Another sensational race played out at the timeless Imola circuit today during four hours of classic endurance racing in the second round of the 2014 ELMS.
You know when people say ‘that race had everything’ ? Well, check out the Imola 4 Hours, 2014 style. It fits that bill exactly.
Similar to Silverstone the race saw a relatively late safety car period to pinch the leading protagonists together, ensuring an excellent 80 mins mini-race to the flag. However, the event didn’t really need this twist at all, as the racing up until this point was already fascinating.
It had so much drama, including a brilliant performance from the eventual winners Jota Sport, and as stark contrast utter heartbreak for the New Blood by Morand team, as they saw a certain victory plucked from their grasp with just three minutes of the race to run.
Before the Safety Car was deployed after 2hrs 35mins of racing for damage to the ‘mini-sleeping policewoman’ (it was definitely female!) at Acque Minerale, the racing at the front of the field had been intense. Harry Tincknell, starting his first ever ELMS race fended off the Signatech Alpine-Nissan driven by Nelson Panciatici during the first stint, impressing greatly through the traffic before handing over to Simon Dolan, who as a silver categorised driver in this line-up, is obliged to complete at least 2hrs 20mins of seat time.
Dolan initially defended the lead well from Paul Loup Chatin, who had taken over from Panciatici in the Signatech Alpine A450. But a slight mistake by Dolan at Piratella let the Frenchman through and in to the lead which he held until the next round of pit stops.
The Jota Zytek-Nissan also lost further time after a trip through the gravel at Acque Minerale and the subsequent recovery to clean the tyres saw Thiriet’s Morgan-Nissan and Hirsch’s Judd powered example sneak through.
After Jota Sport elected to adapt their strategy and put Felipe Albuquerque behind the wheel, the Zytek-Nissan entry was soon back in contention. Dolan then got back in the cockpit and drove a quite splendid second tranche of stints, soaking up pressure and racing wheel to wheel with the Thiriet by TDS entry and then Klien’s Morgan.
Jota had earlier decided on a strategy to save fuel in the early stages of the race to enhance potential flexible plans for their stints. It was working perfectly and although the safety car appeared to compromise a crack at the win, fate and fortune intervened. This time however the dice was ultimately loaded in their favour.
After many twists and turns, Dolan recovered from his early excursions to stitch together probably his best race to date, resisting Klien for many laps until the Austrian made a surprise move going in to Tamburello with just 20minutes of the race remaining. Despite a gentle squeeze toward the inside grass by Dolan, Klien was through and looked to have made the decisive move.
“I was just settling in to the thought of a runners-up position when I saw an LMP2 on the exit of Tamburello, stationary,” said Dolan. “I radioed the team and told them I thought it was the Klien car and it was. Then I just had to bring her home. That is racing I guess. You don’t feel too sorry for the other guy because at Silverstone we suffered late on as well. These things do have a habit of balancing themselves out, so this time we enjoyed some luck.”
Luck however was only a small constituent part of Jota’s win today. On pace, strategy and wheel-to-wheel racing the whole team were fully deserving of the maximum points and they now head to Le Mans next month in buoyant mood and 2nd in the points standings.
If the unmistakable whiff of champagne hung in the air down at the Jota Sport pit after the race, salty tears were in evidence at New Blood by Morand. The friendly Swiss team had the win in their grasp until a suspected Oil Pump failure stopped them with just three minutes of the four hour race remaining. Flashing through this writers mind at this stage was Jesus Pareja’s dejected state at Le Mans back in 1990!
“There was no warning for me or the team on the data back in the garage. No warning lights, nothing,” said a crushed Christian Klien after the race. “I just had no oil pressure at all, so I switched to a different engine mode and it started briefly and I did a few hundred metres but then it went again and it was all over, no hope.”
Total deflation and a very cruel, unwelcome twist for the Benoit Morand led team. Gary Hirsch and Romain Brandela had laid a superb foundation for Klien, who had despatched several competitors before he latched on to Dolan’s tail.
A surprise but very welcome second place was taken by the Sebastien Loeb Racing Oreca-Nissan. Vincent Capillaire and Jan Charouz had an unobtrusive race but showed flashes of pace as the only Michelin shod LMP2 car in the field. By staying out of any significant scraps they reaped the reward of runner-up position in just their second event with their new Oreca-Nissan package.
Completing the podium was the Signatech Alpine driven by Oli Webb, Nelson Panciatici and Paul Loup Chatin. All three were at the top of their respective games during the whole weekend, one in which they kick-started their new relationship with Dunlop in fine fashion. The reigning champions were also in with a chance of the win but the safety car period ensured they had to make a late pit stop which reduced any chance of Chatin having a tilt at the lead.
TDS by Thiriet had looked to be in control of the race in the final two hours after again Ludovic Badey and Pierre Thiriet delivered excellent stints before handing over to Tristan Gommendy. With Gommendy in the cockpit until the end of the race and settled in second place just a few seconds from Dolan’s Zytek, another 25 points and the perfect way to say goodbye to their trusty Morgan-Nissan looked likely.
