Another enthralling multi-class ELMS battle played out over the full four hours at Imola this afternoon, dipping and peaking as wonderfully as the countryside around which it roared.
The race saw the Thiriet by TDS squad take its first ELMS win since last April and the first ever win for the ORECA 05-Nissan LMP2 coupe.
Eventually it was a comfortable win for the French trio of Tristan Gomemndy, Ludovic Badey and Pierre Thiriet, but they had to work hard for it from the off, after a rare error from Gommendy in qualifying saw them start only ninth on the grid.
Pierre Thiriet started the race in sweltering conditions, and while the pole sitting JOTA Sport driven by Harry Tincknell pulled out an impressive 18-second gap over the field in the first half an hour, the Frenchman stealthily cut through the LMP2 field to position the new LMP2 for a popular debut win.
The ORECA 05-Nissan was certainly aided by an early safety car, which was deployed for gravel spread at the Villeneuve chicane by Henry Hassid’s BMW Marc VDS Z4. Yet the pace of the new LMP2 was such today, that any luck alone could not be attributed to what was a classy victory.
All three of the Thiriet by TDS drivers played linchpin parts in the success today. Thiriet’s opening stint was impressive in its clinical overtakes of Nicolas Minassian’s BR01, Leo Roussel’s Pegasus Morgan, Mark Patterson’s Murphy and Bjorn Wirdheim’s Greaves cars to hoist the ORECA 05 in to second place. What was more impressive was the fact that Thiriet started with two Dunlop tyres that had been gravel-rashed after Gommendy’s qualifying excursion at Acque Minerale.
When the lanky Frenchman handed over to ‘Ludo’ Badey after 52 minutes and changed to a much needed fresh set of Dunlops, the silver classed Badey immediately showed the pace of his mount by setting a mighty ‘purple’ first sector.
Badey showed some real racing prowess on the tight and narrow confines of Imola by putting a neat move on Roussel’s Pegasus Morgan-Nissan and then engaging in a fight with Gary Hirsch’s Greaves Gibson-Nissan.
When Tincknell handed over to Simon Dolan bang on the 90-minute mark the race entered a critical phase. The TDS ORECA 05-Nissan,with Badey continuing in the cockpit, emerged from its second stop some 12-seconds adrift of the leading JOTA Gibson, but Badey had Dolan within his sights.
Ten minutes before half distance, the Villorba Corse LMP3 Ginetta ran out of fuel exiting Rivazza, triggering the second safety car of the race. At approximately the same time Dolan, amid GT traffic, was forced off track and bounced across the Variante Alta kerbs, dislodging part of the left front bodywork pontoon.
The subsequent ‘extra’ pit stop to replace the bodywork ensured any ambition of challenging Thiriet by TDS in the second half of the race was effectively over.
When the race went green after the brief Safety Car, Badey was able to stretch away and open a gap of 16-second gap before Gommendy entered the cockpit.
On fresh Dunlops, Gommendy unleashed several rapid laps, peaking on the fastest of the race – 1m36.650s. His first stint broke the back of the opposition and Gommendy was able to take the final one relatively easily, managing the gap to the second placed Murphy Oreca 03R-Nissan of Nathaneal Berthon. The Thiriet by TDS car eventually took victory by 12.140s seconds.
As well as the excellent individual and team performances, Thiriet by TDS also enjoyed a significant straight-line speed advantage today. They stopped the speed trap at 280kph which was almost 10kph up on the second placed Murphy ORECA-Nissan!
“We found a lot of performance in the car at the test we did after Silverstone and it has really paid off,” said Gommendy after the race. “I am really proud of the team and also my team mates who were fantastic today. I’m so happy for ORECA and the team; they deserve this result for all the hard work.”
The Murphy Prototypes pit garage was a jovial place to be after the race, as they celebrated a fine second position at Imola. It was a highly merited effort by Greg Murphy’s men and much like the TDS trio of drivers – Murphy’s South African/US/British/Irish/French melting-pot of racers each played significant parts in the success today.
Mark Patterson started the race and stoutly defended Berthon’s hard won front row starting position from the baying LMP2 mob behind him. But not only did Patterson fight a sound rear-guard action but he also engaged in genuine pacey laps with drivers half his age.
The 63 year old even confessed to surprising himself in the early exchanges but his modesty should be checked, for it was a genuinely impressive display from the bronze categorised racer.
Patterson’s copybook was blotted slightly after over-shooting his pit on the first stop but subsequent pace and racing guile from Michael Lyons soon made up for that. The youngster gave notice of a real doughty performer in the middle portion of the race with a superb defensive display against a charging Gary Hirsch.
Lyons’ performance was ‘rewarded’ by an enormous bear-hug from his boss Greg Murphy and DSC can only sympathise with Lyons’ plight at what must have been a very distressing moment!
When Nathaneal Berthon took over for the final stint, the Frenchman secured second place and warded off any advances from Filipe Alberquerque’s JOTA Sport Gibson, which had to make a final lap splash for fuel anyway. It in fact turned out to be a stroke of luck for JOTA that they did stop, as it meant they did not have to complete an extra lap at the end and thus finished the race with over a lap advantage on the fourth placed Greaves car.
It was all doubly relevant after the race when they were penalised for a pit stop infringement for one of its crew not wearing gloves at a re-fuelling stop. The 95-seconds added to their finishing time was not sufficient for Greaves to inherit third place and what would have been the title lead had the three extra points gone their way!
