MotorLand Aragon, in Alcaniz, Spain, plays host to round four of the 2023 Le Mans Cup as we have passed the halfway mark in the season. The second half begins today, and time is of the essence. The push for the championship titles in LMP3 and GT3 has begun in earnest, now. Welcome to MotorLand Aragon in Spain. We have a hot, dry, demanding race ahead. MotorLand Aragon is a 5.3-kilometer circuit, (3.312 miles), that has 50 meters of elevation change from the start/finish line to the highest point on the course. 50 meters = 164 feet of elevation change throughout.
Then it plunges downhill through the flip flop at turns eight and nine with a one-kilometer-long backstretch. This is the first time Le Mans Cup has raced at MotorLand Aragon. Team Virage have won two races in 2023 at Barcelona and last time out at Le Castellet, Team Virage are looking to maximize their gap in points. Gillian Henrion says the track is difficult and it is hot, hot, hot. Il fait tres froid! Team Thor from Iceland are 18 points adrift after the French round. Even though these guys are from Iceland which you’d expect to be a cold place, they have solutions to deal with the heat here in Spain.
Colin Noble says the car is equipped with a driver cooling system and that is making a huge difference for them insofar as driver comfort and driver endurance. Audunn Gundmundson is hopeful that the cool suit will work. In GT3 the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage is leading the class points standings by 10 markers over High Class Racing with CaffeineSix and by 20 points over the third place tie between Leipert Motorsport and AF Corse. Racing Spirit of Leman won Barcelona, were second at Le Castellet, and fastest in Free Practice here at Aragon, Spain.
Valentin Hasse-Clot says the straightaway gets the speed out of the Aston Martin. They feel they have momentum even in the heat. The onboard air conditioning required in the GT3 cars will help provide some relief. Behind the Aston Martin is that pesky purple and pink Porsche 911, the HCR with CaffeineSix car. Timothy Creswick, their lead driver says the track has lots of space here at MotorLand Aragon and it is also super technical.
You ge out of the track, what you put in with mostly left hand turns. It is fun to drive. Anders Fjordbach is originally from Denmark. But he lives in Barcelona, Spain, so he is used to the summertime heat we are dealing with for today’s race. The Porsche should be a suitable car for this circuit. Gabriel Rindone in the Leipert Motorsports Lamborghini will show us around on a lap. Buckle up for the ride. Gabriel will be our chauffeur. Down the main straight, cut over the curb through turn one back flat into turn two and take space on the left before sweeping through three. Gain speed, break late as possible. Turn five is a tricky, second gear corner.
Flat out again, then, turn into two successive right-hand corners. Second gear. Now to the reverse corkscrew which goes in the opposite direction of the fabled and fearsome Corkscrew at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California, in the United States. Very tricky as you shift down to first gear, drop down through the reverse corkscrew and then, flat out. Keep space, tuck the car in before opening your hands again, watching out for track limits. Shift up the gearbox. Third gear, fourth gear, Brake and downshift to second gear for the lefthand turn.Stay flat, and then, brake for this next sequence of corners before the backstretch. Flat out. Third gear, fourth gear, fifth gear, sixth gear. Brake, and downshift to first gear before the final two corners and upshift to finish the lap.
On the pole is British driver Josh Caygill for United Autosport. He will share their #22 Ligier JS P320 Nissan. He is sharing the car with Garnet Patterson, the Australian. Caygill was 76 thousandths of a second faster than the second place Murphy Prototypes #48 Duqueine M30-D08 Nissan which has two new drivers in the team this weekend with England’s Will Bratt and Germany’s Torsten Kratz, sharing the automobile. Tim Creswick scored GT3 pole in the #86 HCR with CaffeineSix Porsche he shares alongside Anders Fjordbach.
It’s time. Let’s go racing here in Spain! The safety car pulls off to the pit lane. Stand by for blastoff. The lights flash green and away we go! Josh Caygill from the pole leads this Oklahoma land rush into the first turn. Thank you for the inspiration to the late, great NASCAR and motor racing journalist Ken Squier for that quote. The race cars being like a rush of wild mustang horses thundering along the prairie. Whoops! Torsten Kratz wriggles through turn one and we’ve got at least one car spun around in the first handful of turns ladies and gentlemen. Let’s have a Captain Cook and see who it is.
Oh criminy! We have half a dozen cars off the road in the background, look. Luis Sanjuan for Cool Racing, the Swiss driver in their #97 Ligier JS P320 Nissan is caught in this thing and so are many more. We’ve also got the #13 Inter Europol entry of Ben Stone in car #13 turned around. So, at the top of the shop we have Josh Caygill in the lead over Mark Richards in second. Richards at the wheel of the #25 360 Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan. This is the first of their two cars and of course, Richards is sharing with Spaniard Belen Garcia.
