The 2023 European Le Mans Series featuring cars from the LMP2, LMP3, and LM GTE classes, is set to get underway, today, in Spain, at the Circuit de Catalunya Barcelona. The start of a new season is upon us. 2022 was a year of action, entertainment, and excitement and 2023 will be the same. There are changes afoot in the European Le Mans Series for this year. Teams are no longer allowed to heat their tires. No tire blankets, no ovens. There will be one wet and one dry compound of tire for each category to use. LMP2 and GTE race on Goodyear tires from the United States while LMP3 cars use the French Michelin tires. The Pro-Am portion of LMP2 is now it’s own class with it’s own separate qualifying session compared to the overall LMP2 class.
Another new wrinkle is extending qualifying sessions for each class by five minutes, from ten to 15 minutes for LMP2, LMP3, and GTE. Contenders, ready! Let’s get this thing started! As Michael Buffer would say, “let’s get ready to rumble!” Pit lane reporter Steph Wentworth tells us this new season is going to be mega. Neel Jani, the 2016 winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Porsche, in this driver profile, the Swiss driver for Duqueine Team in LMP2, he is a man after my own heart! He does not drink coffee, always tea. To be fair, I am an espresso drinker and a tea drinker. Believe me, espresso comes in handy with these long-distance sports car races.
A little bread and butter for breakfast, and then, we are off to the track for the race. Jani says, “it is a nice moment. It is joy, not stress. If it were stress, I would be in the wrong job and have to do something else.” Jani is racing in ELMS for Duqueine and at Le Mans. Jani drove in what was called just the Le Mans Series, about a decade ago. Jani says he is still getting to know his new team after testing and so forth. Jani warms up and stretches, chats quickly about the plan with the engineers and then is into the car ready to go. Too much talk in racing just doesn’t pay. Actions speak louder than words.
However, it is sometimes possible, while driving, for a driver’s mind to wander, and maybe start thinking of those mundane tasks and responsibilities we have in daily life on this planet. Did I forget to buy food? Then, the team comes on the radio saying, “pit now, the stint has ended. Pit now.” The driver thinks, “oh man! That was quick!” The goal is clear. Duqueine wants and needs to win and to stay up front. Jani is very happy to be where he is now and is relaxed, having the time of his life.
Alright. Before we go racing, Swiss driver Louis Deletraz, the 2022 ELMS champion, is going to show us what the Circuit de Catalunya Barcelona is all about. It is time for the track walk. We are going uphill into turn three. This is a blind corner on the circuit. Don’t overheat the left front tire and don’t go offline into the spent rubber, the marbles. Deletraz is piloting the #34 Racing Team Turkey Oreca 07 in ELMS this year alongside Irishman Charlie Eastwood and Salih Yoluc of Turkey.
Deletraz is coming into this race as the defending race champion. So, he wants to go for it and in his words, as he knows his record, go three for three. So, it sounds like Deletraz has won this event before. He knows what to expect. Turn ten is another crucial corner here in Barcelona. Let’s discuss it. Louis Deletraz points out that the corner profile was changed some years ago and involves braking very late into the turn. Hit the apex and go for the cleanest exit possible because the corner is longer than you think. It is tough on the tires. Down the straightaway pull 250 kilometers an hour on the speedometer which is 156 and ¼ miles an hour.
Then, under braking you reduce speed way down to 80-90 kilometers an hour, roughly a range of 50-56 and 5/8ths miles an hour. Now we come to the turn on the track here at Barcelona that has been modified. New curbs, gravel on the exit, no chicane anymore. We’ll have to see if drivers like Deletraz and the others will take the corner flat out or if they are more conservative and choose to lift. Team Spirit is important and before we get ready to race, we wonder. What is the team spirit like at Nielsen Racing? Team manager Stuart Moseley explains they have two cars.
Nielsen Racing are running the #4 LMP2 Oreca and the #7 LMP3 Ligier. Nielsen Racing, like any other top team, are able to balance having fun with being serious and professional about the racing, buckling down, getting the car prepared and making sure the drivers are in the game to go for it in a professional manner. The same with the pit crew. Pace, and performance are there and yet they have a wacky couple of cars as far as the graphics and can have fun that way, according to their tire technician, Rachael Patterson.
