A healthy field of 26 is expected for the fourth (and penultimate) round of the re-born ELMS at the Hungaroring, near Budapest, this weekend. After the passing of what seems an eternity to get through the first three rounds, the championships contenders are now faced with a relatively frantic fortnight with the final round at Paul Ricard in the south of France to follow on the last weekend in September.
What better way to focus on how the championships could be stitched up though for those in the running?
LMP2 is the headline class this season and the racing has not disappointed. It would be a stretch too far to say it is Thiriet by TDS’s title to lose, but with 65 points banked so far, two wins and a third place, a 17 point cushion and only 25 points available for a win (and a point for pole) the season would have to take a severe turn for the worse if they weren’t to take the championship. Of their pilots, only Pierre Thiriet is in with a shout of the driver’s title, super-sub Mathias Beche having been drafted in after the first round to replace Jonathan Hirschi.
Signatech Alpine lie second on 48 points and if all the ingredients come together for them, including their Michelin tyres, they are undoubtedly capable of a victory. Two seconds and a third so far is clearly the best of the rest. Race Performance and Jota Sport are next, tied on 40 points but earned in very different ways. Race Performance’s is based on a solid rather than spectacular season, although things could have been much better for the Swiss team and drivers had their race not rather fallen apart last time out. Jota Sport have secured a hat-trick of pole-positions with their Zytek Nissan (thanks to the mercurial Cumbrian Oliver Turvey) and they won the first round at Silverstone. However, a nightmare of a race at Imola and a subdued Red Bull Ring mean Simon Dolan will have to be at his best (and he can be very good) if they want to finish the season on a high. Morand Racing are next up and ex-Peugeot (and F1) man Christian Klien steps in where Frank Mailleux’s budget left off to try to bolster this fledgling team’s impressive first year and give regular driver Natacha Gachnang a top four or five spot.
If Morand’s season has got much better since an eliminating crash out from the lead in round one, Murphy Prototypes have to be sponsored by the luck of the Irish… It would be a fool who would stake their house on Turvey sealing all five poles this season because Brendon Hartley has always looked a serious threat. With Jonathan Hirschi a Murphy’s man on board the Oreca 03 Nissan again in Hungary (Mark Patterson raced the first two rounds), they would surprise nobody with an overall victory. If they get pole in Hungary, it could be very difficult for anyone to get past because the track is not high in natural overtaking opportunities.
The ubiquitous SMP Racing is back in P2, having debuted in Austria. Maurizio Mediani and Sergey Zlobin will be hoping to translate data gathered there into more speed in the #37 Oreca 03 Nissan. Boutsen Ginion Racing has announced that John Hartshorne will be back in the #4 Oreca 03 Nissan, this time accompanied by British driver Alex Kapadia and Kuwaiti Khaled Al Mudhaf.
In LMPC class Paul Loup Chatin seems assured of the trophy, Alex Loan jumps ship from the Team Endurance Challenge sister car to join him, displacing Gary Hirsch. In fact Team Endurance Challenge only bring two cars to Hungary, with Anthony Pons and Soheil Ayari still in with a shout of top honours, meaning Loan will certainly be feeling the pressure. The very likable Algarve Pro Racing Team is back with CO Jones and Nicky Catsburg, the latter will certainly not be making life easy for the Team Endurance Challenge men.
LMGTE sees RAM Racing’s pair of Ferraris really punching their weight and they should be able to clinch the teams championship with relatively ease. Matt Griffin and Johnny Mowlem should also see anything other than taking the driver’s title as a failure, so strong have they been so far, and they could clinch it this weekend. AF Corse field a pair of F458 Italias too, but their driver line-ups are not as strong (Yannick Mallegol, Jean- Marc Bachelier and Howard Blank/Piergiuseppe Perazzini, Marco Cioci and Federico Leo).
The yellow F458 Italia of JMW Motorsport has emerged as the most likely to upset RAM’s party, Andrea Bertolini and Joel Camathias are more than capable of taking second in the driver’s championship unless Jeanette and Montecalvo can fend them off.
Three Porsches take on the five Ferraris. IMSA Performance Matmut’s Porsche sees Patrice Milesi paired with Jean-Karl Vernay again; ProSpeed Competition continues with François Perrodo and Emmanuel Collard in the #75; and Christian Ried, Klaus Bachler and Nick Tandy will drive for Proton Competition in the #77. The latter car could well spring a late-season surprise, although having a third driver has proved to be a major handicap in terms of results, if not for budgets, for the teams that have chosen to go in that direction.
GTC is likely to go down to the wire. Babini, Ladygin and Shaitar in the #69 SMP Racing F458 Italia GT3 missed the first round but won the other two and with that kind of momentum they could easily overturn the Ecurie Ecosse team’s slender five point advantage, especially with a sister car to bring into play (Frolov, Markozov, Persiani). The 100% Italian AF Corse Ferrari team of Rizzoli, Case and Gai are only a single point off the class lead and with three second place finishes (but many laps led) they won’t want to finish the season as perennial bridesmaids. For Ecurie Ecosse Andrew Smith makes way for Joe Twyman, who returns to the line-up that is completed by Alasdair McCaig. This seat-shuffling means Ollie Millroy is the only British driver in with a shout of winning the GTC driver’s title, but he will have to use all of his undoubted pace and hope his team-mates can do likewise without mistakes if the Ferraris are not to brush the BMW aside for this final pair of races.
Peter Kox gains a driver for his Lamborghini Gallardo LP600GT3, with Dennis Retera joining him and regular Nico Pronk. Class pole at Imola has probably been the highlight for Kox Racing so far this season so it would be nice to see the distinctive Lamborghini in the mix.
No sign of the Megatron Audi but there is at least a new entry for the Italian Easyrace, with an all-Italian crew of Tommaso Rocca, Diego Romanini and Fabio Mancini.
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