Spanish outfit Racing Engineering scored a remarkable win in the 2018 4 Hours of Le Castellet on its ELMS debut, after a superb performance by Norman Nato, Paul Petit and Olivier Pla in its #24 ORECA 07 Gibson. In what was a thrilling race, in every class, the result up front also marked the first ELMS overall wins for Nato and Petit too, and Pla’s first since the 2012 race at Donington Park.
The team took the lead from DragonSpeed’s #21 ORECA shortly before the second round of stops and ended up battling hard throughout, series debutant Nato handing over to Petit after a strong opening stint.
Petit led by over 30 seconds in the second hour, but after a safety car just before the halfway mark bunched up the field, the Frenchman was forced to defend hard from the Signatech Alpine A470 of Andre Negrao. Petit drove really well, and defended the team’s lead, handing Pla the car for the final portion of the race.
Pla emerged from the penultimate stop second overall but muscled past Pierre Thiriet in the aforementioned Alpine to re-take the lead with just under an hour to go after a lengthy duel. The move was a bold one, made round the outside at Signes Curve, Pla then going on to take a convincing win, finishing 4.8 seconds clear at the front.
“I have to thank my teammates,” Pla said after the race. “It’s Norman’s first time here, he did really well, Paul too, he did really well with a lot of pressure to deal with. I’m a bit speechless, but the whole team has been incredible all weekend.”
Thiriet couldn’t hold station after that, and ended up falling to fifth before the end. The #33 TDS Racing ORECA benefited from Thiriet’s struggles fighting its way to second. It was a stunning fightback from the team, after it fell out of the top 10 in the first hour. Loic Duval and Matthieu Vaxiviere showed their class, climbing the standings throughout the second half of the race after Francois Perrodo’s first stint.
Third went to the Duqueine Engineering ORECA, the French team enjoying a quiet, but solid run until the final hour, when the Nicolas Jamin turned it on, and battled hard en route to a spot on the podium. Jamin came close to taking second off of Vaxiviere, but he couldn’t get close enough, and crossed the line three seconds behind.
Just off the podium, and after a late move on the Alpine of Thiriet, was the #26 G-Drive Racing ORECA, Andrea Pizzitola taking fourth with just under 20 minutes to run in the race.
One of the biggest stories in LMP2, came from a team that didn’t finish the race. DragonSpeed’s #21 ORECA 07 Gibson led the race from the start. Lapierre getting the better of pole-sitter Memo Rojas’ IDEC ORECA on the first lap, and pushed on from there.
The car though, was delayed slightly due to a puncture, forcing the team to hand the car over to Hedman before the second stops – which gave Racing Engineering its first lead. Hedman was able to keep pace with those around him, but the team’s race would end early, the Swede colliding with the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari at the fast Turn 8 right-hander, sending both cars into the barriers. The damage sustained caused both cars to retire.
“I was coming into Signes with a Ferrari in front of me, but far enough ahead that I could take it at full speed.” Hedman said after the incident. “I went on the inside at the next corner line I normally do, he turned in like he normally does, I think he didn’t see me. It wasn’t on purpose or anything. I was committed to the inside, and he hit my side door.”
Racing Engineering’s team owner Prince Alfonso de Borbon was delighted with the former F2 team’s effort, and said in summary:
“That was an amazing race, an amazing effort. I’m almost disappointed that the DragonSpeed car crashed out, because I think we could have had a brilliant race with them. It was a huge effort from all three drivers, and I’m so proud of our engineers too.
“I’m just the guy, standing at the back, screaming and shouting, but I couldn’t be more delighted with the choice we made to be here. It looks like there’s one hell of a season ahead of us.”
RLR dominates LMP3
In the LMP3 class, the #15 RLR Motorsport Ligier JSP3 driven by Job Van Uitert, John Farano and Robert Garofall won the race in dominant fashion, scoring the team its first win since Imola 2015.
The result marked Garofall’s second LMP3 victory, some three years after finishing atop the podium at the previously mentioned race at Imola with the team. It’s also the Ligier JSP3’s 12th win in the ELMS.
“I can’t be more happy with team,” Van Uitert said. “I had a good first stint, Rob and John then finished it.