Here's the wacky side. Rachael gives their team manager, Tony, a balled-up chunk of rubber from one of the tires! So, let me ask. Is this the team managers’ version of a stress ball? Patterson says every day is a fun day. The team has 32 people here at Barcelona. Having good relationships and morale is critical. Even team members who are best of pals after a long weekend at the track, they must be given their space and be allowed to have time alone.
The team manager at Nielsen Racing has a lot of pride in the work they’ve done and will continue to do. It’s time for a new segment we call Box, Box, Box, to hear answers to random questions we will be asking the drivers before we get down to business. Who are you? This is Rui Andrade, racing the #43 LMP2 car for Inter Europol Competition. How old are you? Sometimes this is an appropriate question and sometimes not. Rui Andrade is 23 years old. Between 1 and 10 how do you rate your haircut and why?
Rui gives his coiffure a ten as it looks amazing and is aerodynamic. Which actor do you look like and why? People tell Rui he looks like Will Smith, but he is not sure he totally agrees with that statement at all. Every human individual is a unique being. Can you describe your worst quality? Oh boy. Don’t embarrass the drivers like this! Andrade says, “I am a terrible loser.” That makes sense for racing drivers. If winning is the only objective, losing is painful! Describe your best quality. Rui Andrade says “I am a pretty good teammate.”
The questions continue. What kinds of habits do you have before a session? It depends. Listening to music is something. What is your best joke? Rui Andrade is being wise and says “I will not try to tell a joke on camera because it will be held against me for the rest of the racing year.” Wise decision, Rui. Wise decision. Read the next sentence. On the screen, is the classic tongue twister. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Well, racing drivers are good at solving the tongue twister riddles. Are you able to show us your best funny face?
Rui asks, “what is a funny face?” That did not work. True or false. In 2023 you will win a race. Extremely true. Alright. Let’s slow things down before we get to qualifying. At Cool Racing, the team reminds their driver to be ready to go out to qualify and then, we hear Race Director Edoardo Freitas on the radio telling drivers the pit exit is open and that the drivers should heat the cars and tires up before going out on hot laps to put in a banker lap for qualifying. The crew chief to the driver on the radio signals, “party mode”. These are the settings that optimize the car to be it’s fastest possible.
“Party mode, off. Go for new tires.” “Provisional pole is Allen on 1:29.8. Jani, is behind you, five seconds off on a push lap.” Cool Racing takes the pole! Car #47 of Vladislav Lomko of Russia, Frenchman Reshad de Gerus, and Toyota factory driver Jose Maria Lopez of Argentina are on pole! Top of the shop in LMP2! Here’s the top three in LMP2.
1. #47 Lomko/de Gerus/Lopez Cool Racing Oreca 07 1:29.396
2. #25 Allen/Lynn/Simpson Algarve Pro Racing Oreca 07 1:29.435
3. #30 Binder/Jani/Pino Duqueine Team Oreca 07 1:29.593
Cool Racing are ecstatic! Race morning and the drivers sign autographs for the fans. The race is now just about to get underway. It is time to look at the grid and the top qualifiers. In the GTE class, the pole position goes to the #66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari 488 GTE Evo clinched pole position. Australian driver Martin Berry set the pole time and will start the race, sharing with his British co-drivers Lorcan Hanafin and Jon Lancaster. Here’s the top three qualifiers in GTE.
1. #66 Berry/Hanafin/Lancaster JMW Motorsport Ferrari 488 GTE Evo 1:41.060
2. #57 Huffaker/Kimura/Schandorff Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo 1:41.173
3. #16 Hardwick/Piccariello/Robichon Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19 1:41.188
In LMP3 it is Cool Racing also on pole position, with their #17 Ligier JS P320 Nissan in the hands of Argentinian driver Marcos Siebert. Siebert sharing with Adrien Chila of France and Alex Garcia of Mexico. Here are the top three LMP3 qualifiers.
1. #17 Chila/Garcia/Siebert Cool Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan 1:35.250
2. #13 Askey/Brichacek/Cristovao Inter Europol Competition Ligier JS P320 Nissan 1:35.562
3. #31 Doquin/Wolff/Michal Racing Spirit of Leman Ligier JS P320 Nissan 1:35.616
Salih Yoluc is the LMP2 Pro-Am polesitter. He is at the wheel of the #34 Racing Team Turkey Oreca 07, the Turkish driver sharing with Irishman Charlie Eastwood and Switzerland’s Louis Deletraz. Here’s the LMP2 Pro-Am top qualifiers.
