 24 Hours of Le Mans. I think that is every sports car racer’s ambition. Le Mans is the ultimate, the crème de la crème, the Citadel of endurance racing. Mikey and Antoine I am sure will each get their chance. Will they do it together? We’ll have to wait and see. We have at least one more driver pairing/team profile to get to as the pre-race show continues, before we get to the racing action. We are checking in now with Sara Bovy, driver for the Iron Dames.
For this race, Bovy will team up with Michelle Gatting and with Rahel Frey. Bovy has been absolutely on fire, figuratively speaking of course. She is discussing with the team about pit strategy with team boss Andrea Piccini, asking about how the driver change scenario is going to work, positioning the car in the right spot in the box for the driver change. Bovy said that racing in the Michelin Le Mans Cup support series for the ELMS was a major step and now stepping up to the GTE spec Ferrari is a major jump. She said, “I am usually accustomed to watching the GTE car race on TV.”
She says it is the best GTE spec car in the world. Bovy is ready for the challenge. Deactivate the traction control by putting the car in neutral. The team goes through pit stop practice and is profiled during Free Practice and qualifying. Everyone is working towards the same goals for getting women into racing at all levels and especially into driving roles. A podium at Le Mans or finishing in the top three in the different championships they are racing in, that is the goal of the Iron Dames.
At United Autosport, the drivers wish each other luck before the qualifying sessions begin. Race Director Edoardo Freitas clicks the radio “attention to the pit lane, under 30 seconds to start qualifying for the LMP2 cars.” LMP2 qualifying gets underway and the teams look on. Low tire temperature and it must be built as the laps go on. Phil Hanson looking on. Purple in sector one. Fastest of all. How will things work out for the trio of Phil Hanson, Duncan Tappy, and Tom Gamble? The all-British lineup.
The #22 team is looking to have a gap over their rivals as qualifying continues as we also watch the #88 LMP2 Pro-Am entry on track. This is the AF Corse Oreca 07 being shared by Nicklas Nielsen, Francois Perrodo, and Alessio Rovera as AF Corse moves up from GTE to LMP2. Another notable contender, the #31 TDS Racing x Vaillante Oreca to be driven by Mathias Beche of Switzerland, Philippe Cimadomo of France, and Tijmen van der Helm from the Netherlands.
Red flag. Full Course Yellow. Box, box, box. United come up just short. Second place on the grid. TDS x Vaillante celebrates pole! Race day beckons, tomorrow.
Well, good morning (good afternoon), everybody. Round one of the 2022 European Le Mans Series is ready to get underway here at Paul Ricard in southern France. Here are the top three qualifiers in LMP2.
1. #31 Beche/Cimmadomo/Van der Helm TDS Racing x Vaillante Oreca 07
2. #22 Gamble/Hanson/Tappy United Autosports Oreca 07
3. #9 Deletraz/Habsburg/Colombo Prema Racing Oreca 07
Cool Racing and Malthe Jakobsen are top of the shop in LMP3.
1. #17 Jakobsen/Benham/Smith Cool Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan
2. #5 Adcock/Jensen/Kapadia RLR MSport Ligier JS P320 Nissan
3. #27 Doquin/Foubert/Maulini Cool Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan
Here are the top qualifiers in the GTE class for the production cars.
1. #32 Gidley/Varrone/Ehret Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo
2. #69 Al Harthy/De Haan/Sorensen Oman Racing with TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage AMR
3. #83 Bovy/Gatting/Frey Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GTE Evo
The time for talk is over. The race is next! Four hours duration are these European Le Mans Series races as we get set to get round one of 2022 underway. The first two rows. TDS Racing with Tijmen van der Helm, United Autosports with Phil Hanson, Prema with Lorenzo Colombo the starting driver, and Racing Team Turkey, their Oreca in the hands of Salih Yoluc for the opening stint. We are moments from the start of the championship. Red lights on. Red lights out! Away we go!
Colombo has the clear jump headed for the first corner. He cuts across the track trying to get past Tijmen van der Helm. He has to give it up. Phil Hanson in third spot. Lorenzo Colombo runs wide into turn five and is passed by the lead duo as we have an LMP3 car off the road in the final turn. That is the #3 LMP3 entry for United Autosports in the hands of American Jim McGuire sharing with Kay van Berlo of Holland and Brit Andrew Bentley. Contact sent him spinning through the final turn.
