ELMS – Iron Lynx Proton Win 4 Hours of Mugello

Cairoli standing on the top step of the podium after a dramatic debut ELMS race at the Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello.

The 4-Hours race saw five Safety Car periods and one Red Flag to clear the circuit after the no60 Proton Competition Porsche hit the barrier on the start finish straight after being clipped from behind by the Iron Dames Porsche. The driver of the no60 Porsche, Claudio Schiavoni walked away from the badly damaged car, and after a long clean-up process the race resumed.

The LMP2 Pro/Am victory went to the no29 Richard Mille by TDS Oreca trio of Rodrigo Sales, Grégoire Saucy and Mathias Beche and with the no83 AF Corse Oreca finishing 7th in class, the championship is now wide open going into the final race of the season in Portugal.

The LMP3 win was claimed by the no8 Team Virage Ligier crew of Julien Gerbi, Bernado Pinheiro and Gillian Henrion from 8th on the grid, which means the championship battle will also go to the final race with just two points splitting the top three cars, Eurointernational, Team Virage and RLR MSport.

The LMGT3 title race is also still wide open going into the final round at Portimão next month after the no57 Kessel Racing Ferrari crew of Takeshi Kimura, Esteban Masson and Daniel Serra took their second win in a row to take the championship lead.

ACTION ALL THE WAY IN ITALY
The 4 Hours of Mugello got underway on time with blue skies and warm temperatures as the 43-car grid thundered into Turn One for the first time, with all cars getting around cleanly.

The no34 Inter Europol Competition Oreca of Clément Novalak moved up from 4th on the grid challenging Manuel Maldonado in the no65 Panis Racing and the leading no9 Iron Lynx-Proton of Jonas Ried. Novalak moved ahead of Maldonado on lap 5 with a move at T1 and then repeated the move a lap later to move into the lead ahead of Ried.

In LMP2 Pro/Am the no24 Nielsen Racing Oreca of 2021 Pro/Am Champion John Falb got a great start to take the lead ahead of Giorgio Roda in the no77 Proton Competition and Rodrigo Sales in the no29 Richard Mille by TDS.

In LMP3 Miguel Cristóvão in the pole sitting no17 COOL Racing Ligier got a good run into the first corner to maintain his position, while the second place no4 DKR Engineering Duqueine dropped back to fourth as Alexander Mattschull was overtaken by Alexander Bukhantsov in the no88 Inter Europol Competition and Jacques Wolff in the no31 Racing Spirit of Léman.

Derek Deboer made the most of his pole position to lead the LMGT3 field at the start in the no59 Racing Spirit of Léman Aston Martin, keeping Sarah Bovy in the no85 Iron Dames Porsche at bay for the first four laps, but eventually the Belgian driver was able to pass the American on Lap 5, going side by side into Turn One and keeping her foot in as they went up the hill to move ahead into T2. A lap later Martin Berry in the no97 Grid Motorsport by TF Aston Martin caught and passed Deboer’s Aston Martin at Turn 1.

In LMP3 the championship leading no11 Eurointernational Ligier driven by Matt R. Bell was moving up from a lowly 9th grid start and by lap 6 was up to 4th place.

The no3 DKR Engineering Oreca-Gibson of Andres Latorre Canon went off the track and into the tyre wall at T15 and with the car in a dangerous position the first Safety Car of the race was deployed to recover the car and repair the barrier. After 13 minutes the race resumed, with Matt R. Bell getting the jump on Jacques Wolff to take third place in the LMP3 standings.

Clément Novalak had managed to extend his lead in the no34 Inter Europol Competition Oreca to five seconds over Jonas Ried in the no9 Iron Lynx-Proton, with Manuel Maldonado keeping the pressure on the young German in third.

The no17 COOL Racing Ligier was still leading the LMP3 field but was pushed off the track by the no43 Inter Europol Competition, putting Cristóvão back down the field and gifting the lead to the no88 Inter Europol Competition Ligier. Cristóvão race went from bad to worse when a collision with the no8 Team Virage Ligier of Julien Gerbi spun the COOL Racing Ligier around, losing the Portuguese driver even more time.

The no50 Formula Racing Ferrari of Johnny Laursen went off track at T9 and was rejoining when the no29 Richard Mille by TDS Oreca of Rodrigo Sales had to take avoiding action across the gravel, dropping the American down the order.

After the set of pitstops, the no12 WTM by Rinaldi Racing Duqueine of Torsten Kratz emerged in the lead thanks to a short pitstop ahead of Matt R. Bell in the no11 Eurointernational Ligier in second and the no88 Inter Europol Competition in third.

The no24 Nielsen Racing Oreca had been leading the LMP2 Pro/Am class when John Falb handed over to Colin Noble but a puncture forced Noble back into the pits, dropping the car down the order.

After 90 minutes of racing the lead in the LMGT3 category was held by the no85 Iron Dames Porsche with Sarah Bovy opening up a 11 second lead over Martin Berry in the no97 Aston Martin.

The battle for the podium places in LMP3 was hotting up with the no12 Duqueine, the no11 Ligier and no88 Ligier nose to tail for several laps. However, there was contact between the two cars battling for second, with Alexander Bukhantsov’s Ligier spinning around and dropping the car back but crucially still in third place.

