You will struggle to find a more tightly contested championship than the 2014 European Le Mans Series. It threw up a feast of racing between many quality protagonists and produced some genuinely thrilling races. For lovers of great endurance racing the 2014 ELMS was a real treat.
From the first laps of the season to the very last, it had drama, uncertainty and some excellent racing. The teams were extremely well run, with strong, engaging driving line-ups.
The battles were not limited to the teams and drivers however. Other fascinating jousts were played out between Nissan and Judd, Michelin and Dunlop (although this one was rather one sided), as well as open and coupe designs.
The ELMS enjoyed stability in its entrants, calendar, driving and officiating standards. Another class – LMP3 was formalised and officially announced during the year and among the drivers and teams there was a sense that this was an enjoyable and economically viable way to go racing.
On the track, Signatech Alpine ultimately retained their title. But, if you had shared breakfast with Philippe Sinault early on the Easter Monday after Silverstone, some tough questions were being asked, and they needed swift answers if his beloved Les Bleues were to have any chance of claiming two in two championship successes.
It was wholly apparent that the Michlein tyres were well below the pace and consistency of the Dunlop rubber. At the Ricard test a few works before the Silverstone curtain raiser there had been furrowed brows developing on Sinault’s usually affable and smiling face.
The worries were confirmed at Silverstone where Nelson Panciatici’s fastest time of the weekend was two seconds off that of Harry Tincknell’s best. Then again, nobody but nobody could get within a second of the British LMP2 rookie, whose scintillating 1m47.702 pole lap immediatelty set alarms ringing throughout the paddock. In Tincknell, a game changer had arrived. Some re-calibration by his pursuers was needed.
Still, Signatech really had only one decision to make but it was a tough one. Michelin were more than just a technical supplier to the team and significant diplomacy had to be met with some brutal conclusions. They turned up for round two at Imola sans Bibendum and a significant part of the 2014 script had been re-written. They finished third that day and then went on to claim a well-judged win at Red Bull Ring and then a second at Paul Ricard before a fighting fifth place at Estoril, after two penalties, sealed the title.
Their pace was transformed after the tyre switch of course and but for a recalcitrant ignition problem and losing some time in the safety car period they could, and probably should have won at Imola too. As ever though in the ELMS, there were several teams saying just the same. Such was the competitiveness of the series in 2014, Jota Sport, New Blood by Morand and possibly even Race Performance had decent chances of winning the title this year.
Jota Sport aren’t the kind of team who want or ever need to look for sympathy, but it would be a steely heart trapped in a cold soul that did not have some compassion when the chequered flag fell at Estoril last month.
It seems overly stark to suggest it, but they should have been able to cruise to the title. If it were not for Simon Dolan’s accident at the Silverstone 4 Hours, it would have been done and dusted, probably ahead of Estoril. The ingredients of that shunt are complex but sadly the result was there for all to see, a violent tub destroying shunt that saw a likely maximum score disappear.
On the face of it, the accident was avoidable. Dolan was leading Franck Mailleux’s charging Race Performance Oreca-Judd by a handful of seconds and beginning his in-lap for the mercurial Tincknell to take over. Dolan had done a fine job, perhaps the best of his impressive topline career so far. But as he came upon Michele Rugolo’s LMGTE Pro class leading Ferrari he decided to make a move on the outside, exiting Chapel corner and on to the Hangar Straight. Everyone saw the shocking conclusion to the wild ride on the grass.
The Ferraris were so quick throughout the season that perhaps an incident like this one was inevitable and it just so happened early in the season to the luckless Dolan. A victim of circumstance more than anything, Simon mercifully escaped serious injury from an almighty impact, chiefly thanks to the strength of the Zytek Z11SN.
Dolan was shaken by the accident and understandably so. By his own admission he thought long and hard about whether or not to continue. This makes his and the teams’ performance at Imola, a month later, all the more noteworthy.
It was a brave and tenacious drive by Dolan that day and after the race you could see the intense determination and vigour etched in his face. He and the team carried this all the way to Le Mans and came away with a fantastic LMP victory, again in extraordinary circumstances. After Loic Duval’s free practice accident triggered a domino effect that resonated all the way to Oliver Turvey’s planned, but then swiftly cancelled weekend away with his mates!