Pierre Ehret is the GTE class leader as Sara Bovy is making her presence known already early doors. Five minutes into the race and she has made her move for second spot on the Porsche of Christian Ried. Safety Car deployed. This will jumble up the pack. Ried is aboard the #77 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19, the German sharing with Italian’s Gianmaria Bruni (a Porsche factory driver in the GTE class now for many years), and fellow Italian, Lorenzo Ferrari. An ironic name, as he is driving a Porsche for this 2022 ELMS campaign. I don’t believe he is then related to Enzo Ferrari in any way, shape or form. But you never know.
Fourth place is Ryo Haryanto from Indonesia in the #18 Absolute Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19. Haryanto is the main driver for the Hong Kong team sharing alongside Alessio Picariello from Belgium and Martin Rump from Estonia. Sara Bovy made her move just before the safety car appeared on track as Jim McGuire gets service from the LMP3 mechanics at United Autosport. The right rear corner is not in the best of shape with a loose piece of bodywork. That is the “cheese wedge” which is the inside of the rear fender that also holds the taillight. The right rear cheese wedge is cattywampus on that automobile.
Here's it all again in slow motion. There was obvious contact spinning McGuire like a top. We go onboard the #69 Oman Racing Aston Martin in the GTE class and Sam De Haan had to take evasive action as well, look. It was a concertina effect as everyone was trying to avoid the spinning car as we watch one of the brave marshals retrieving the debris. We would not be able to go racing without the marshals. They wear white uniforms in the United States and orange uniforms in the rest of the world. But the uniform color does not matter. All of them have the same job of keeping drivers safe and for that we are grateful.
The safety car was deployed due to the Aston Martin stopping on the road. On this beautiful Sunday afternoon, we resume the motor race with only 12 minutes on the board. Easter Sunday. Wonderful racing weather. An all-Ferrari duel is on in GTE with Pierre Ehret leading ahead of Sara Bovy. Rinaldi Racing vs. the Iron Dames for Iron Lynx. The lead battle in LMP2 is getting spicy! Tijmen van der Helm runs wide and Phil Hanson says, “thanks, mate!” and takes over the lead. That was through Double Droite de Beauseille which is one of the major corners on the track here at Paul Ricard.
A major corner and also a major passing zone. Hanson was applying the blowtorch to van der Helm through Signes, one of the other great corners here at Ricard, at the very end of the long Mistral straight, and van der Helm cracked under pressure and had to give it up. Through the very same corner at Signes, the GTE Ferrari battle rages on with Sara Bovy catching Pierre Ehret hand over fist. Ehret runs wide. Christian Ried in the #77 Proton Porsche has a bird’s eye view of all of this action and decides he can go for it if these two run into each other.
Bovy trying all she can through Beauseilles, the long, double apex right hand turn. Now to the left they turn into Bol D’Or corner named for the great endurance motorcycle race that takes place at this circuit. Bovy loses the advantage for the moment. Bovy is pressing Ehret hard, and he is defending with everything he knows. Bovy on the inside has the preferred line into Virage du Tours. Bovy passes Ehret and makes it stick! 22 minutes into the motor race now and the LMP3 lead is changing as we speak as Maurice Smith loses out to Charlie Crews for the top spot. Smith driving for the #17 Cool Racing team and Charles Crews, another American racer, in the #13 Inter Europol Competition car.
Crews, the American LMP3 driver, sharing that automobile alongside Guilherme Oliveira from Portugal and Nico Pino from Chile. Trouble in LMP3 as well! Safety car deployed, again. Horst Felbermayr Jr. in the second RLR MSport Ligier JS P320 spins across the track, tries straightening the car out, and ker-runch! He whacks the inside concrete barrier! Big damage for the car the Austrian shares with American Austin McCusker and German Valentino Catalano. This is our second safety car scramble in the opening 23 minutes of this four hour contest here at Paul Ricard. Still a long way to go in our highlighted coverage. Don’t go anywhere. Trust me, you don’t want to run to the refrigerator for a snack and a cold drink just yet.