The LMP2 battle for the podium places saw the no9 Iron Lynx-Proton of Macéo Capietto and the no65 Panis Racing of Arthur Leclerc fighting for second place, with Capietto eventually finding a way past Leclerc. Capietto would then catch and pass the no25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca of Olli Caldwell for the lead.

The second Safety Car was deployed after just over 90 minutes when the no55 Spirit of Race Ferrari jinked sideways while battling in the LMGT3 category and collided with the no28 IDEC Sport Oreca of Reshad de Gerus, who was trying to lap the LMGT3 car. The Ferrari’s front wheel detached in the impact and the two cars slid to a halt at T15. The Ferrari managed to limp back to the pits but the LMP2 car was stopped on the kerbs in a dangerous position.

This Safety Car was a disaster for the leading LMGT3 car, with the no85 running on fumes, Bovy had to do an emergency stop for a small amount of fuel and rejoin behind the Safety Car. It also meant that she would have to pit again once the Safety Car period was over to do the pitstop that she was supposed to have done on that lap.

The race went Green but for only two minutes when the no83 AF Corse Oreca of Alessio Rovera and the no63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini or Hiroshi Hamaguchi collided when the LMP2 car was trying to pass putting both cars into the gravel. Rovera was later awarded a Drive Through Penalty for causing the collision.

A Virtual Safety Car was used to allow the cars to use the pits for much needed fuel and tyres and a driver change if needed. The VSC then became a Safety Car before the race went green again after 20 minutes.

The restart saw the no85 Iron Dames Porsche of Rahel Frey being challenged for third place by the no66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari of Jason Hart, who in turn had Casper Stevenson in the no59 Racing Spirit of Léman Aston Martin putting pressure on.

Frey was following the lapped no60 Proton Competition Porsche of Claudio Schiavoni and was looking for a way past on the start finish straight when she hit the rear of the no60 Porsche, putting Schiavoni into the wall at pit exit. The car bounced back onto the track in a cloud of debris and the following cars were all lucky to have avoided hitting the stranded car in the middle of the track. Schiavoni managed to get out of the car and walk to safety as the Safety Car was once again deployed.

After several minutes the Safety Car was changed to a Red Flag as there was too much debris on the track and this had to be cleared before racing could resume.

After 20 minutes the Safety Car took the field around for one more lap and then the green flag was waved. The no9 Iron Lynx-Proton was still leading but Capietto had to hold off a determined challenge from Oliver Gray in the no34 Inter Europol Competition Oreca at the restart.

However the green flag racing didn’t last long as the no17 COOL Racing Ligier’s race came to an end in the barrier after being clipped by the no5 RLR MSPort Ligier. This brought out another Virtual Safety Car period. Just before the VSC was declared the no59 Aston Martin had been in the process of overtaking the no85 Porsche, with Stevenson going past Frey only for the Porsche to hit the rear of the Aston Martin on the exit of the corner as Stevenson appeared to slow for the VSC. The Aston Martin had smoke coming from the rear left as damaged bodywork rubbed on the tyre.

The Safety Car was deployed after a couple of VSC laps and racing went green again with an hour left on the clock.

Matteo Cairoli had started to build up a cushion in the leading no9 Iron Lynx-Proton Oreca and was 15 seconds ahead of the no65 Panis Racing of Charles Milesi, with Milesi being challenged by Alex Lynn in the no25 Algarve Pro Racing.

Alex Quinn was leading LMP2 Pro/Am in the no20 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca but had Mathias Beche in the no29 Richard Mille by TDS closing down the gap, with Beche getting ahead and opening up a large gap to the following cars.

The no97 Grid Motorsport by TF Aston Martin was leading the LMGT3 field with Lorcan Hanafin having taken over from Johnny Adam. However Daniel Serra in the no57 Kessel Racing Ferrari was moving up fast and was soon challenging Hanafin for the lead. With just seven minutes left on the clock Serra made his move at Turn 1 with both cars side by side the Ferrari got ahead.

The no15 RLR MSport Ligier was leading the LMP3 race but Gael Julien had to pit for a splash of fuel dropping the French driver down to third and promoting Gillian Henrion into the lead in the no8 Team Virage Ligier. Henrion was also expected to pit for fuel but as the clock counted down the no8 Ligier stayed out on track and took the chequered flag to win the LMP3 class.

The no15 RLR MSport finished second and the no88 Inter Europol Competition Ligier took the final podium position. The championship positions going into the final round couldn’t be closer, with the no11 Eurointernational Ligier, which finished down in 7th after a late fuel stop, on 83 points, the no8 Team Virage Ligier on 82 points and the no15 RLR MSport Ligier on 81 points.

The no29 Richard Mille by TDS Oreca took the LMP2 Pro/Am victory ahead of the no20 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca and the no77 Proton Competition Oreca in third. With the championship leading no83 AF Corse finishing the race in 7th, the championship positions have closed up with the no83 AF Corse on 86 points, the no29 Richard Mille by TDS on 84 points, the no20 Algarve Pro Racing on 78 points and the no77 Proton Competition on 69 points.