1. #34 Deletraz/Eastwood/Yoluc Racing Team Turkey Oreca 07 1:30.947
2. #99 Ried/Roda/Bruni Proton Competition Oreca 07 1:31.267
3. #37 Coigny/Jakobsen/Lapierre Cool Racing Oreca 07 1:32.838
Reshad de Gerus is on pole overall and in LMP2 for Cool Racing. Time for the Spanish and Catalan anthems played by a string quartet. Clear the grid. It is time to go racing, next! The formation lap is now underway, and we are set to go for it. The safety car pulls off and the field is now under control of the #47 Cool Racing car of Vadislav Lomko. Kyffin Simpson to the outside. The red lights are on the gantry as they come to the start/finish line. When they go out, the race is on. Red lights, out, and away we go! Vadislav Lomko is your leader with Kyffin Simpson tucking into second spot. Marino Sato, though, in the United Autosport entry, is flying! He is going to make his move on Simpson into turn one!
He locks up into turn one and cannot get by Simpson, the driver from Barbados. Rui Andrade, the Angolan driver moves past Austrian Rene Binder in a battle between Duqueine and there’s a shemozzle towards the tail end of the field. But Vadislav Lomko is beginning to pull a gap on everybody else. So, the top three includes Lomko, Simpson, and Sato. We’ve got a tangle between an LMP3 and a GTE car. Let’s see what happened. Leonard Weiss has spun the #12 WTM by Rinaldi Racing Duqueine and in this mess as well, is Arnold Robin at the wheel of the #72 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage AMR. Robin sharing with Maxime Robin and with VHC, Valentin Hasse-Clot, the Aston Martin factory driver. The #12 car being driven by German Leonard Weiss, sharing with countryman Torsten Kratz, and they are join by Oscar Tunjo of Venezuela as well.
Tunjo, I recall, has done a lot of running in GT3 cars in recent years. But I think this is his first foray into a prototype. A local yellow flag covers the shemozzle we just saw and now we return to the lead battle as Kyffin Simpson is chasing down Vadislav Lomko. Marino Sato remains in third place in the queue. In this replay, we can see that someone else tipped Leonard Weiss into a spin and then the Aston Martin was collected. Oh dear! It’s not the only one! The #77 Porsche 911 RSR-19 is all torn up! That’s the second of the three Proton Competition Porsche’s! That Porsche 911 RSR-19 is headed for the scrapheap. Christian Ried, the team principal at Proton, it is game over.
Ried sharing the car with Porsche GT driver Julien Andlauer of France, and Italian Giammarco Levorato. There’s more torn-up GT sheet metal out there too. The #44 Aston Martin Vantage has completely lost it’s right front corner. Safety car deployed. But it is also game over for #44. This is the GMB Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage with an all-Danish trio on the driver’s strength including Nicki Thiim, the longtime stalwart Aston Martin racer, Gustav Birch, and Jens Reno Moller. One lap in the books but there’s lots of damaged race cars out there. I have to wonder if the GMB Aston made contact with Leonard Weiss in the WTM Rinaldi LMP3 car.
Christian Ried is out of the #77 Posche and is OK. But as mentioned, that car is junk and will go no further in the race here at Barcelona this afternoon. The safety car is deployed. Jens Moller has made it back to the pit lane but believe me, that motorcar is secondhand and is going no further in today’s action. Game over. GMB runs the Honda/Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 in the Michelin Le Mans Cup, but they also have this fleet of Aston Martin’s that comply to the GTE regulations.
Not an auspicious debut for the black and red GMB car. So, let’s have a Captain Cook at a replay of the start. Vadislav Lomko makes a good getaway but of course, as they thunder down to turn one, Kyffin Simpson and Marino Sato begin racing each other immediately. Simpson diving to the inside of Sato looking for second place. Not enough confidence still on cold tires. The rules in Le Mans racing mean that there are no tire warmers allowed. Similar rules have also been in place in such championships as the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship.
For the upcoming season in 2024, that may change on both sides of the Atlantic. Hard to tell. Meanwhile, back to the racing, we saw all that shemozzle in the middle of the pack and poor old Leonard Weiss really was caught up in it first. We don’t want to apportion blame until we know what exactly happened. Weiss is an innocent bystander in all of this as some other bloke tagged him from behind. He just got spun around and there are cars everywhere. So, it is correct to not apportion blame to Leonard Weiss. Wrong place at the wrong time is all that was.