OK. I digress. Maybe during the safety car, you can grab that snack and cold drink. But make it quick. Plenty more action to come. Still under the safety car. Lunchtime, speaking of food. Drivers who have yet to race their stints are carbo loading. It looks like Guillhermo is enjoying a roast chicken and some steamed rice there which should provide plenty of energy. Pasta is probably the best food for an endurance driver as it settles easily and provides boatloads of energy for a driving stint. Pasta and tomato sauce, a good choice. So is the chicken and rice I might add.
Soon, we will be able to resume the motor race as the all-terrain vehicle is towing in the LMP3 car that caused this recent yellow. Green flag. Green flag. Reminder, no overtaking before the start/finish line. Phil Hanson leads and has opened a margin on Tijmen van der Helm while for third place it is closer still as Lorenzo Colombo now has his hands full with Fabio Scherer. Prema vs. Inter Europol for third place. Scherer, the Swiss driver, sharing with the experienced Danish Pro-Am racer David Heinemier Hansson, and with Brazilian Pietro Fittipaldi.
Fittipaldi is the grandson of two-time Formula 1 World Champion, and Indianapolis 500 winner, Emerson Fittipaldi. The pressure is on. 14 laps of this race now complete, 50 miles. The LMP3 leading #13 Inter Europol entry is running 18th overall, the Crews/Oliveira/Pino entry. A big scrum in LMP3 now with a lapped car in the way down the Mistral straight! That is the #4 DKR Engineering Duqueine M30 D08 Nissan of Belgian driver Tom van Rompuy. He is sharing the car with Sebastian Alvarez from Mexico and with UAE licensed driver Alexander Bukhantsov.
They both go past the lapped United Autosport #3 that we saw off the road earlier. #27 Jean Ludovic Foubert is in this fight, too. Cool Racing, their cars painted black with white fenders. Sara Bovy continues to lead GTE in the Ferrari with the battle of the Porsche’s steaming up right behind her. Christian Ried second and Andrew Haryanto in third spot and Haryanto, trying to pass one of the prototypes is wide and off the road! Haryanto, the Indonesian driver is a lucky bloke to have kept third spot running over the painted stripes on the outside of the circuit.
Here at Paul Ricard, that is the runoff area. No gravel traps. The pavement is painted with these multicolored stripes of paint with tungsten in it and that makes traction difficult with racing tires, and is a good way to define the out of bounds mark on the road, or track limits as they are better known. That is how the circuit here at Paul Ricard has been since it was built and first opened in 1970. Haryanto gets back on track right in front of Pierre Ehret and Pierre Ehret decides that he is going to make a move around the Porsche.
Ehret makes a brave move around the outside for third spot in the GTE class. Great racing in all three classes thus far and oh dear! A spin for Michael Fassbender. Fassbender, the Irish actor turned race car driver, sharing the #93 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19 with Austrian Richard Lietz and Canadian Zacharie Robichon. He spins right off the road and we go onboard with Fasbender. Too much curb and he spins off the road with no warning. Pit stop time for the LMP2 cars. A brand new fuel being used here at Paul Ricard, which is a renewable fuel made by TotalEnergies.
This is a renewable fuel made from agricultural waste and wine residue. The wine residue is made into ethanol and the ethanol is converted into a biofuel. Lorenzo Colombo back on track after his pit stop and he is going to get pinged by Tijmen van der Helm and loses a spot. This is for the lead of the motor race and so van der Helm is the erstwhile leader as Colombo is playing catch up. Wow! Hang onto your hats ladies and gentlemen! We have an LMP3 car going for a ride! That is Jean Ludovic Foubert, the Frenchman, for Cool Racing with a massive spin out of Signes corner!
Those painted stripes with the tungsten in them, I explained it earlier. They are amazingly abrasive and it is like a cheese grater that shreds the tires and that left rear Michelin on Foubert’s car is massively destroyed! Not only the tire, but it has taken the entire left rear fender with it. There is debris on the road and so we have yet another safety car dispatched, 51 minutes into the race. This is going to turn pit stop strategy right on it’s ear. The ave around for cars in their class that have been lapped. They rejoin at the tail end of the queue.
