The Red Bull Ring this weekend is the third points-paying round (and fourth race overall including the Road To Le Mans) for the ELMS LMP3 class – an opportune time to take stock of how the ACO’s new venture is progressing.
The category is intended to offer opportunities to both gentleman drivers and aspiring young professionals who want to move towards the higher echelons of prototype racing from national or regional one-make or club series.
Falling firmly into the latter category is 19-year-old Tom Jackson (above), who last year finished third in BRDC Formula 4 and also has two years of Ginetta Junior racing under his belt.
He’s turning out in the ELMS for Spanish squad By Speed Factory and is entered for this round as part of a two-driver lineup with Monegasque gentleman driver Alain Costa.
“It’s awesome, I’ve loved it from the first test,” a clearly enthusiastic Jackson told us on Saturday. “To go from a 185bhp F4 car to a 550bhp LMP3 is incredible – it’s almost like a GT car in some respects.
“It definitely feels like a big step up, it’s obviously very competitive, but at the same time everyone in the paddock is very friendly – it reminds me of being back in club racing in that way, just chatting with everyone in catering.
“I’m firmly focused on sportscars now as I try to build a career as a professional,” says Jackson, who, like many young drivers can be found during the week earning a living as a driving coach and instructor at tracks in the UK. “I’d have needed to find another £500,000 budget to do European F3, which just isn’t realistic, so LMP3 was a very attractive option.
Jackson reckons his two years in a bewinged F4 car have stood him in good stead this season, as he has full confidence in what the LMP3 can do through a high-speed corner. “It’s obviously heavier and the aero isn’t quite as effective, but it’s still very satisfying to drive.”
With just two drivers in the BySpeed Factory car this weekend, Jackson will be completing by far the longest racing stint of his career to date on Sunday – with the team just to decide whether Costa will also do a single two-hour block, or instead one hour either side of Jackson’s effort.
It’s definitely a case of the more track time the better, as with the exception of Silverstone, every circuit on the ELMS schedule is new to Jackson this year.
“Unfortunately we don’t have the budget for testing – and I don’t even have a PlayStation to practice on at home, so it’s a case of learning the tracks on Fridays,” he told us. “We struggled at Imola as there were three drivers in the car so track time was limited, then the engine went down to four cylinders in the race, but we’ve had lots of good running here so it’s looking good.”
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For 360 Racing’s Terrence Woodward (below), LMP3 came along at exactly the right time. The 47-year-old has spent a good few seasons in Radicals with his pro co-driver Ross Kaiser, lifting the European Masters title in 2012 and 2015.
“P2 is a big jump in budget from Radicals, so P3 definitely arrived at the right time for me,” he said. “It’s a beautiful car and really gives you a lot for the money I think.
“It’s a nice step from Radicals, as well as being quite tricky to drive – harder even than a P2 I’d say. It’s got less grunt and if you overlap your steering or braking, it can bite and turn you around, so it’s a good challenge.”
Woodward says that 2016 is being treated as a learning year before a full-on tilt at the P3 championship in 2017. “I’d really mastered the Radicals, so now I want to get my head around this – I’m definitely aiming for the title in 2017.”
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At the Ultimate team, Jean-Baptiste Lahaye shares the #17 Ligier with older brother Mathieu (former WEC LMP2 entrant with Oak Racing) and Francois Heriau.
The move to LMP3 has seen the squad step up to the ELMS from the VdeV series – a step they’re broadly satisfied with so far.
“It was definitely a big step for us,” says Lahaye. “I am quite happy with what the team has accomplished so far. They have never done any mistake and they are just great. Let me illustrate: we broke our engine in FP2. They replaced it in less then two and a half hours. Mathieu [Lahaye] went out on track in the middle of the qualifying session with a car that hadn’t been set up. He managed to set the fourth-fastest lap time. They are quite something!
Lahaye isn’t alone among the LMP3 competitors in raising concerns that budgets are turning out out be higher than expected. “The cars are very similar and there’s intense competition. This is actually why budgets are raising significantly, as everybody wants to have the most advanced spare parts, both on and off track,” he explains. “I would not be surprised if this had a negative effect on the size of the grid in the future.”
Traffic is another issue – especially when LMP3s and GTEs are running together. “In LMP3 the acceleration and breaking points are pretty much the same for everybody as we have the same car,” Lahaye says. “Where I do have issues is when we need to overtake GTs. They’re faster than us in a straight line and they brake very late. So overtaking them is always a challenge.”
So how is it sharing the car with older brother Mathieu? “He’s obviously very fast, but I have to say that I am not so far off his pace over a lap. Where Mathieu truly makes the difference is in traffic. He knows when to overtake faster than I. It’s definitely less instinctive for me.”
Over the winter, the Lahaye brothers indicated they were aiming for the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2017, and it remains a target, although not necessarily with their current team. “Ultimate is a small structure,” admits Jean-Baptiste. “I am not really sure that it can take us in an LMP2 car to Le Mans. So we have not given up on this project, but I think we need to consider another option with an existing LMP2 structure.”