We ride onboard with the second #93 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19 in the hands of Irish actor and racing driver, Michael Fassbender, to see what he saw in this. Fassbender is a lucky chap to avoid the mess and wisely takes evasive action. We have just 12 minutes of this four-hour race on the board. We are about to hear about what happened via Jens Moller and what he saw out there. It was a bad deal because he had an LMP3 car ahead but got squeezed and hit the LMP3 with the right-hand side of the Aston Martin. He tried being cautious and it didn’t work.
This is a shame because they had a chance for a decent result at GMB. Let’s see if we can decipher what he saw from his onboard camera in the Aston Martin. Moller was following everyone through, the LMP3 car was spun right in front of him, and… ker-runch! He had no place to go, giving a massive whack to the right rear of the stranded LMP3 car that was turned sideways. Somebody has lost a tire behind the safety car and now we need to identify which automobile that is.
Oh no! It is indeed Marino Sato who now has three wheels on his wagon. The car is scraping the deck on the driver’s side. Clearly, Marino Sato was unaware he had an issue. This is going to turn into a fraught opening race for Sato and his British co-drivers and longtime campaigners with United Autosport, Phil Hanson, and Oliver Jarvis. Sato in sixth now but he will drop like a stone because this is going to be a long, slow in lap if he makes it all the way ‘round the circuit. So, after only 17 minutes of the race it looks like we might soon go back to green as we look back from behind the safety car who has picked up a couple of the GTE runners. Christian Ried in the Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19 and Duncan Cameron in the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GTE.
Christian Ried will be neck and neck with Duncan Cameron on this restart. Excuse me. I got sidetracked. This is a replay of the earlier incident we just alluded to. So, let’s see again what happened. There was debris all over the place. Christian Ried disappears out of the camera shot but by then, Ried was off the road and along for the ride collecting all the carnage we saw. Into the pit lane, the #22 United Autosport LMP2 car with just 18 minutes elapsed in the race. Marino Sato in the lane, and the team is changing the bent left rear wheel.
They must check to make sure that car has no further damage to the suspension or to the floor. Also in the pit lane is the #81 DragonSpeed LMP2 car. We used to see this team quite frequently stateside in IMSA but they are back to racing in Europe in 2023 in the European Le Mans Series. Sebastian Montoya at the controls, the Colombian, son of Indianapolis 500 winner, and Formula 1 and NASCAR driver (formerly), Juan Pablo Montoya, at the controls. Sebastian Montoya is sharing the car with his dad, both from Colombia of course, and the lead driver on the team is Sweden’s Henrik Hedman.
It could very well be that Sebastian Montoya was collected by the Aston Martin earlier. Marino Sato exits the pit lane and is back on track. There are stellar names throughout the field in the 2023 European Le Mans Series and so we’ll keep an eye on this race for dead sure. Back to green flag racing with 35 minutes elapsed and a Ferrari battle is on, look, between the two yellow cars of Kessel Racing and JMW Motorsport. This is a battle for third place in GTE between Martin Berry and Takeshi Kimura. Kimura is “Mr. Car Guy” and is the boss of the team as well as one of the drivers.
Kimura from Japan sharing with American Scott Huffaker and Danish driver Fredrik Schandorff. At JMW, Martin Berry, the Australian, is sharing with British drivers Lorcan Hanafin and Jon Lancaster. This is a three-way battle for third now because the Porsche of Michael Fassbender is closing on the two Ferrari’s ahead. Kimura vs. Berry vs. Fassbender. Martin Berry dives past Takeshi Kimura and takes the spot away. This brings him to third. 50 minutes, so nearly an hour of this race gone, and now we have an altered GTE situation.
Martin Berry has been leapfrogged and he is being left in the collective dust of both Takeshi Kimura and Michael Fassbender who are way up the road as they fly down the frontstretch to start another lap here at Catalunya Barcelona. Fassbender is going for it around Kimura into turn one. This is not a lead battle in GTE although it looks like it. Fassbender has just passed Kimura for third place. Rui Andrade is in sixth place now aboard the #43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca 07 LMP2 car. Andrade, the Angolan LMP2 ace sharing the car with Olli Caldwell from Great Britain, and Jonathan Aberdein from South Africa.