Class leaders with one hour in the bag.
LMP2: #31 van der Helm/Cimadomo/Beche TDS Racing x Vaillante Oreca 07
LMP3: #13 Crews/Oliveira/Pino Inter Europol Competition Ligier JS P320 Nissan
GTE: #83 Bovy/Gatting/Frey Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GTE Evo
Green flag and we are now into the second hour. Halfway home. Tijmen van der Helm leads the race. 27 laps, 98 miles in the books. Lorenzo Colombo weaving to get heat into his Michelin tires running ahead of Fabio Scherer in the LMP2 class and of course their #13 Ligier is the LMP3 class leader, as we watch a good battle for fifth place in LMP2 and in the overall. Phil Hanson goes the long way around to make the pass on Julien Canal. This is the United Autosport team vs. Panis Racing. Julien Canal sharing with fellow Frenchman Nico Jamin, and Dutchman Job van Uitert.
Good pass there, look, through Virage de la Tour, the final corner on the circuit. In Double Droite de Beauseilles, there is some synchronized spinning. American driver John Falb for Algarve Pro Racing gets loose. He spins the #47 Oreca in tandem with the #51 Team Virage Oreca of fellow American driver, Rob Hodes, and both of them spin! Falb sharing the #47 Algarve Pro Oreca with Australian’s James Allen and Alex Peroni while Rob Hodes shares the Team Virage car alongside Gabriel Aubry of France and Jazeman Jafar from Malaysia. Both cars rotate on the whirligig and lose bucketloads of time.
Car #11 in the lane. This is the second of two cars in LMP3 entered by Eurointernational from Italy. We have seen this team race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans before. Dutch driver Max Koebolt sharing with Marcos Siebert of Argentina and Frenchman Adrien Chila. Chila in the car now as the car has a left rear puncture. Is it from debris, contact with another car, or perhaps a spin? Those are three possibilities. We do not know which one it is, precisely. Just over an hour into the motor race and Sara Bovy leading GTE is headed for pit lane for a driver change and routine service. #83 has run 31 laps, 112 and a half miles.
The battle resumes in LMP2 between Cool Racing and United Autosport. This is Yifei Ye vs. Phil Hanson for fifth spot. Ye squeezes past into the esses and Hansons must give way. The LMP3 leaders are in the lane now as we speak. #14, the Inter Europol Competition Ligier in the hands of Mateus Kaprzyk from Poland and the #7 Nielsen Racing Ligier of British driver Tony Wells. Wells in a duo with fellow Brit James Littlejohn. Trouble as well in LMP2 land for N#ielsen Racing and the #24 car with a cut down left rear Michelin tire. Matt Bell, Ben Hanley, and Rodrigo Sales, sharing the car. Sales at the wheel of it. Meanwhile, there is another massive LMP2 battle!
Fabio Scherer for Inter Europol is leading this queue ahead of Sophia Florsch and Yifei Ye, chasing him down. The battle is for third spot. Florsch to the outside with a massive tow down the Mistral straight. Yifei Ye goes to the inside. Will three wide into Signe corner work out? Yes! Yifei Ye gains at least two places out of that little humdinger of a battle. Florsch sharing the #19 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca with Bent Viscaal from Denmark. Two more female drivers in this race. Phil Hanson sees an opening and takes advantage of it and poor old Fabio Scherer has just lost three places! Deary me. That was epic! Unbelievable!
3, 2, 1. Full Course Yellow. Full Course Yellow. No safety car called here. Everyone maintains a constant speed of 80 kilometers an hour, or 50 miles an hour as Duncan Cameron is in strife with the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GTE the Englishman is sharing with Irishman Matt Griffin and South African David Perel. Cameron has a flat right front tire and the BHK Motorsport car is slow too. There’s debris on the road or so it appears. BHK Motorsport, that is the #35 Oreca in LMP2 for Sergio Campana of Italy, his countryman Francesco Dracone, and Germany’s Markus Pommer.