At the post race press conference in Estoril, Dolan (a genuine silver driver), brought up, not for the first time during the season, the baffling anomaly of Paul Loup Chatin (and others) silver categorisation. It was plain even before the season started that the talented Frenchman was in all reality a gold and perhaps a 24-carat one at that!
You could say much the same for Pierre Ragues and Rodolfo Gonzalez but with the FIA categorisation set in stone until last week – where guess what? – Monsieur Chatin was ‘promoted’ to Gold….as was Signor Gonzalez. Pierre Ragues, 2013 ELMS champion remains a silver?! Let’s just say you could understand Dolan’s frustration on this one. Still, the rules are de rules,etc.
Still, these issues apart, Jota Sport enjoyed an excellent season, one which will likely be remembered in years to come for unearthing a considerable force in the shape of Harry Tincknell. The Devonshire exocet was a race winner in British F3 but his single-seater days seem a lifetime ago now, as he quickly established himself as the clear benchmark in LMP2. His sheer pace was undeniable and he rocked some big reputations in 2014, not only in ELMS but also at Le Mans.
While the title was fought out between arguably the two best teams in the ELMS – Signatech Alpine and Jota Sport – several other very capable outfits had genuine sniffs of the title.
New Blood by Morand should have been challenging for the title but again luck eluded them. After some great pace from Christian Klien in the pre-season Ricard test, Silverstone was a bit of a damp squib but an inherited and slightly fortunate third place was a solid enough start.
Imola was their renaissance and Klien had the race won after excellent early work by Gary Hirsch. Four minutes from the end of the race the Miami-blue Morgan ground to a halt at Tamburello and the 25pts that should have mounted a serious title challenge was disappearing with the smoke from the back of their car (oil pump failure) and in to the Imola municipal park.
As Klien climbed from the car and walked back to the marshals’ post he cut a figure just as forlorn as Jesus Pareja at Le Mans in 1990!
Benoit Morand’s team are a lovely bunch and they have lofty ambitions of moving in to the FIA WEC in 2015. The fact remained though that there were far too many mistakes this season. A succession of penalties at Red Bull Ring put them out of serious contention in Klien’s own back yard, while a ‘safety belts issue’ at Estoril probably cost them the win.
You could sense some frustration from Klien’s camp that there was something missing with the way the team operated and performed under pressure. The Austrian is desperate to get on the manufacturers’ radar again after his awkward Peugeot experience. Another season with Morand looks likely and if they remain in ELMS they will again be likely title contenders.
Thiriet by TDS were a complete enigma in 2014. They started the season off with a finely judged win with their ‘old’ Morgan-Nissan package at Silverstone. They challenged again at Imola only for a brake problem to intervene in again, what should have been a clear win.
After a brilliant Le Mans debut for the elegant Thiriet by TDS Ligier JS 31 netted an excellent second position, the team was fully focused on a title surge in ELMS. They had the pace, they had their talisman – Tristan Gommendy and they had one of the best all round silver back-up pairings in Pierre Thiriet and Ludovic Badey. What they didn’t have was reliability. After Le Mans, that was peculiar.
A succession of suspension and brake related issues meant they registered zero points from Imola onward, despite often being genuine threats at the front of the field. The issues were baffling because while the Thiriet by TDS team encountered many such issues, their Ligier counterparts G-Drive Racing enjoyed relative bullet proof reliability in a succession of six hour FIA WEC races. It was an unsatisfactory way to complete the season for the excellent team from Montpeiller and frankly they deserved more.
Race Performance began the season in the worst possible way when a suspension failure pitched Michel Frey in to the Mistral barriers during pre-season testing. From there the small Swiss team began its impressive trait of consistently punching above its weight.
Michel Frey upped his game significantly in 2014, yet still mistakes remained and usually cost the team a big result. A second at Silverstone was probably the highlight. Frey was colossal in the final stint, albeit on fresher rubber than the rest of the field. From a personal perspective the Swiss had his best ever season in 2014.
Franck Mailleux was again very quick but still liable to dropping it on occasion. The Judd power behind him was potent and when Patric Niederhauser returned to the team for the Estoril finale, Mailleux was pushed even harder in to turning in some stupendous lap times. However, far too often the team were forced in to ‘top gear from the rear’ or ‘burn from the stern’ strategies after errors early doors or in Mailleux’s case at Estoril, even in qualifying.