There is a problem with the car for Andrade currently. The taillights are flashing at the rear. Not a good sign for a race car when the lights are flashing. Algarve Pro lead overall, at the top of the shop, ahead of Duqueine Team and Cool Racing. Inter Europol have made it back to the garage and have lots of work to do if they want to stay in the race today here in Barcelona. It appears the trouble is with the gearbox right at the back of the automobile. Again, Rui Andrade is a driver from Angola. There’s a major scrap for third in LMP2 with Manuel Maldonado going by the pole sitter, Vadislav Lomko. Manuel Maldonado aboard the #65 Panis Racing Oreca 07.
That is a team owned and operated by former Formula 1 driver and 1996 Monaco Grand Prix winner for Ligier, Olivier Panis. Maldonado, the Venezuelan driver, brother of ex-Formula 1 driver Pastor Maldonado, is sharing with Dutch drivers Job van Uitert and Tijmen van der Helm. Downhill into turn five, Maldonado makes a classic overtake we see here at Barcelona, whether it is sports cars, Formula 1, touring cars, motorcycles, you name it. Rui Andrade tells us he had a clean start to his race and gained two positions right away.
Inter Europol has a good pace and they have been able to take advantage of the difficulties being dealt with by United Autosport. But then, of course, the gearbox went sour on the Inter Europol car. The goal now is to fix the transmission and get back out there. Andrade does point out that it is annoying because their strong early form will be ruined. In the meantime, we move ahead with the action and the battle is on for the LMP3 lead between Inter Europol Competition car #13 and Cool Racing car #17. Both teams have entered cars in LMP2 and LMP3.
These two cars were on the same row of the grid. Miguel Cristovao of Portugal in the #13 car followed by Adrien Chila of France in the #17. This lead battle is close with the two cars just 6/10ths of a second apart. DragonSpeed have made a driver change but the car needs a new tail section. Juan Pablo Montoya is now in the car. So, the existing tail was damaged in the opening lap contact they had with the stricken Aston Martin that we saw sideways in the middle of the road. AF Corse and their LMP2 car passes the leading Inter Europol LMP3 car. The battle for LMP3 leadership continues apace with Miguel Cristovao being pursued hotly by Adrien Chila.
The #83 AF Corse Oreca 07 is being shared by French drivers Francois Perrodo and Matthieu Vaxiviere alongside the rapid British driver, Ben Barnicoat. The battle is on in LMP2 between AF Corse and Algarve Pro. Poor old Miguel Cristovao tries to stay out of their way, but he runs out very wide and skitters onto the gravel! Cristovao gets stymied and Adrien Chila passes for the LMP3 lead! Holy mackerel! Traffic giveth to Cool Racing. Traffic taketh away from Inter Europol. Juan Pablo Montoya debriefing with the DragonSpeed engineers and mechanics. They have had a fraught weekend after not qualifying where they wanted to, starting from last on the grid, and getting caught up in the wreck, the shemozzle, on the opening lap.
They have been able to continue in the race and so that is the silver lining in what has been seen as a gray cloud thus far. Salih Yoluc started the #34 Racing Team Turkey Oreca from LMP2 pole but now, his co-driver Charlie Eastwood, from Ireland, finds himself in sixth place. They do remain the leaders in the Pro-Am LMP2 class, which is only different based on those dreaded driver ratings we keep discussing. Charlie Eastwood has just begun his stint and so he is getting up to speed and feeling the car out for it’s handling and so forth. Even aboard an LMP2 car, you must pick and choose your line. The circuit here at Barcelona is old school and is narrow with little runoff save for gravel traps as we have seen.
TF Sport is run by team boss Tom Ferrier and of course, before their ventures into LMP2, they ran Salih Yoluc, the Turkish driver who leads the team, successfully for many years in GTE Aston Martin machinery. Halfway through the motor race now, and in the lead is the #25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca 07, in the hands of James Allen from Australia. He runs ahead of the #30 Duqueine Oreca 07 with Nico Pino, the Chilean driver, at the controls. We have also seen Nico Pino is some events in the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech Championship. Oh dear, oh dear! Paul Loup Chatin in the IDEC Sport LMP2 makes a daring move!
A daring and yet fruitless move, that spins James Allen around! Oy yoy yoy! Allen rolls back into the gravel trap and is trying to spin the wheels to get out. But he may bury the rear end of the car if he’s not careful. This is not good for James Allen who has spun himself out of the lead. I wonder how the stewards will view the incident and who they may blame for it. Nico Pino is listed second on the road, but I was sure he was a lap down. The gap is 11.4 seconds but that can’t be, because Allen is still buried in the gravel trap. Pino is going to take the lead when he crosses the start/finish line this time. Yellow flags are out. Will we go Full Course Yellow or Safety Car?