Lorenzo Colombo brings the #9 Prema Oreca to the lane handing the car to Ferdinand Habsburg. TDS x Vaillante in the lane too, for the #31 car with Frenchman Philippe Cimadomo taking over the car. Fresh tires and a full fuel load for Cimadomo. More cars will follow into the lane. The #93 Proton Competition Porsche is in the lane and we have either a whole new tail section or the original rear decklid being reattached to the TF Sport/Racing Team Turkey #34 car in LMP2. We remain under Full Course Yellow as Prema and the #9 Oreca are back at the top of the pile.
3… 2… 1… Full Course Yellow removed. Green flag. Punch it. A good scrap for second is developing as Philippe Cimadomo has Niklas Kruetten right on his six. Cimadomo runs very wide out onto the paint! You can tell Kruetten is harrying him and getting inside his head if he is making mistakes. Cold front tires and no grip. Well, well, well. Cool Racing to second behind Prema Racing. Lorenzo Colombo says it was his first time to start an ELMS race and he really enjoyed it. He kept his head down, following instructions of his engineers and pit crew.
Stay consistent. Andrew Bentley, meanwhile, misjudges the corner, trying to catch a rival in the class who is stymied behind an LMP2 runner. He misjudges the corner, spins, and loses a heap of time. We look at the GTE running order again.
1. #32 Gidley/Ehret/Varrone Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo
2. #93 Fassbender/Lietz/Robichon Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19
3. #83 Bovy/Gatting/Frey Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GTE Evo
So, Memo Gidley, making his comeback to racing, the American is doing very well, after a savage accident in a Daytona Prototype at the 2014 Rolex 24 at Daytona. Markus Pommer running in tenth spot in the overall in the #35 LMP2 Oreca for BHK has his hands full with one of the LMP3 cars, and that is the aforementioned #14 car for Inter Europol Competition. Check that. We have mentioned the sister #13 but not the #14 yet. This is the car shared by Mateusz Kapryzk of Poland, Canadian James Dayson, and Noam Abramczyk of France.
Presently, Pommer is also under massive pressure from both Ugo de Wilde and Alessio Rovera. Rovera in the #88 AF Corse Oreca he shares with Nielsen and Perrodo. Ugo de Wilde is aboard the #21 Muhlner Motorsport Oreca 07. The Belgian sharing with French endurance racing veteran Thomas Laurent and Matthias Kaiser from Liechtenstein. Nico Jamin being chased by Sophia Florsch. Panis Racing vs. Algarve Pro. Ugo de Wilde is all over the tail of Philippe Cimadomo as well, look.
Through Virage du Pont, the final corner on the track and de Wilde slices to the inside and takes the spot away from Cimadomo. This is for ninth place as Markus Pommer is the next target but Pommer runs wide onto the front straight! Wow! Philippe Cimmadomo is getting a tough run for his money from Duncan Tappy in one of the United Autosports cars for 11th spot with a shade over two hours to go. We have just over half this motor race to run and believe you me, this is frantic action all over the track!
United demotes TDS Racing to 12th. Driver changes to come. Matt Griffin, the Irishman is getting set to get into the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari but hobbling out of the garage on crutches. I wonder if he is OK. It seems he may have sprained or tweaked something in his foot or leg. Ferdinand Habsburg still leading this motor race for Prema. 53 laps completed. 192 miles. He is 6.2 seconds to the good over Niklas Kruetten for Cool Racing in second spot and Nico Jamin holds the final podium place for Panis Racing at the present time. So, it is #9 from #37 and #65.
All of these cars are a three-driver team save for Sophia Florsch with two drivers both Silver rated. Florsch and Bent Viscaal driving together of course. Pit stop time in GTE for the #93 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19 as Michael Fassbender has finished his stint and hands the car off to co-driver Richard Lietz. Kruetten working traffic with a GTE Ferrari vs. Porsche scrap right ahead of him. A slight touch there as he is trying to chase down the CarGuy liveried #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 GTE for the Danish duo of Mikkel Jensen and Fredrik Schandorff sharing alongside Takeshi Kimura of Japan.