We also have the two cars from Team Virage coming to the front. Julien Gerbi in #16 and Oskar Bittar in #59. Murphy Prototypes have disappeared. Torsten Kratz was fourth at the start and now he’s flown Plummet Airways, and we need to find out where on earth he’s gone to. I mean, Murphy Prototypes have dropped like a stone. This is not what they wanted at the start of the race, surely. Team Virage though runs liner stern in third and fourth just behind the 360 Racing car #25. We have yellow flags on the speedway for the first corner shemozzle. So, let’s see what will come of all of this.
Trouble in paradise for Murphy Prototypes with a punctured left rear tire and now we see the #7 car stopped on the road, the Nielsen Racing Ligier with Tony Wells at the wheel of it. We saw Torsten Kratz getting crossed up and now the skidpan claims more victims and it’s dry on the road. This is by no means a wet race. Ugh. Patrice Lafargue of France has spun the IDEC Sport car on the whirligig. Lafargue sharing the #17 IDEC Sport Ligier with fellow Frenchman Dino Lunardi. He has spun in the turn eight and nine area, the downhill reverse Corkscrew.
Adrien Chila of France for Cool Racing is making a banzai, divebomb move on Julien Gerbi, but the safety car is on the track now for obvious reasons. There are cars littered all over the circuit on the opening 1/3rd of the lap. So, let’s look at the replay of the start and see if we can find out exactly how the fuse was lit to make the dynamite go boom and turn this race into a crash, bang, wallop. At the bottom of the picture on the lefthand side of the road, that is the United Autosports car and he nearly touches the Murphy Prototypes entry.
Bang! He makes contact on the inside. Inter Europol getting too deep into the turn, clattering into Cool Racing and sending other competitors scrambling for safety. Team Thor was collected and in turn the Icelandic team’s car cannons into the Nielsen Racing automobile. This is where Murphy Prototypes also picked up a puncture in one of their Michelin tires. This is a carambolage of epic proportions. The first Team Virage car hits the Inter Europol entry and that is where the tire puncture comes from. Ben Stone in the Inter Europol car got into the turn a little too hot. I mean, he had a massive head of steam and he couldn’t stop until it was just too late.
He clatters into poor old Luis Sanjuan who was an innocent bystander. Then, the white and blue Team Thor car of Colin Noble tries to avoid the mess and gets piled into the heap anyway. Wait, there’s more. This incident is not done as someone (hard to tell who) whacks the Nielsen Racing car as well. After all this the Murphy Prototypes car has the left rear puncture and with the cut down tire has to trundle to the pit lane for repairs. As we have seen before, the destructive power of a cut down tire on one of these sports cars can do major damage and act like a sawblade, tearing the fragile, razor sharp, carbon fiber bodywork to shreds which in turn can cause more punctures.
Oh wow. We have a replay now, too, of Patrice Lafargue’s spin. Lafargue was right in the middle of the GT3 battle between the two Porsche 911 GT3R’s. That’s the HCR with CaffeineSix car, the purple and pink Porsche and the navy blue and gray Porsche #64 which is the second Team Parker car for Charles Bateman and Alex Martin. Alex Martin and Timothy Creswick were two lucky boys to get through there, threading the eye of the needle.
We have barely 15 minutes on the board and the action is hot and heavy here at Aragon as Tony Wells bails out. Game over for Nielsen. Green flag. Green flag. United Autosports is leading 360 Racing over Virage and Cool Racing, the top four in LMP3. Julien Gerbi is our points leader in LMP3 in fifth spot. Virage and 360 nearly contact each other! Oof! That was a close one! I believe it was Oskar Bittar who had contact with the Murphy Prototypes car in turn one on lap one. He may have just about touched Mark Richards to send him spinning.
Four laps now on the board, 13 miles or so around this 3.321-mile circuit. We saw Julien Gerbi get divebombed by Adrien Chila just before the safety car intervened. In GT3 the battle of the Porsche’s continues as Timothy Creswick has passed Alex Martin. Porsches on their own in front currently. M Racing in trouble as Erwan Creed is pulling off the circuit. Trouble for the Frenchman sharing with countryman Sacha Lehmann. Down they go through The Reverse Corkscrew. Full Course Yellow is deployed neutralizing the third-place battle for GT3.
