ELMS – LMP2 Pro/Am Champions Take Overall Win in Barcelona
AF Corse became the second team to take an overall ELMS victory in an LMP2 Pro/Am car when Matthieu Vaxiviere took the chequered flag in the no83 Oreca-Gibson at the end of the 4 Hours of Barcelona ahead of the LMP2 winners in the no18 IDEC Sport.
Vaxiviere overtook three LMP2 cars on the final lap to take the victory, joining teammates Francois Perrodo and Alessio Rovera on the top step of the overall podium and getting their LMP2 Pro/Am title defence off to good start.
Jamie Chadwick became the first female driver to stand on the top step of the ELMS LMP2 podium, joining IDEC Sport teammates Daniel Juncadella and Mathys Jaubert, winning the LMP2 category on their ELMS debut ahead of the no48 VDS Panis Racing Oreca.
The LMGT3 victory went to the no85 Iron Dames Porsche, the all-female crew of Celia Martin, Sarah Bovy and Michelle Gatting recording the third ELMS victory for Iron Dames. Gatting had to hold off a determined challenge in the final part of the race from Daniel Serra of the race from the no57 Kessel Racing Ferrari to secure the win.
The LMP3 victory went to the no17 CLX Motorsport Ligier JS P325-Toyota, which had started on pole position. Paul Lanchere and Theodor Jensen joined Adrien Closmenil on the podium after the French driver took the chequered flag just ahead of reigning champions RLR MSport Ligier, with Gillian Henrion bringing the no15 Ligier-Toyota home in second place.
The race got underway at midday with the circuit bathed in sunshine. The 44 cars were led into the first corner by the no30 Duqueine Team Oreca of Francesco Simonazzi ahead of the no43 Inter Europol Competition of Jakub Smiechowski and Jonas Ried in the no9 Iron Lynx-Proton.
Further back the no3 DKR Engineering Oreca had started at the back of the LMP2 Pro/Am grid with gold rated driver Laurents Horr taking the start. The German driver leapt up the order from 21st to 6th after getting ahead of the Pro/Am field on the run into T1 and then he had to take to the escape road at T2 and rejoined ahead of several cars.
Horr then set about moving up towards the front of the field taking the overall lead on lap 10 before pulling out a good gap to the no30 Oreca.
Celia Martin leading LMGT3 in the no85 Iron Dames Porsche from the no63 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG of Martin Berry
The no85 Iron Dames Porsche of Celia Martin got a good start to take the lead of the LMGT3 category with the pole sitting no63 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG of Martin Berry in second and keeping in touch with the Porsche.Martin kept her cool and her lead pulling out a small gap in the first hour of the race.
The no12 WTM by Rinaldi Racing Duqueine of Torsten Kratz went into the LMP3 lead on lap 1 ahead of Paul Lanchere in the no17 CLX Motorsport Ligier, with Lanchere falling back to third behind the no11 Eurointernational Ligier of Fabien Michal. These three cars battled for the class lead in the opening hour, with Kratz holding the upperhand.
Laurents Horr’s race took a turn for the worse when he was given a Drive Through Penalty for a jump start and then after he rejoined in 6th he was given another Drive Through Penalty for overtaking beyond track limits at the start of the race. Horr rejoined down the LMP2 order but still leading the LMP2 Pro/Am class rejoined just ahead of the no77 Proton Competition Oreca of Giorgio Roda.
The first set of pitstops saw the no9 Iron Lynx-Proton Oreca of Jonas Ried pit from second place but the car failed to start and it had to go into the garage.The car eventually rejoined but 20 laps down and out of contention.
After the pitstops the no48 VDS Panis Racing Oreca of Ollie Gray was leading from Matthias Kaiser in the no25 Algarve Pro Racing.
At the top of the first hour Paul Lanchere was challenging for the LMP3 lead with the no17 CLX Motorsport Ligier getting past the no12 WTM by Rinaldi Racing Duqueine at T10/T11.
In LMGT3 Celia Martin was still holding the lead but Martin Berry was closing the gap as the pitstops approached.