Here's it all again in slow motion. Yow. Kruetten gets a wee bit sideways. It does not appear to be massive contact. Probably a dent or some bent bodywork on the right front corner of the Ferrari but nothing major. Pit stops completed and now, we have yet another look at the class leaders.
Overall/LMP2: #9 Deletraz/Hsburg/Colombo Prema Racing Oreca 07
LMP3: #13 Crews/Oliveira/Pino Inter Europol Competition Ligier JS P320 Nissan
GTE: #83 Bovy/Gatting/Frey Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GTE Evo
Prema could win their debut race. We’ll have to see. Iron Dames and Rahel Frey are now third. Holy smokes! Frey is being monstered by Henrique Chaves aboard the sister #95 Oman Racing with TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage AMR! The Portuguese racer is giving it absolutely everything! Chaves sharing with Jonny Adam and John Hartshorne, a couple veteran Aston Martin drivers from England. Hartshorne has experience in a wide variety of GT cars. I can remember him racing at Le Mans years ago in GTE class Aston Martin’s and TVR Tuscan’s.
Chaves on ratty, knackered tires. He makes the pass. The sister Oman Racing car retired from the race after a single lap. Nico Jamin and Niklas Kruetten are both still going at it, hard as we hear a penalty call over the radio for one of the earlier accidents observed in this motor race. Panis Racing and Cool Racing battling. The penalized car is the #51 Team Virage Oreca in LMP2 and Rob Hodes will drop like a stone after that. Not a good day at Paul Ricard whatsoever for the Hodes/Aubry/Jafaar trio. Duncan Tappy in the meantime, makes his move on Niklas Kruetten and goes to third spot!
In the meantime, Nico Jamin, where did he come from?! Holy cow! He is catching Ferdinand Habsburg hand over fist! Jamin for Panis Racing charging down the Mistral straight and really going after Prema. Duncan Tappy is coming as the lapped GTE cars keep out of the way. Jamin gets stymied in traffic once more as we have just a hair over an hour and a half of this race remaining. Ferdinand Habsburg has now run 70 laps, 254 miles.
Niklas Kruetten is being caught by Bent Viscaal as well. The battle is alive through traffic. Team boss and former Formula 1 and sports car driver Olivier Panis is confident but knows an hour and a half is a long time. The LMP3 class lead is still held down by Inter Europol and Guillherme Oliveira with nearly 15 seconds in hand over the #2 United Autosports Ligier JS P320 Nissan. Germany’s Finn Gehrsitz at the wheel of it now, sharing with British drivers Josh Caygill and Bailey Voisin. The GTE battle rages with Richard Lietz continually closing in on Rahel Frey for the class lead.
Traffic behind. James Allen is ready for his next stint. Meanwhile, with one of the LMP2 cars also passing on th Mistral straight, Richard Lietz makes his move and goes past Rahel Frey for the GTE lead. Pit stop time at IDEC Sport and the #28 Oreca. Patrick Pilet, the vastly experienced Frenchman, brings the car in for a driver change. Will it be Paul-Loup Chatin or Paul Lafargue getting into that car? We’ll have to find out. Prema in the lane, too. Louis Deletraz is set to get into that car and should take it to the flag, maybe. Still an hour and 15 minutes to run yet.
This is a brand new team and Louis Deletraz, the 2021 champion of the European Le Mans Series seems to be fitting into it well. Job van Uitert takes over at Panis Racing from Nico Jamin who was in that hot battle we saw a bit earlier in the going. This is Prema’s first ELMS race and they are meeting and surpassing expectations. That is for dead sure. So much in endurance racing is how a team operates and how they operate under pressure. Prema come out of the lane with an advantage over Panis while Duncan Tappy is the erstwhile race leader in the #22 United Autosports Oreca.
Tappy on warm tires has to keep his speed up and now, Deletraz is catching Duncan Tappy. Tappy has older tires. Deletraz makes his move on Tappy past Signes and he makes it stick for the lead ahead of Duncan Tappy. Rinaldi Racing are in the lead of the GTE class, the #32 Ferrari 488 GTE with Argentine driver Nicolas Varrone at the wheel of it. We have a spinner as the #4 DKR Engineering LMP3 car is off the road in the gravel. That is the Duqueine being run by the Luxembourg team. Sebastian Alvarez of Mexico at the controls.