Race Director Edoardo Freitas comes on the radio, informing us of the pit lane being closed and that we shall indeed be under Full Course Yellow conditions. In 35 seconds, we go Full Course Yellow. Paul Loup Chatin for IDEC Sport did not have the best judgment trying to make a banzai move on the race leader. In this replay, he tags Allen who spins into the gravel. The team should have told him which Algarve Pro car he was battling. Now the LMP2 and overall lead battle intensifies. Nico Pino has Charlie Eastwood right on his six. Duqueine are just barely ahead of the LMP2 Pro-Am class leading Racing Team Turkey car. Neel Jani is getting suited and booted for his stint in the #30 car.
There are loads of talented drivers in this 2023 European Le Mans Series field. Charlie Eastwood has raced in the FIA World Endurance Championship and Nico Pino has eyes on racing in WEC one day. As mentioned, we have seen him in IMSA competition and now here in the European Le Mans Series. Oh boy! This is the close shave between the LMP2 leaders for overall honors and the JMW Ferrari in the GTE class! The JMW Ferrari was the meat in the sandwich and did well to stay out of the way of the leaders! That was wild! Charlie Eastwood has a slight brake lockup but gets back on the button.
There’s nothing in it between the leaders of the regular LMP2 class and the LMP2 Pro-Am subcategory going for overall honors, fighting hammer and tongs. Eastwood lining up a move on the inside! This is into turns six and seven. Through he goes and makes it stick. A good pass indeed! Wow! That is textbook as to how you should pass in any kind of racing. So, Eastwood is the new overall leader while also being the LMP2 Pro-Am leader as we have another car off into the gravel!
That is the #4 DKR Engineering LMP3 car, the Duqueine M30-D08 Nissan. That car is being shared by UAE domiciled/licensed Russian driver Alexander Bukhantsov, Portuguese Mozambiquan driver Pedro Perino, who has a Mozambique issued racing license and races under their flag, and British driver James Winslow. In replay, we can see Charlie Eastwood sold the dummy putting the the Duqueine car under big pressure, and through he went. Again, that one was a textbook pass.
Oh nuts. The gravel trap has claimed yet another victim. One hour and 14 minutes of racing to go in round one of European Le Mans Series 2023. That is the Proton Competition Porsche spun into the gravel. #93 is stranded, now with Martin Rump from Estonia at the wheel of it. Let’s see what the replay shows because there was likely a red and white LMP2 car that tapped Rump from behind. That is synchronized spinning with the Ultimate LMP3 car in black and red, the #35 car with the all-French lineup of Jean Baptiste Lahaye, Matthieu Lahaye, and Eric Trouillet.
The LMP2 car from DragonSpeed was ahead of this mess. Whoever was driving the Ultimate LMP3 car was going for a gap that was nonexistent. So, now everything has settled down and we move into the last half hour of the opening race of the 2023 European Le Mans Series race here in Barcelona. Louis Deletraz, even with damage, is still leading the race and in the LMP2 Pro-Am class. Duqueine in second overall leads the regular LMP2 division ahead of IDEC Sport and Panis Racing. AF Corse and Cool Racing in the #83 and #37 respectively are second and third in LMP2 Pro-Am. Racing Spirit of Leman now at the top of the pile in LMP3. They run 18th in the overall.
The two respective LMP2 class leaders are first and second overall. Now the battle is afoot for third in LMP2 and in the overall between Panis Racing and IDEC Sport. Panis Racing want the place. Excuse me. It’s AF Corse on Panis Racing. My mistake, again. Ben Barnicoat makes his move on the #65 car. IDEC Sport are in the pit lane. Speed out of turn three is important to set up that downhill pass. Once you have a head of steam on the car in front, it is hasta la bye bye. It isn’t just us who have noticed damage on the tail of the #34 Racing Team Turkey Oreca 07.
The stewards have picked up on it and issued the #34, via Race Control, a black and orange meatball flag to bring the car to the pit lane and fix the damage, now. Louis Deletraz leads the overall classification and the Pro-Am LMP2 class. But that will evaporate and allow Neel Jani, the Swiss driver in second place to make a move. This is a gut punch for Racing Team Turkey who were in possession of a 32 and a half second lead with just 25 and a half minutes left on the board. Neel Jani is in his first European Le Mans Series in it’s current form.