The no66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari went off into the gravel at T3 and a Virtual Safety Car was declared to recover the car. This brought almost all the cars in for a pitstop, but with some cars having already stopped the order was shuffled before the Safety Car was deployed.
After 20 minutes the Safety Car was withdrawn and racing resumed with the no47 CLX Motorsport Oreca of Enzo Fittipaldi in the lead, with Daniel Juncadella in the no18 IDEC Sport Oreca in second and the no34 Inter Europol Competition in third.
The no3 DKR Engineering still led the LMP2 Pro/Am with bronze driver Giorgios Kolovos now driving and coming under pressure by the pro drivers that had taken over the other cars in the class. It wasn’t long before the no99 AO by TF of Dane Cameron swept into the class lead followed by Alessio Rovera in the no83 AF Corse Oreca.
There was contact between the no12 Duqueine as Kratz tried to enter the pitlane he collided with the no34 Inter Europol Competition Oreca, which went off into the gravel. At T14 before recovering to the track.
In LMGT3 Sarah Bovy was leading by nearly 10 seconds in the Iron Dames Porsche, ahead of the no60 Proton Competition Porsche and the no63 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG.
There was another Virtual Safety Car when the no12 Duqueine went off track at T14 which was followed by another Safety Car. The race went green with just an hour remaining.
The no63 Iron Lynx Mercedes headed into the pits but was pushed into the garage after Lorcan Hanafin had to struggle with the car as the return spring on the throttle broke, meaning the throttle was effectively stuck open.
At the same time Mathys Jaubert put the no18 IDEC Sport Oreca into the lead of the race passing the no47 CLX Motorsport of Pipo Derani.
The no83 AF Corse was on the move up the order with Matthieu Vaxiviere on a chargetaking second place from the no47 Oreca and closing the gap to the leading IDEC Sport Oreca.
In LMGT3 Michelle Gatting in the no85 Iron Dames Porsche was holding off a very determined challenge by Daniel Serra in the no57 Kessel Racing Ferrari, the Danish driver using every ounce of her race craft to keep the Ferrari behind.For lap after lap this battle raged.
The no99 AO by TF Oreca of Louis Deletraz stopped at T10 but the reigning ELMS champion managed to get the car going at a slow pace back to the pits.
The no47 Oreca stopped on the outlap at T3 after pitting, with Derani parking the car near the barriers, while the no4 DKR Engineering Ginetta-Toyota stopped at pit exit. The two incidents brought out another Virtual Safety Car with 18 minutes left on the clock.
The no83 AF Corse Oreca had dropped back to 4th as Vaxiviere took on fresh rubber just before the VSC period.
The race resumed with just over 2 minutes left on the clock.On fresh Goodyear rubber Vaxiviere overtook Vlad Lomo in the no10 Vector Sport Oreca at T1 on the restart and then overtook Charles Milesi in the no48 VDS Panis Racing at T1 at the start of the final lap. The no82 Oreca than closed the gap to the leading no18 IDEC Sport Oreca, with Jaubert trying to keep his rival at bay for a couple of corners before Vaxiviere swept into the overall lead at T7 and going on to take the chequered flag.
The no18 IDEC Sport Oreca crossed the line 1.187s behind Vaxiviere to secure the LMP2 win, with the no48 VDS Panis Racing and no10 Vector Sport Orecas finishing second and third in LMP2 respectively with just 1.7 seconds splitting the three LMP2 cars.
The no20 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca was second in LMP2 Pro/Am after Alex Quinn crossed the line 6.3 seconds behind Matthieu Vaxiviere. Mathias Beche claimed the final class podium spot in the no29 TDS Racing.
The LMP3 victory saw Adrien Closmenil cross the line just 1.9 seconds ahead of Gillian Henrion in the no15 RLR MSport Ligier with the no88 Inter Europol Competition Ligier a further 9.3 seconds behind at the chequered flag.
Michelle Gatting held on for the final two laps to secure the LMGT3 win for the no85 Iron Dames Porsche, with the no57 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Daniel Serra just 0.7 seconds behind and the no60 Proton Competition Porsche of Alessio Picariello just 0.8 seconds behind Serra.
The next race will be the 4 Hours of Le Castellet on Sunday 4 May.
