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 an 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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