Greaves Motorsports had a season which promised much but ultimately didn’t deliver. The key focus of their early campaign was to get the precocious Matt McMurry up to speed with LMP2 hardware and prepare him for what was a remarkable record breaking debut at La Sarthe. At 16 years and it was mission accomplished. It was a hard, undulating road but it was a massive credit to not only McMurry but also the Greaves Motorsport team that these goals was achieved.
Before that historic occasion McMurry showed much promise at Silverstone and Imola, mentored by a host of experienced minds from Tom Kimber-Smith to engineering colossus and Warren Zevon-lookalike Peter Weston.
McMurry contested the entire season, the immediate pre-Le Mans period and also the Red Bull Ring round with TK-S. The teenager did, with all things considered, a very competent job. There were errors of course but generally he should form in to a very handy endurance racer. Just imagine how many Le Mans 24 Hours appearances he could notch up, should a professional career blossom!
Kimber-Smith always showed his pace in the Greaves Zyek-Nissan but was usually hamstrung in terms of results by the progressive and sensible programme of bedding in McMurry. Still, there were flashes of brilliance from the US-domiciled Brit. His battle with Klien at Red Bull was mesmeric in its intensity.
Greaves had a succession of new faces in their cars during the course of the season but perhaps the most promising was that of Mark Shulzhitskiy and Luciano Bacheta in the #28 car. A fantastic ‘out of fuel stop sequence’ performance at Red Bull Ring showed the potential with both drivers showcasing some fearless racing especially through traffic at the tight Austrian circuit.
Paul Ricard ultimately brought disappointment with the loss of fourth position on the final lap after running out of fuel and then the Estoril finale was cut short after some early race heroics from Shulzhitskiy got the car up to third position. But it came to nought after various issues in the race.
Bacheta has enormous promise too in endurance racing and would be a very good asset to any lading team.
Murphy! Ahh Murphy. So much promise but the results rarely came for the vibrant Dubliners and much of that was mostly to some absurdly poor luck rather than ill-conceived judgement.
Consider this!
Silverstone – A harsh penalty for Rodolfo Gonzalez ‘jumping the start’; A puncture during an epic comeback when both Karun Chandhok and the revelatory Alex Kapadia were easily the fastest guys on track.
Imola – Ok! Well maybe there was a bit more ill-conceived judgement here, mainly by Rodolfo Gonzalez when he swiped Romain Brandela’s Morgan-Judd.
Paul Ricard – With a victory highly likely a penalty is applied for the engine running for probably less than second at the final pit stop.
Of course you often make your own luck in racing and other assorted clichés. The up-shot remains that the team is nearly always a race winning prospect and should they continue to give chances to drivers like Berthon, Derani and Kapadia then they will always remain so.
Greg Murphy reckons he has the nucleus of a great team for a concerted 2014 campaign. On and off the track Murphys Men continued to make many friends. With the experience of Alan McGarrity as Team Manager and of course the wit and wisdom of Greg Murphy himself, the team that jettisoned Brendon Hartley in to LMP1 stardom are more than capable of doing so again next season.
Sebastien Loeb Racing bought a brand new Oreca for their first foray in to LMP2 and duly scored a surprise season ending victory at Estoril. Yes it was a fortunate win but one which was on the whole deserved through a combination of clean running and the arrival of the impressive Jimmy Eriksson. The Franck Tine managed team progressed through the year but were ultimately hampered by the discrepancy between their Michelin shod car and the rest of the Dunlop supplied grid.
Larbre Competition made a one off with their Morgan-Judd at Silverstone with Gustavo Yacaman showing a good turn of speed. It was a shame we didn’t see more of this car during the season as it was ‘rested’ after a troubled run to a ninth placed LMP2 finish at Le Mans.
Pegasus Racing shook off early season reliability woes and the wild ride endured by the ridiculously dangerous multiple waved yellow flag ignoring Leo Roussel in practice at Le Mans, to enjoy some decent races. The highlight probably being Estoril, where they finished 8th overall. The team plans to expand to two Morgan-Nissan entries in 2015 and good luck to the friendly Alsatian team.
Sam Smith
