The Thiriet By TDS Racing Oreca 05 of Mathias Beche, Ryo Hirakama and Pierre Thiriet claimed won the 2016 4 Hours of Imola; a race which was shortened by biblical rain which brought out a lengthy full-course yellow and safety car period in the final hour. United Autosports #2 Ligier and Proton Competition’s #77 Porsche 911 RSR won the LMP3 and GTE classes respectively.
“It was a great race, especially after we were really unlucky at Silversonte,” said Beche. “It’s just a shame for the public and fans that it finished under safety car. We now are hoping for a good result at Le Mans.”
Nicolas Lapierre led the opening portion of the race in the pole-sitting DragonSpeed Oreca, before the Panis Barthez Ligier came to the fore when Henrik Hedman lost time during his stint, being overtaken by Paul Loup Chatin shortly after getting in. The most consistent runners through the first half of the race were the TDS crew though, who snatched the lead just before the halfway mark when Hirakama got past Fabien Barthez.
Meanwhile, behind the leaders, the G-Drive Racing Gibson, gradually climbed the order, eventually finishing second. Simon Dolan started the race, before Harry Tincknell climbed aboard and made the push to a podium spot. The car then leapfrogged the DragonSpeed car, which sat second, after it too had to fight its way into contention, in the confusion when the rain came. The DragonSpeed squad were nevertheless thrilled with finishing on the rostrum.
When the rain came down it was in stair-rods, just as the final hour approached, causing multiple cars to have offs; including the Panis Barthez JSP2 which slipped to seventh place as a result. The race ran under FCY until the safety car was called with 25 minutes to go; it would stay that way until the end of the race.
In fourth place was the #32 SMP Racing BR01, which looked on course for a podium throughout, until The G-Drive Gibson leapfrogged it in the pits 90 minutes before the end. Fifth was the #33 Eurasia Motorsport which ran particularly solidly with Tristan Gommendy and Pu Junjin driving.
LMP3 was very much a fruit machine on the screens, with the #2 United Autosports Ligier of Christian England, Mike Guasch and Alex Brundle eventually winning the class. The #2 led early, getting past the sister #3 United JSP3 which started the race from class pole through traffic when Matt Bell had an off.
But the winning crew had to battle back after having to pit at the end of a full-course yellow period that most of the other P3 frontrunners took advantage of. The team’s #3 meanwhile had to serve a drive-through penalty which delayed the car considerably, it came home seventh.
Eurointernational finished the race second in P3. The #11 of Giorgio Mondini, Andrea Roda and Marco Jacobin were always in contention, leading the class at times. Taking the final spot on the podium was the #19 Duqueine Engineering entry.
In the GTE ranks, Proton Competiton found the sweetspot with its #77 Porsche 911 RSR, which ran quickly and faultlessly for the entire race. Robert Renauer’s double stint at the start of the race built a lead so solid that both Wolf Henzler and eventually Michael Hedlund were able to complete their stints without any significant pressure from behind.
The second place JMW Ferrari seemed capable of winning it all on pace, in particular when Andrea Bertolini was at the helm during the middle stint. But the FCY and safety car periods put an end to their chances of closing the gap which was created during Rob Smith’s opening stint.
AT Racing crossed the line third. The Beechdean Aston, which won at Silverstone finished a disappointing fifth, behind the second Proton Porsche.
Next on the ELMS calendar is the 4 Hours of Red Bull Ring on the 17th of July, after a number of the teams compete at Le Mans.