However, a problem with the left front brake disc ensured a long stop for checks and some cooling in the final hour meaning that they fell back to an eventual 5th position.
Ahead of the Thiriet Morgan-Nissan was the Greaves Motorsport Zytek-Nissan which claimed 12-points for 4th place. Matt McMurry accrued more valuable miles with a mammoth 2hrs 25mins trouble free run in the cockpit. Tom Kimber-Smith completed the race with his usual verve and was by far the quickest car on the track during the final stages of the race.
Murphy Prototypes retired in the third hour with a broken differential and resultant damaged gearbox after contact between it and the New Blood by Morand Morgan at the entry to Tamburello. The Irish team’s race had looked promising early on as Rodolfo Gonzalez held 3rd place for a stage, fighting energetically and robustly (see below – yikes!). However a suspected puncture and then a Stop/Go penalty for the contact broke up their potential challenge at the very front.
In the ELMS championship standings Badey/Gommendy and Thiriet now lead with 35 points, followed by Albuquerque/Dolan and Tincknell on 27, courtesy of their maximum points today and two extra ones for their brace of pole positions.
LMGTE and GTC
Once again the LMGTE class provided another classic encounter but unlike Silverstone it was Russia (SMP Racing) v Switzerland (Kessel Racing) in the exclusive Ferrari battle for the victory.
Matteo Cressoni was one of the undoubted stars of the whole weekend, showing scintillating pace whenever he was at the wheel of the yellow #81 Kessel Racing Ferrari 458 Italia. Sharing with young Italian – Thomas Kemenater, Cressoni went off like a scolded cat in the first hour of the race, stretching out an astonishing 40-second lead by the first scheduled stop!
Even an errant AF Corse Ferrari that spun across Kemenater’s bows in the second hour could not halt the car’s progress and after the Safety Car it held a significant lead. But, if there is one man you would want to chase down a 32 second gap with just a single stint remaining then that man just might be Andrea Bertolini.
The #72 SMP Racing Ferrari he was driving had ‘Yo-Yo’d’ up and down the top six in class during the initial stages of the race, as Sergey Zlobin and Viktor Shaitar both completed their time in the cockpit. Bertolini then tracked Kemenater down and with just a minute left on the clock caught him at Tosa. Despite some energetic defending from the Kessel machine, Bertolini squeezed through at Piratella on the final lap to delight his team and also his ‘lucky charms’ – his family!
“Whenever my wife and my children come to a race I seem to win,” said Bertolini after the race. “The whole team were fantastic today, Sergey and Viktor did their job very well and we were just able to do it at the end. It was exciting and I was not sure I had enough time but it worked out perfectly. Maybe my family should come to every race this year but maybe not as I will have to find a big budget!” he joked.
An excellent third was the JMW Motorsport team, scoring their second points scoring place of the season and launching themselves in to 3rd place in the LMGTE standings.
The trio of George Richardson and the two Daniels’ – Zampieri and McKenzie were in the mix for a podium for most of the race. McKenzie did a stellar job initially before young George Richardson made his mentor – Tim Sugden a very happy man with a mature and accomplished middle stint. Zampieri then solidified a very welcome podium position.
In the title race Bertolini/Zlobin and Shaitar have an 11-point advantage over Silverstone winners Matt Griffin and Duncan Cameron, who finished 6th at Imola today in their AF Corse 458 Italia.
In the GTC class the Formula Racing Ferrari team converted a surprise pole position in to a very well deserved victory courtesy of some genuinely excellent performances from Johnny Laursen, super-sub – Andrea Piccini, but especially young Dane – Mikkel Mac.
After sealing pole this morning, Mac put in a faultless display to fend off much more experienced drivers such as Olivier Beretta and Luca Persiani, to complete the foundations for the win. With a modest CV in Formula Renault 2-litre and Formula Two, the Dane was a real revelation this weekend and one to watch in future races.
“I am so happy, we all did the job today as planned and we had no real big issues at all,” said Mac. “I really enjoyed it and after a tough start at Silverstone in the first round I must say that I am delighted to be in this position with Johnny and Andrea. It feels super nice.”
Second and third in the GTC class were the #73 and #71 SMP Racing Ferrari’s respectively. Olivier Beretta held the lead at stages during the race, as did Kiril Ladygin and the #94 AF Corse Ferrari of Francesco Castellacci. Ultimately however it was a Russian 1-2 which delighted team boss Boris Rotenberg who attended the post-race press conference with his young son, Dmitry.
Laursen and Mac now lead the points table with 41-points ahead of Anton Ladygin, David Markozov and Olivier Beretta who have 36.
Of the other standout performances in the GTC class, Alex Brundle stood-out in the #99 ART Grand Prix McLaren MP4-12C, who fought up to an eventual reward of 4th place for he and his team mates Karim Ajlani and Ricardo Gonzalez.
There will be much more reaction to come from this almost biblical epic of a race during the rest of the week. For minute by minute updates and chronological details of the race go to www.twitter.com/dscracelive and track back.
Sam Smith
