After a lengthy summer break the ELMS paddock reconvenes at Paul Ricard this weekend for the penultimate round of a so far riveting 2014 season.
It has been competitive throughout the three classes, with mostly clean racing and a healthy variety of machinery vying for overall victory in the LMP2 class. In short, the ELMS this year is an endurance racing gift that just keeps on giving.
On home soil this weekend the French contingent will be keen to coat a tricolore sheen over proceedings with Thiriet by TDS and Signatech Alpine leading the charge.
Oli Webb, Nelson Panciatici and Paul-Loup Chatin will be carrying reasonable momentum from their Red Bull Ring victory in July. After a poor start at Silverstone this trio has gelled in to a formidable unit in 2014.
An efficient and quick partnership the Alpine Signatech outfit got to grips with their change of rubber (from Michelin to Dunlop) from Imola onward. Loup-Chatin in particular has made a favourable name for himself with some eye-catching stints, and with Webb and Panciatici the Anglo-French squad will be immensely effective at Paul Ricard. The reigning champion team currently enjoy a four point lead in this year’s title chase.
Thiriet by TDS hit problems during the Red Bull Ring round in July, when first a brake-disc and then a stub-axle broke on their new Ligier LMP2 Coupe. Expect the Montpellier based equipe to be right at the front this weekend. The slippery Ligier-Nissan will have a slight aero advantage on the long Mistral straight, and with Tristan Gommendy always showing well at Ricard, they are sure to be a major threat with the usually solid pace of ‘Ludo’ Badey and Pierre Thiriet.
Anything but resting on their laurels, Jota Sport has spent the summer break plotting a coup d’état in their French rivals home patch. The British team are aching for the 2014 ELMS title to add to their brilliant Le Mans success they secured in June.
Testing at Lausitzring last week, the team spent quality time with Harry Tincknell and Simon Dolan at the wheel, working methodically through data to ensure they continue to explore techniques and strategies centred on the bronze categorised Dolan, who has to complete at least 140mins of the allocated 240mins during the race. Dolan was very impressive again in Austria and is growing in poise with every lap this season.
Tincknell, the clear star of the ELMS season so far, will be summoning up his blistering pace once again this weekend. It has been exceptionally polished driving that has seen him take two clear pole positions (at Silverstone and Red Bull ring) this season.
With Filipe Albuquerque taking the other pole position at Imola, the Jota Sport Zytek-Nissan is aiming for a fourth pole on the trot in 2014 to tee-up another carefully managed race. Remarkably, it will be the first time the Portuguese factory Audi driver has raced at Paul Ricard this weekend.
A welcome return to the ELMS paddock will be Murphy Prototypes after the Irish team missed the last round at Red Bull Ring.
Greg Murphy’s men have drafted in Brazilian racer Luis Felipe ‘Pipo’ Derani to the attack at Ricard this weekend. The 20-year old tested for the team at Snetterton last month and after a deal was agreed for the Ricard race, the Paulista, who knows the circuit from his British F3 programme in 2011, will take his seat with last season’s Ricard victors.
Derani, categorised as a gold driver by dint of his podium placing at Macau last November, joins Nathanaël Berthon in the green and white Oreca-Nissan.
Berthon, who is dovetailing his ELMS and Le Mans programme with another GP2 season, has already shown flashes of his considerable ability this season. The 25 year old has yet to complete a racing lap in the ELMS after the car retired relatively early at Imola, so Berthon will be aiming to be just as impressive as he proved in his LMP2 debut run during testing back in April.
Rodolfo Gonzalez is again the team’s silver categorised driver this weekend. The Venezuelan has a good turn of pace but needs to reign in a sometimes fiery temperament at the wheel. It will be interesting to see how he stacks up against Derani this weekend.
Greaves Motorsport continue to be the only team entering two cars in the LMP2 class of the ELMS. The Sawtry based outfit has gathered an impressive collection of finishes and points so far this season. While not threatening the very front yet, the team is too good not to have a crack at challenging for a win, in what remains of the 2014 season.