We have been watching Arnold Robin battling with Koizumi Hiroshi. Erwin Creed’s car may have been on fire in the back. But we will be back to green flag conditions in less than 30 seconds. The marshals do great work to get these incidents cleaned up. We have been racing for just over half an hour. Full Course Yellow removed. Adrien Chila puts Mark Richards under pressure for second. John Melsom in the other Nielsen Racing LMP3 car makes his move on Jean Ludovic Foubert in the #9 Racing Spirit of Leman Ligier JS P320 Nissan. That car has an all-French driving duo this weekend. Jean Ludovic Foubert sharing with Antoine Doquin.
This is a change for seventh place. Car #4 started 19th and has moved to seventh. John Melsom, the American driver, and Frenchman Jean Ludovic Foubert are in this little scrap. A battle ensues now for fourth place between the two Team Virage cars. Julien Gerbi trying to make the pass on teammate Oskar Bittar. A penalty has been handed down to the #13 Inter Europol LMP3 car for causing the collision at the start of the motor race. Bittar is closing the door on Gerbi for now. Gerbi has an inside run. Gerbi makes the pass, and it sticks for fourth place.
Meanwhile in the GT3 class, Team Parker leads HCR Caffeinesix by nearly 2.8 seconds with nine laps complete in their race, 30 miles. 35 minutes now into the race and trouble for one of the other LMP3 cars to driver’s right, looking to the lefthand side of the picture. Team Thor and MV2S have tangled. The two cars have spun in unison. Christophe Cresp, the Frenchman, is one of the cars involved. OK. I think I am a bit confused on the battles in GT3. We talked about Team Parker and HCR CaffeineSix earlier. But now, there is a three-way battle for sixth place.
The two GMB Motorsport Honda’s have the Leipert Motorsport Lamborghini for company and the Lambo is the meat in the Honda sandwich. Lars Engelbreckt Pedersen battling with Gabriel Rindone and Thomas Andersen. Andersen diving to the inside of Rindone! Will he make it work? We also see the #42 Steller Motorsport Audi R8 LMS Evo in this scrap. Sennan Fielding sharing with Mark Cole in an all-British duo. The Safety Car has been deployed. The marshals will retrieve the stricken car of Christophe Cresp.
They have craned it away and now we are green again with 40 minutes of racing complete. United Autosport leading from 360 Racing, Cool Racing, and both Virage cars. Julien Gerbi wants it, as he is poking his nose to the inside of the sister car. Is everyone safely through turn one this time? Nope. Nope. Klaus Abbelen is now tipped into a spin. The Frikadelli Racing #30 Ligier spins off. Klaus Abbelen sharing with Felipe Fernandez Laser. The GT3 cars are also skittering off the road briefly and recovering to terra firma.
Abbelen rejoins the race ahead of the earlier delayed IDEC Sport LMP3 entry. Alex Martin has gone by Timothy Creswick for the GT3 lead. Team Parker Racing Porsche vs. HCR with CaffeineSix Porsche. Creswick doesn’t want to play anymore, and he makes a bold move to the outside of Martin! Holy smokes! That’s brave! A fabulous race between these two Porsche’s! Exciting to watch it unfold. Creswick to the outside and Martin knows he’s there and is not going to roll over and have his tummy scratched. Both drivers using all of the road and a little bit more.
We have some pit callers but there’s trouble again with two LMP3 cars getting tangled up/ Terrence Woodward and James Sweetnam clatter into each other but it looks like both will drive away with no damage. Graff Racing vs. 360 Racing and it started at the hairpin and continued to the entrance to the pit lane. Lots of argy bargy there. Almost every GT3 car entered in the race is in pit lane for service. We also see anywhere from a quarter to a third of the LMP3 field in the lane too.
Alex Martin for Team Parker takes the GT3 lead. AF Corse Ferrari, Leipert Motorsports Lamborghini, and HCR CaffeineSix Porsche, all of them have already made pit stops. Meanwhile, another positional scrap for second. Frenchman Adrien Chila and Algerian Julien Gerbi battling for position. Chila sliding his way out of the hairpin. The tires are suffering in the extreme heat on a greasy racetrack here at MotorLand Aragon. Both cars diving for the pit lane. Less than an hour to go. United Autosport are in the lane for service and a driver change. Josh Caygill handing over to Garnet Patterson.
Julien Gerbi and Adrien Chila also make scheduled pit stops. Trouble, however, for United Autosport. Murphy Prototypes are the erstwhile race leaders. They have not stopped yet, with Torsten Kratz, the German, at the wheel of the #48 Duqueine he is sharing with Will Bratt. Torsten Kratz comes back on track leading this motor race with the track almost to himself. He is making up ground after a lap one tire puncture that we saw.