We heard the interview with Neel Jani earlier before the race began and of course he told us he first raced in this championship when it was simply called the Le Mans Series. That was many moons ago. Duqueine Engineering is now leading the motor race overall. Racing Team Turkey are now making their mandatory stop for repairs. Not sure what they can do and how quickly. Tom Ferrier and his team will be working like madmen to keep their pit stay to a minimum and be able to stay in the game. The Duqueine garage are all eyes on this, with team boss Gilles Duqueine, using his wheelchair, watching the action.
They have everything crossed as Racing Team Turkey’s time in the pits counts up. We saw in the shot with Gilles Duqueine, his family, his wife, and children in the garage. TF Sport have done lightning quick work on car #34. Will that be enough? Duqueine have taken the race lead away from Racing Team Turkey now with only 24 minutes of racing left. Racing Team Turkey are still in a class lead in regular LMP2 over the #83 AF Corse car. Penalties are also issued to Nielsen Racing car #24 and to Ultimate car #35, for not respecting Full Course Yellow procedure.
Louis Deletraz must catch and pass fellow Swiss driver Neel Jani in the Duqueine car. Now, there’s just 17 minutes to go as we move ahead in the coverage of the race this afternoon. Neel Jani has Louis Deletraz gaining on him. A stop and go penalty issued to the #47 Cool Racing car for contact with the #95 car at turn 14, the second TF Sport GTE class Aston Martin. The gap has closed right down to 8/10ths of a second between Neel Jani and Louis Deletraz, and Deletraz is quicker. Just over 15 minutes to go.
Neel Jani has a big twitch into the corner. His tires are knackered. That was a massive slide! Louis Deletraz is coming in a big hurry. Whoever wins this race, it will be a major victory, a major feather in their hat. How much does Louis Deletraz push if it comes down to a last lap dash? Traffic ahead in the form of the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE. This is their lead GTE car in ELMS shared by Rui Aguas of Portugal, Ulysse de Pauw of Belgium, and Kriton Lendoudis from Greece.
Jani tries to pass the Ferrari and cannot do so. Deletraz will have a lunge even with the lapped Ferrari in the way. Jani has a head of steam on Deletraz. Deletraz tries going inside and is balked by the Ferrari. The Ferrari runs out wide and Deletraz has no entry. No doubt the nerve ends are jangling in the garages. Now, Deletraz sees his opportunity! He lunges to the inside! Deletraz sends it and sends it deep! Holy cow! It looks like he makes it stick! Wow. Racing Team Turkey are now back in front. 15 minutes remaining. It’s not over yet.
The Pro-Am ranked LMP2 cars are running extremely well and right with the regularly classified LMP2 cars. Louis Deletraz and Neel Jani are two of the top sports car drivers in the world, currently. Deletraz now must make good his escape and build as much of a lead as possible. Under eight minutes to go now as we move into the homestretch and a fourth-place battle is on in LMP2, look. This is LMP2 vs. LMP2 Pro-Am. Panis Racing #65 vs. Cool Racing #37. Danish driver Malthe Jakobsen all over Dutchman Job van Uitert.
Job van Uitert tries covering. Malthe Jakobsen is having none of it and is having a go on the outside! He sent it late waiting for van Uitert to be on the racing line and the send worked. It delivered. Jakobsen is gone like a flash and putting a massive amount of daylight between himself and Van Uitert. Driver and tire strategy panning out as this race reaches the climax as we have Racing Team Turkey still ahead of Duqueine with now seven minutes to go. AF Corse and Cool Racing are next up in the serial. Louis Deletraz is now working traffic. The gap is growing after the leaders pass the Proton Competition Porsche in GTE.
That looks to be the #16 Ryan Hardwick, Alessio Picariello, Zacharie Robichon car. Deletraz uncorks a 1:37.167 compared to Jani’s 1:37.423. Not massive margins but margins all the same. Deletraz leads Jani now by four seconds having completed 136 laps, 393 miles. AF Corse are 11 seconds behind the leaders with Cool Racing 25 seconds down on the leaders, 15 seconds behind AF Corse. Cool Racing has gone by Panis Racing although the #65 is close behind the #37. The race is now in its closing stages and not much has changed at the front. Racing Team Turkey lead Duqueine Team by 3.8 seconds.