Greaves had earlier elected to make an early stop for fuel under the first safety car. Bjorn Wirdheim had initially been ‘saving some gas’ before then going on the attack midway through his stint and usurping Patterson’s Murphy for second at Tamburello.
Gary Hirsch again caught the eye with an epic effort that involved large amounts of tenacious scrapping with his rivals. The Swiss pocket-rocket deployed some serious speed throughout his time at the wheel and even shrugged off a lurid spin coming out of Rivazza as the Safety Car period ended and the track went green.
Jon Lancaster completed the race but was never able to get on terms with the third placed JOTA Gibson-Nissan. On this occasion even the Yorkshireman’s steely determination was not enough and a plucky effort from the Cambridgeshire-based team was rewarded with fourth position.
There were several interesting cameos in the LMP2 class at Imola today. Krohn Racing ran as high as second in stages between stops, with Ozz Negri catching the eye on his first visit to Imola.
Leo Roussel reminded everyone of his talent with an assured display for the Pegasus Racing Morgan-Nissan. Sadly the display was not rewarded as the car suffered brake problems in the final stages of the race.
The new SMP BR01 cars continued to accrue important data as they head to Le Mans at the end of this month. The No.27 car retired in the penultimate hour with a fuel leak, while the No.37 car finished in eighth place after a late race off in to the Acque Minerale gravel trap.
LMP3 saw a true test of endurance racing pass with flying colours by the University of Bolton run car of Rob Garofall and Morten Dons. The pair took the chequered flag two laps ahead of the SVK By Speed Factory Ginetta-Nissan example.
It was a fine performance by the ‘student’ car and the new Anglo/Danish partnership in the cockpit worked exceptionally well taking a conclusive win.
“It is fantastic for the students from University of Bolton to get their first win in International motorsport here at a great place like this which is a super tough place on a car,” concluded Rob Garofall.
The students’ night-out this evening wasn’t even spoiled by a post-race penalty for using one extra set of slick tyres. The 3mins 35 second penalty was not sufficient to put them behind the second placed SVK by Speed Factory car.
Earlier in the race the No.3 Team LNT entry had dominated proceedings in the hands of Charlie Robertson. The teenager followed up his qualifying pace with an initial excellent stint to set up what looked another crack at victory. It was not to be however, as a long pit stop and two penalties stymied both Robertson and Chris Hoy’s race. But the gritty Yorkshire team fought back hard and finished the race in fourth place and gather enough points to retain their point’s table lead.
The No.2 Team LNT car of Michael Simpson and Gataen Paletou were forced to retire in the second hour with a gearbox oil-line problem.
LMGTE saw a superb race long scrap between Ferrari, BMW and Porsche entries. A final sprint for the line brewed between a trio of local racers – Andre Rizzoli in the Formula Racing Ferrari, Marco Mapelli in the Proton Porsche and Alessandro Pierguidi in the AT Racing 458 Italia.
In a sensational final thirty minutes, Pierguidi tracked down first Mapelli at Tamburello and then Rizzoli at Rivazza to claim the lead from which his opponents could not fight back.
“It was an exciting battle for sure,” said a wide-eyed Pierguidi afterward. “The racing was clean and quick and very enjoyable. We had to fight back in the final hour. The Porsche was quick but you can’t deny a Ferrari here of all places can you?”
Earlier in the race both Alexander Talkanitsa Jnr and Snr had fought gamely with the No.51 AF Corse Ferrari driven by Raffaele Giammaria and the Formula Racing Danish example driven by the impressive Mikkel Mac.
The senior of the two Belarussian drivers even survived contact with Charlie Robertson’s Ginetta-Nissan at Tosa and a messy attempt to find reverse gear. When Pierguidi got in the car for the final hour the anticipation ramped up and at one stage a five car battle spread over just five seconds glued the crowd to their seats.
Stand-out performers in LMGTE were Richard Lietz in the Proton Porsche 911 RSR and Matt Griffin who put the No.55 AF Corse in to contention in the latter stages of the race.
Jesse Krohn was also a man on a mission in his stints as he attempted to regain time lost after earlier excursions by Henry Hassid, as well as penalty for not respecting track limits. The Finn was absolutely flying in the BMW Marc VDS Z4 and was able to put Andy Priaulx in to contention for a crack at the podium. Racing with the leading bunch in the final stages Priaulx was just unable to wrest third from Andrea Rizzoli’s Ferrari on the final lap.
The GTC class saw a fairly straight forward victory for the No.62 AF Corse entry of Stuart Hall, Francesco Castellacci and Rino Mastronardi. Their Ferrari 458 Italia led most of the race after an early scrap with the sister Ferrari of Giorgio Roda, Ilya Melkinov and Marco Cioci.
“We managed the gap well and looked after the car,” said Stuart Hall, who won his first race in a Ferrari. “The team were great; Francesco and especially Rino at such short notice did a really impressive job. From my part it was probably the easiest win I’ve ever had, so it is a nice feeling.”
The next round of the ELMS takes place at the Red Bull Ring on 12th July. The ELMS rarely fails to disappoint and so it again proved today with a riveting display of all-out, stimulating endurance racing that leaves everyone thirsting for more.
Sam Smith
