Season report
Barcelona
The ELMS season began with the 4 Hours of Barcelona, where Reshad de Gerus took overall pole in the #30 Duqueine Team entry. [57] Laurents Hörr took an early overall lead in the #3 DKR Engineering Pro-Am entry, overtaking the full LMP2 field, but later received a penalty for jumping the start. The #48 VDS Panis Racing entry briefly took the lead, before being overtaken by the #47 CLX Motorsport entry, who led the race until the final hour before losing out to the #18 IDEC Sport entry. The #47 later retired ten laps from the finish with a mechanical issue. [58] A late safety car resulted in a two-lap sprint to the finish. Having taken fresh tyres, the fourth-placed LMP2 Pro-Am #83 AF Corse entry driven by Matthieu Vaxivière was able to take the lead and the overall win. The #18 and #48 rounded out the overall podium. [59] In LMP3, the #17 CLX Motorsport entry won after running in the top three for most of the race. In LMGT3, the #85 Iron Dames all-female entry led all but three laps to take victory. [58]
Le Castellet
Following a maiden LMP2 pole position for Nick Yelloly and Inter Europol's first pole in the ELMS, the 4 Hours of Le Castellet became dominated by changing weather conditions. [60] Despite a lap 1 spin for Jamie Chadwick, the #18 IDEC crew came out on top in a race involving two safety car periods. [61] The team finished less than two seconds ahead of Pro-Am winners Nielsen Racing (#27), who had gained an early advantage as starting driver Anthony Wells was one of few to begin the race on wet tyres. [62] Two late overtakes handed Louis Delétraz, driver of the #99 AO by TF Pro-Am entry, third on the overall podium. [62] Though Spirit of Race took a dominant lead early on in LMGT3, with Duncan Cameron having been the only wet tyre runner at the start, the win was taken by Lilou Wadoux's #50 Richard Mille AF Corse after fending off Fabian Schiller in the closing laps. [62] LMP3 saw CLX Motorsport take back-to-back wins, with Adrien Closmenil making the deciding pass on Quentin Antonel (#68 M Racing) with 40 minutes left. [62]
Imola
In a rain-plagued qualifying session at Imola, #25 Algarve Pro Racing's Théo Pourchaire claimed a dominant pole position on a drying track. [63] The race itself was red-flagged after an hour following a four-car incident at Tamburello which eliminated the LMGT3 polesitters Iron Lynx, among others. [64] [65] Having led before the interruption, the #43 Inter Europol crew dropped behind the #48 VDS Panis car despite an off for Esteban Masson during a mid-race shower, and itself escaped penalty when Tom Dillmann collided with the #10 Vector Sport. [66] Charles Milesi pulled away from Dillmann in the final stint and took Panis's first win of the year, finishing ahead of the #43 and #25, the latter benefiting from a stop under Full-Course Yellow and a drive-through penalty for the #9 Iron Lynx. [66] [67] The championship-leading #18 finished outside of the points after an accident for Daniel Juncadella. [66] In LMP2 Pro-Am, Dane Cameron in the #99 AO by TF defended his lead from Olli Caldwell (#20 APR) during the third hour, before Delétraz beat the recovering #77 Proton Competition crew to the class win. [67] Despite late contact with Mathias Beche's #29 TDS Racing car, Alex Quinn held on to third for Algarve Pro. [67] Despite a drive-through penalty for spinning the #68 M Racing car at the start, CLX Motorsport continued its LMP3 dominance with another victory from pole position. [67] Célia Martin's spin in the second hour handed the LMGT3 lead to TF Sport's #82, which held on to GM's first ELMS LMGT3 victory. [66]
Spa-Francorchamps
Wet weather played a role at Spa-Francorchamps too, as Ferdinand Habsburg claimed his maiden ELMS pole for #24 Nielsen Racing on a greasy track surface. [68] After Oliver Gray had taken the lead during the race's first stint, the race became the #48 Panis crew's to lose. Esteban Masson quickly gapped the field following a safety car in hour two, and Charles Milesi drove home to a commanding victory. [69] The second-placed #18 IDEC car was penalised for entering the pit lane under FCY conditions, promoting the #43 Inter Europol and #24 Nielsen cars to second and third respectively. [69] Fourth overall was the #20 Algarve Pro entry of Lendoudis, Caldwell, and Quinn, which benefited from a late FCY period to jump the #21 of United Autosports in the final pit stop phase. [70] Third in class was the #99, with the #29 TDS Racing car having pitted from second after a collision on the penultimate lap. [69] [70] A chaotic race for the #17 CLX crew, including multiple penalties and an eventual off for Closmenil, resulted in the #8 Team Virage of Gerbi, Nogales, and Koen picking up the LMP3 win. [69] After a pit stop battle in the closing laps, the #59 Racing Spirit of Léman of Valentin Hasse-Clot beat the #63 Iron Lynx of Schiller to the LMGT3 victory. [70] [69]
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