The Jota Sport squad and their ‘Mighty #38’ Gibson 015S Nissan took a deserved victory this afternoon at round three of the 2015 European Le Mans Series, the 4 Hours of the Red Bull Ring.
The #38 car powered away from the start in the hands of Filipe Albuquerque, the Portugese Audi factory driver rapidly building up a big lead before a Safety Car undid his good work, only to see the same sequence repeated once again before he handed the car over to Simon Dolan.
Dolan then had to chase down the #33 Eurasia Motorsport Oreca 03-R Nissan of Pu Jun Jin which had gained track position after the team had opted to pit under the first safety car.
The Oreca driver did a fine job of fending off the experienced Jota man before eventually succumbing to the concerted pressure and dropping behind.
Thereafter the strongest competition came from the Thiriet by TDS racing Oreca 05-Nissan but any hope of a win was dented first by a problem in a late race pit stop (a stuck left front) and then a penalty for the charging Tristan Gommendy failing to observe a red light at the pit exit under a late race Safety Car.
Despite all of that the Oreca emerged from its drive through penalty just 1.5 seconds behind the #38 Gibson, by now in the hands of Nissan LMP1 factory driver Harry Tincknell but the Englishman managed to pull out an advantage of several seconds before a last lap incident with the GTE leading Ferraris saw the Oreca spin away a further 20 seconds.
Coming home third was the #37 SMP Racing BR01 after a gutsy performance from Mikhail Aleshin, who started third on the grid, Anton and Kirill Ladygin. They were never too far away from being in podium contention but eventually profited from the misadventures of Greaves Motorsport who took a pair of penalties for yellow flag infringements – cramping a stylish run that saw them very much to the fore, and from Murphy Prototypes who held a strong third place late into the race after believing they had lost Nathaniel Berthon to a medical issue. The Frenchman though was cleared to undertake a final 45 minute stint after both Mark Patterson and Michael Lyons had driven long, hard and busy stints.
Berthon was typically rapid but stumbled over the #52 GTE BW of Jesse Krohn, the #49 Oreca 03-R Nissan half spinning and taking long enough to recover that the car fell to 6th.
Jon Lancaster would drag the #41 Greaves Gibson back up to 4th with Nic Jonsson backing up some fine work from supersub Julien Canal and a consistent run from Tracy Krohn to bring the #40 Krohn Racing Ligier Judd home in fifth.
More or less all the remaining LMP2 runners had multiple penalties with the #27 SMP racing BR01 Nissan the most dramatic departure from proceedings after David Markozov miscalculated a passing attempt into T1, lost control and put the car heavily into the armco on the inside of the braking zone, the car out on the spot and the Russian looking uncomfortable as he hopped away from the wreckage.
LMP3 saw the #3 Team LNT Ginetta Nissan absolutely dominate courtesy of a heads up drive from Charlie Robertson from class pole that saw the car gradually move up from 16th on the grid to 9th overall.
If that sounds easy it most certainly wasn’t, the Red Bull Ring suiting the GTEs well and the quartet of Ginettas here forced to mix it with a pack of GTEs for the first hour of the race, cars going three and even four wide and positions being gained and lost in large numbers in the early running.
Robertson did a fine job, as did Chris Hoy who completed a faultless double stint retaining the car’s relative position in the overall field until handing the car back in good order to his young team-mate to run to the finish.
All three of the other Ginettas suffered multiple contacts with the #15 SVK by Speed Factory losing first the left side under body and later the right side, the second contact forcing its retirement.
The #15 Villorba Corse Ginetta claimed second in class but finished three laps down after a fairly torrid race. The second LNT car, this the loaned University of Bolton/ Team RLR car, spending half an hour in the pits, plus further stops for repeated front bodywork issues after early tussles They would make the podium but 22 laps adrift.
GTE saw, a magnificent late race scrap between three of the Ferraris, it could have been more still but a penalty for JMW Motorsport saw the #66 car fall back from a strong position, leading the race more than once, all three drivers doing a very strong job in a car that seems set to aspire for the WEC in 2016.
The #56 AT Racing Ferrari led too but suffered an incident in the middle part of the race that caused damage to the front suspension, this the fault of Alexander Talkanitsa Jr who attempted an ill-advised pass up the inside of a GTC Ferrari. thereafter the car’s relative pace and position plummeted with multiple penalties for on-track and pitlane infringements.
Both Porsches showed strongly but faded badly, Dan Brown drove an excellent early stint in the #86 Gulf Racing 911 RSR and Ricard Lietz was typically rapid in the #88 Proton Porsche. Neither though could sustain that form.
The #52 Marc VDS BMW had a wretched run into the race with repeated, (and repeatedly misdiagnosed it seems) drive by wire throttle issues.
The car never looked like taking the fight to the sharp end but smart strategy and consistency from the drivers took it to fourth in the closing stages, ready to pounce if the battles ahead turned sour for those involved.
They didn’t and the final reckoning cam down to a trio of Ferraris. the #51 AF Corse car was in the mix but a late fumble from Matteo Cressoni dropped it just a second or two back from what was a titanic battle.
Cressoni had been right there looking for a way into the lead with Mikkel Mac and Matt Griffin ahead, the trio separated by less than a second for lap after lap after the Dane had managed to pass Cressoni.
The #55 AF Corse car saw Griffin in the hot seat at the finish but the drive of the race undoubtedly came from his team-mate Aaron Scott. The car was relegated to the back of the grid from class pole after traces of the fuel used in last week’s GT Open race were found in the rig. “There was absolutely no intent, no advantage but rules are rules” said Griffin.
From 29th on the grid Scott made rapid progress up the order to lead the class within a stint, just outside the overall top 10, the car handed over to Duncan Cameron in good order, handed back to Scott, then to Griffin who led the class, defending beautifully until the very last lap.
With Mac just tenths behind the leader, and with Cressoni still well in touch, a string of LMP2s completed the penultimate lap just behind the battling duo, Griffin moved to the inside with Mac tracking him closely, looked to defend into T1 but ran a little wide, allowing Mac to get a better line through the corner and get alongside on the run up to T2, Into the corner both cars had contact with the second placed overall #46 Oreca of Gommendy, spinning it around and delaying Griffin just enough for the #60 Formula Racing car to get the decisive advantage. The gap at the line was less than seven tenths, the pair finishing 10th and 11th overall after a stunning battle.
GTC too went to the wire, but not for the overall win. That went the way of the #62 AF Corse Ferrari after a controlled early race double stint from Thomas Flohr put first an attacking Francesco Castellacci and then Stuart Hall in the right position to attack.
They’d take the class lead in the second half of the race and Hall would do a very neat and tidy job to bring it home, the major competition, from the TDS BMW, ending when the car slid off into the gravel trap, losing a lap in the process and setting up a battle for second in class that would see another one time race leader, the Massive Motorsport Aston Martin almost outdrag the Z4 on the very final lap, Franck Perera though just had the legs on Kristian Poulsen on the run through T8, T9 and to the line.
Some good racing then, some great performances, and a reminder if one were needed that endurance racing with Safety Cars intervening can give us some thrilling battles, but with frustrations in at least equal measure.
Slow Zones and Full Course Yellows are being trialled this year in Free Practice sessions but with the cars not currently required to be fitted with the Magneti Marelli (at least in part for cost control reasons) the policing of the zones is difficult to manage.
Our bet is that we’ll see this coming to the Series for 2016!
GG