Both teams will get class wins. They pass by the JMW Ferrari which is an easy car to recognize. Duqueine managing the gap and they’ve shrunken it to three seconds even. It was 3.8 seconds a wee while ago. The #31 Racing Spirit of Leman car leads the #17 Cool Racing entry and those two are nose to tail. The battle is between Frenchman Antoine Doquin and Marcos Siebert from Argentina. There’s nothing in it between these two. We could see a real grandstand finish in LMP3. This is nip and tuck and Siebert is catching Doquin hand over fist!
Racing Spirit of Leman won the GT3 category in their debut in Michelin Le Mans Cup the previous day and now they have a shot at winning LMP3 in the ELMS season opener. Marcos Siebert giving Antoine Doquin all he can handle. A stop and go penalty issued to car #8 for abusing track limits. That is the Team Virage LMP3 Ligier JS P320 Nissan being shared by Nick Adcock from England, Manuel Espirito Santo of Portugal, and Michael Jensen of Denmark. They started at the back of the grid today and have had a race to forget.
Traffic or a quicker car coming from behind may put a wrench in the LMP3 lead battle for the class victory. Funny that the track is clear for the LMP3 leaders to duke it out. Marcos Siebert will have to get some assistance if he wants to do anything with Antoine Doquin as far as making the pass for the win. Will he throw caution to the wind and go for a drag race to the line? We’ll see. Meanwhile, Louis Deletraz leads Neel Jani. You’ve missed nothing up front. Jani is turning it on, though, closing the gap down to two and a half seconds.
Doquin has the lead over Siebert in LMP3 and will be watching his mirrors intently. Siebert pulls the pin. Now, he is down by just 18 thousandths of a second! The leader starts the final lap next time by and so the battle in LMP3 will be decided two laps from now. 39 seconds left on the clock. #34 slightly opens the gap to #30. 138 laps completed, almost 400 miles. Marcos Siebert can still make a move on Antoine Doquin. The fight for the LMP3 victory is not over. Final lap for the race leader and for Duqueine. The United Autosport LMP2 car is stymied behind the LMP3 battle and wants to pass.
Will he pass one or both? The leaders in LMP3 are now on their last lap. Cool Racing close in on Racing Spirit of Leman but I don’t think they’ll have enough left in the locker. This is the final lap of the race for everybody. A fabulous start of the year for Racing Team Turkey! They win overall and in LMP2 Pro-Am here in Barcelona! Duqueine Team scores the victory in the regular LMP2 rankings. LMP3 honors go to Racing Spirit of Leman car #31, Fabien Michal, Antoine Doquin, and Jacques Wolff.
Overall/LMP2 Pro-Am: #34 Deletraz/Eastwood/Yoluc Racing Team Turkey Oreca 07
LMP2: #30 Binder/Jani/Pino Duqueine Team Oreca 07
LMP3: #17 Chila/Garcia/Siebert Cool Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan
GTE: #16 Hardwick/Piccariello/Robichon Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19
A clean race for Duqueine and they are the points leaders after the first of half a dozen races is in the books. Panis Racing and IDEC Sport also on the podium. This is a big win for TF Sport with AF Corse and Cool Racing completing the Pro-Am podium. TF Sport and Racing Team Turkey have a huge win today claiming overall honors and the LMP2 Pro-Am crown in Spain. AF Corse and Cool Racing completing the Pro-Am podium. Now, the story in LMP3 is not over because the #31 car had actually been penalized for speeding in the pit lane.
So, it is indeed Cool Racing who win LMP3 in Barcelona. The celebrations begin with the champagne sprayed on the podium. Even after a horrendous race with the wreck for the #77 Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Christian Ried, Julien Andlauer, and Giammarco Levorato, the #16 Proton Competition Porsche comes home in victory lane with Ryan Hardwick from the United States, Canadian Zacharie Robichon, and Belgian Italian Alessio Picariello the driving trio.
Ryan Hardwick is extremely happy. An amazing car and no mistakes for Ryan Hardwick’s first ever European Le Mans Series race joined on the podium by Ferrari’s from Formula Racing and JMW Motorsport. Spray the champagne and celebrate! So, that’s the wrap of the European Le Mans Series season opener. We’ll be back for the next race in the south of France in Le Castellet at the Paul Ricard Circuit. We’ll see you then. Take care, everyone. So long for now.
No comments:
Post a Comment