“I pushed so hard at the start, managed to get to the front pretty soon, and then it was just about pushing as hard as I possibly could and hope that we didn’t get a caution. It all came together today, John has taken a huge step forward, Rob’s effort at the end too, was perfect. But for the team all the hard work has been very much worth it.”
The #15 RLR Motorsport Ligier led almost the entire race thanks to an impressive performance early produced by Job Van Uitert on his maiden ELMS start, before handing over to Farano and later Garofall.
The only other two cars who were capable of fighting for the win were the #11 Eurointernational Ligier JSP3 driven by Giorgio Mondini and Kay Van Berlo and the #19 M Racing YMR Norma M30 shared by Lucas Legeret, David Droux and Nicolas Ferrer.
“That was just an all-round brilliant effort by the whole team,” Farano told DSC after the race. “Job at the start was stunning, after that the strategy call from the team was spot on; Rob and I just had to hold it together.”
The pole-sitting #19 Norma took second place in the final half hour of the race, but finished some 32 seconds behind the winning car, which was on a fuel-saving run, ahead of the #11 Eurointernational Ligier, some nineteen seconds further adrift.
The main intrigue in the race came with 45 minutes to go, Garofall in the #15 had a lead of over 20 seconds over Van Berlo in the #11 and Legeret in the #19.
Garofall was able to stabilise that gap until the end despite concerns over his car running dry on fuel and his team readying for a splash and dash. But the car didn’t need to come in, and minutes before the chequered flag, the #19 M Racing YMR Norma M30 took second place ahead of the #11 Eurointernational Ligier JSP3.
Just off the podium were the #6 360 Racing Ligier JSP3 driven by Terrence Woodward and Ross Kaiser. The #2 United Autosports Ligier JSP3 dropped to fifth position meanwhile after taking a drive through penalty for overtaking under yellow flag.
Only one car retired in the class, and it was one of the key contenders, the #8 DKR Engineering Norma M30. Jean Glorieux had an off and was unable able to restart his car early in the race.
Another potential podium-sitter to hit trouble was the Ultimate Norma, Jean-Baptiste Layahe encountering electronic problems on lap 11, and pitting for repairs for almost an hour.
JMW storms to GTE win after last-lap fight
GTE went down to the wire, JMW Motorsport taking the spoils on the last lap of the race in dramatic fashion thanks to a monster stint by Miguel Molina to score the team its first win since Le Mans last year.
The #88 Proton Competition Porsche led most of the four hours, though it did lose the top spot briefly mid-way through to the Gulf Racing Porsche, which later retired with mechanical issues (after an incredible opening stint by Mike Wainwright, and fight to the front by teammate Ben Barker).
After the Gulf Racing Porsche was out of the running, the two Rodas, Gianluca and Giorgio were almost untouchable throughout their stints on pace, but the team’s comfortable lead dissolved in the final hour, Molina in the JMW Motorsport Ferrari chasing down Matteo Carioli.
It ended in an almighty tussle in the final few minutes, Molina getting the better of Cairoli on the final lap of the race; the 2017 championship-winning JMW team’s only lap spent in the class lead! The move was made at Turn 4 after the Spaniard sold a dummy and threw his 488 up the inside of the Porsche to take the lead.
The pair banged doors, and Cairoli pushed extremely hard for the rest of the lap, but through traffic, he couldn’t make another move. In what was an incredible drive, Liam Griffin, Alex MacDowall and Molina therefore snatched the win, and an early championship lead.
“We were written off early, but that last stint from Miguel was something else,” Griffin said. “He was 14 seconds ahead in the final hour, so to catch up and make the pass on the last lap was fantastic.
“It was astonishing, I really enjoyed my stint, but to see that coming together at the end was remarkable. We genuinely thought that he’d passed the checkered flag before the last lap (the flag was shown early), so we were slow to catch on to what was going on out there.”
Third went to the Ebimotors Porsche, in what was a very strong debut in the series, the Italian outfit’s new 911 RSR in the mix for a podium all the way through, its top three spot solidified by the Gulf Racing 911 and #55 Spirit of Race 488 retiring.
Fourth in the attrition-hit class was eventually the Krohn Racing Ferrari, positive outcome in Tracy Krohn and Nic Jonsson’s ELMS return.