Again, Alvarez is sharing alongside Belgian Tom van Rompuy and Alexander Bukhantsov, licensed under the UAE. He loops it coming onto the Mistral straight and he has high sided it in the gravel. Full Course Yellow and Sebastian Alvarez will have to be pulled out of the gravel. This team has won a hat trick of LMP3 titles in Michelin Le Mans Cup. The LMP3 car gets back on track but spews gravel all over the place. 3, 2, 1. Full Course Yellow removed. Green flag. Richard Lietz snatched third away from Rahel Frey and now she definitely wants the place back from the German Porsche ace.
Louis Deletraz now runs eight seconds ahead of Job van Uitert. A change for the class lead in LMP3 down the Mistral straight is Nicola Pino goes right by Josh Caygill. Van Uitert in the meantime has Nicolas Lapierre all over him for Cool Racing. Prema continue to lead the motor race with a second place battle with 1.2 seconds between the two. Charlie Eastwood is being harried by Paul Loup Chatin. Chatin on the inside and through he goes with the AF Corse car for company.
Nicklas Nielsen in the AF Corse entry, you know that he wants a bite of the cherry as well. Eastwood wants by Chatin again and Chatin slams the door directly in his face. Pit stop time for the leader at Prema and for the Panis Racing car and Charlie Eastwood, let me tell you, is hanging on by his fingernails in this scrap for third spot! Paul Loup Chatin makes the pass for fourth and now, poor old Eastwood is going to get mugged by Nielsen as well for fifth spot! Jeepers creepers!
This is only the second year in LMP2 for Racing Team Turkey in 2022. Now, from the race lead in LMP2, Bent Viscaal is in the pit lane. Louis Deletraz and Prema Racing come back to the top ahead of Panis Racing and now, Algarve Pro, after the pit stop they are ahead of Panis Racing but just barely! Algrave Pro team boss Stuart Cox is cheering his team on. Job van Uitert chasing down Bent Viscaal into Signe corner and she is on cold tires! Rinaldi Racing and Nicolas Varrone meanwhile lead the way in the GTE class.
Nico Lapierre is aiming to have a lunge at Charlie Eastwood before long. Eastwood goes a long way around the Porsche putting daylight between himself and Nico Lapierre. Esstwood stymied again by the CarGuy Ferrari. Charlie Eastwood fighting on. Will he have the pace? No. He loses a spot to TDS Vaillante. Gianmaria Bruni in the #77 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19 is catching Nico Varrone in the Rinaldi Racing Ferrari #32. The gap is 1.2 seconds. It is the final lap of the motor race. Four hours nearly elapsed here at Paul Ricard!
Six kilometers to go. Bruni is laser focused on the Ferrari. One lap to go. All the chips are down. Wo;; it be the pole sitting Rinaldi Ferrari or will it be the Porsche? Prema Racing and the #9 car are going to win this motor race. Varrone leading onto the Mistral straight. He is not home and hosed yet, breaking the tow to the Porsche. Checkered flag. Prema Racing win on debut! Louis Deletraz, Ferdinand Habsburg, and Lorenzo Colombo are going to win the 4 Hours of Le Castellet! Bruni in GTE is not done applying the blowtorch to Varrone! It’s a drag race to the line!
Varrone beats Bruni in GTE! Prema Racing complete 120 laps, 436 miles. Racing Team Turkey take home the honors in LMP2 Pro Am for Jack Aitken, Charlie Eastwood, and Salih Yoluc.
Overall/LMP2: #9 Colombo/Deletraz/Habsburg Prema Racing Oreca 07a
LMP2 Pro-Am: #34 Aitken/Eastwood/Yoluc Racing Team Turkey Oreca 07
LMP3: #17 Benham/Jakobsen/Smith Cool Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan
GTE: #32 Varrone/Ehret/Gidley Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo
An action-packed ELMS lid lifter to the 2022 season. See you next time for round two, in Italy, the 4 Hours of Imola at the Autodromo Enzo E Dino Ferrari in Imola, Italy. Au revoir from Paul Ricard, everyone.
No comments:
Post a Comment