The #28 Zytek-Nissan once again has the potent duo of Mark Shulzhitskiy and Luciano Bacheta. Finishing fourth on their debut at Red Bull Ring, after a brave strategy/sequence gamble early in the race, the pacey Russian/British axis will need to be watched carefully by their opponents at Ricard.
The #41 Greaves Zytek-Nissan once again sees Matt McMurry gaining more valuable miles in his quest to carve out a fulltime endurance racing career. Replacing Tom Kimber-Smith in France will be a familiar face, Johnny Mowlem. The reigning ELMS GTE champion has put the sad cessation of RAM Racing behind him by announcing a deal with Greaves at Ricard. He rekindles a long association driving Zytek built machinery that stretches back to 2006.
Endeavouring to bounce back from a disastrous Red Bull Ring race will be the New Blood by Morand squad. The Swiss team of Christian Klien, Gary Hirsch and Pierre Ragues (now confirmed for the rest of the season) are potential favourites. But such has been their luck in 2014 so far, you wouldn’t want to stake too much money on them.
A multitude of penalties decimated their race in Austria, but it was all triggered by Ragues running out of fuel just before the end of the first stint. The team will be determined to make up for that embarrassment this weekend.
On paper the Klien, Hirsch and Ragues trio should be among the favourites for victory. They have the drivers, they have the pace and they have form at Paul Ricard, after Klien topped the times on the first day of testing earlier this year. Whether they can put it all together and actually achieve it is another matter entirely.
The Judd engine was very strong at Red Bull Ring with New Blood and Race Performance setting the first and second fastest speeds through the speed trap over the weekend. It will be interesting to see if that trend continues on the Mistral.
Race Performance’s recent history at Paul Ricard will be banished to the back of their collective minds for this weekend’s race. A considerable accident in the April test saw a change of tub for the team and a tough start to the season from which they have bounced back admirably. Michel Frey, who has been on tremendous form for most of the season will be focusing on the positives with his Momo liveried Oreca-Judd. After all, he and Mailleux remain just 11 points off the title leaders
Sebastien Loeb Racing is back in harness at Ricard with a radically different driver line up since their last outing at Le Mans in June.
Joining Vincent Capillaire in the Oreca-Nissan are a duo of young and hungry single-seater drivers. It is a familiar story this year but a good one for the series that GP2 racer Arthur Pic and Auto GP race winner Andrea Roda make their LMP2 debuts.
Pic, younger brother of current Lotus F1 test driver Charles, is just 22 years old, but already has seven years of international competition behind him, including a win in both World Series by Renault and GP2. He is highly rated.
Andrea Roda is the latest in a long line from a racing dynasty. The 24 year old from Como is the son of long-time Ferrari GT driver and current 8 Star Motorsport racer, Gianluca Roda, and the elder brother of current AF Corse GT Open driver, Giorgio.
Apart from a brief cameo at this season’s World Series by Renault race at Monaco, Roda has been racing for the British based Virtuosi UK team for the last two seasons, scoring a breakthrough win when Auto GP supported the ELMS last time out in Austria.
Pegasus Racing has had a trying season so far but the plucky Alsatians keep on fighting to get a clean run and to overcome a dispiriting wishbone breakage which spoilt their race in Austria. Team owner Julien Schell again races with Nicolas Leutwiller and Jonathan Coleman in the Miami blue Morgan-Nissan.
Dunlop is bringing the medium and hard compound tyres for their quota of teams (nine of the ten). This will be same combination as supplied for the Silverstone round in April.
DSC will as ever have live coverage from all sessions, as well as the usual news, views, photos and results.
Sam Smith
Three key questions to be answered at Ricard
- Who was sandbagging at the pre-season test. There were a few, believe us!
- Who will be best of the recent single –seater converts? Berthon, Pic, Roda, Derani?
- Will the Thiriet by TDS Ligier be too strong for even Tincknell , Alburquerque, Mailleux, Berthon and Panciatici’s pace?
Follow all the track action live via www.twitter.com/dscracelive
Saturday 13th September
FP1 – 10.30am cet
FP2 – 15.00 cet
Sunday 14th
Qualifying – 09.00cet
Race – 13.00cet
Watch live on Motors TV
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