The #64 Team Parker Racing Porsche is in. They lead GT3. The HCR CaffeineSix Porsche could be cycled back to the top of the pile. Grab the wheel nut, you cannot leave it in the pit apron. HCR with CaffeineSix had a five second time penalty added to their next pit stop. The penalty being for going outside of the Team Parker Porsche and went off the road. MV2S Racing and Cool Racing are in their own battle for 14th spot. MV2S is car #29 and Cool Racing, this is their #97 car. Murphy Prototypes pit with less than 45 minutes to go.
Cool Racing now back to the top of the order. Let’s move forward in the action. 37 minutes to go. There’s a battle for third place between 360 Racing and Nielsen Racing in LMP3. Car #25 and car #4. Matt Bell in the Nielsen car and Belen Garcia in the 360 Racing machine. Nielsen Racing are happy to be in third spot. There is also a battle for third in GT3 between the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Emmanuel Collard and the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin in the hands of VHC, Valentin Hasse-Clot.
Trouble on the track, again. Someone is smoking and it appears to be an LMP3 car. No wonder it is said smoking is hazardous to your health. Le voiture est fumer. It looks like one of the United Autosports cars and it could be Wayne Boyd, the Englishman, at the wheel of the #23 car. Ah yes. Wayne Boyd it is and he’s leaving a major trail of fluid on the road. That smoke is coming out the right-hand bank of cylinders in the engine. That engine has gone bang, and we shall deploy the safety car and get the mess cleaned up.
Matt Bell passes Cedric Oltramare in the Cool Racing Ligiger #87. This is a change for second place on the road. Green flag and we are closing in on the finish of this one. Less than 25 minutes of racing remaining here in Spain. The battle is the #16 Virage car of Gilian Henrion and the #4 Nielsen Racing car of Matt Bell for the overall and LMP3 victory. Henrion holding his own. Matt Bell has the preferred line. Bell takes the lead. Henrion has the 360 Racing and Cool Racing cars right behind him. CD Sport and Team Thor may also enter the picture.
Equally tight racing in GT3. HCR CaffeineSix leads with AF Corse and Racing Spirit of Leman right in their wheel tracks. HCR CaffeineSix have a five second time penalty in their future. The Damocletian sword hangs over them presently. If Kei Cozzolino stays where he is, he will be the winner. There’s contact between #10 and #83! They just about get away with it. That is the battle between Valentin Hasse-Clot and Emmanuel Collard. Colin Noble for Team Thor divebombs Cedric Oltramare for third place in LMP3! The pass is made on Cool Racing.
Noble is third with just over ten minutes to go. This is it. We are on the last lap. Nielsen Racing heading through the final turns here at MotorLand Aragon. Matt Bell and John Melsom win in Aragon! Team Virage second and Team Thor third. Kei Cozzolino is the GT3 winner within five seconds of the HCR Porsche who have that time penalty to deal with. AF Corse win GT3 here in Spain!
Overall/LMP3: #4 Bell/Melsom Nielsen Racing Duqueine M30 – D08 Nissan
GT3: #51 Cozzolino/Koizumi AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3
This is of course the second event for Le Mans Cup in Spain in 2023. HCR with CaffeineSix will take second spot in GT3. Nielsen Racing take their first win of the 2023 season completing 48 laps, 159 miles. They win the race by nearly six seconds. AF Corse win GT3 finishing 20th overall. Team Virage and Team Thor round out the LMP3 podium while HCR with CaffeineSix and Racing Spirit of Leman complete the GT3 podium spots. Lots of cars wilting in the heat. But Matt Bell and John Melsom are the winners!
Adrien Chila and Cedric Oltramar are second. Team Virage finishing second retain their points lead but Thor and Nielsen remain their closest competition. A 21 point spread from Virage to Thor and a 27 point spread back to Nielsen Racing. AF Corse hold on for victory. Kei Cozzolino says he was not under pressure. Maybe the drivers will dance on the podium. Arnold Robin and Valentin Hasse-Clot in third with Anders Fjordbach and Timothy Creswick in second place.
Koizumi Hiroshi and Kei Cozzolino win. Our podium finishers are the top three in the GT3 points table. Racing Spirit of Le Mans with 69 points leads by only half a dozen over HCR with CaffeineSix, 69 points to 63 points. It is ten points between the leader and third. AF Corse have only four points between them and second place. That’s all from Aragon in the sweltering heat. We will be at Spa Francorchamps in the Ardennes Forest of Belgium next time.
Join us in Belgium for round five. See you then. Bye for now.
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