G-Drive Racing’s championship-leading #26 ORECA 07 Gibson took a surprise victory at the 2018 European Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Red Bull Ring race, fighting back from an early drive-through penalty to win the race, which ran in changeable conditions with multiple short showers adding spice to the encounter.
The #29 Duqueine Engineering driven by Pierre Ragues overtook the pole sitting IDEC Sport ORECA car as soon as Turn 1. Ragues managed to pull away very easily while Paul Lafargue in the pole sitting #28 IDEC Sport rapidly came under pressure from the #26 Oreca 07 driven by Roman Rusinov. That situation did not last long as race officials gave a drive-through penalty to the Russian driver for jumping the start.
Roman Rusinov, Andrea Pizzitola and later Jean-Eric Vergne were not cowed by the blow though, all three fought hard, and with help from the timing of a safety car late in the race, were able to take the lead of the race from the Duqueine Engineering ORECA. It aided their fightback after losing a chunk of time early.
“It’s probably the best thing that could happen to us today” said Rusinov after the end of the race. “Our engineers had to determine a new strategy and this is how we won”.
In the second hour of the race Nicolas Jamin replaced Pierre Ragues, Norman Nato subbed for Paul Petit and Memo Rojas stepped in for Paul Lafargue.
Very quickly, Nato was able to reduce the gap with Rojas and even managed to overtake him on lap 66 at turn 4. Moments after that action, the #30 AVF by Adrian Valles Dallara P217 Gibson driven by Konstantin Tereschenko, the #28 of Rojas and the #10 Oregon Team had contact. The French Oreca 07 had to pit for front bodywork repairs and was given a drive through penalty for causing the collision. This incident triggered a full course yellow episode during which all leading cars pitted except the #24 of Nato. “That is one small mistake which caused us the win today” said Nato after the race.
With rain falling in several short, but, at times sharp, bursts from the third hour onwards, the #29’s lead was challenged. The #26 closed the gap and and was back in the top three. Jean-Eric Vergne replaced the impressive Andrea Pizzitola on lap 92 and became the fastest man on track.
“As conditions were getting more difficult and as rain came down, I was able to make a real difference” said Vergne after the race. The Frenchman returned in the lead at the top of the fourth hour with strategy laing a part during a caution period.
He was then able to pull away from the #29 driven by Nelson Panciatici, pit for a dash of fuel in the final minutes of the race and cruise to the chequered flag in first position.
It was though a near-perfect on-track run for Duqueine Engineering en route to second. The French outfit, new to LMP2 this year, leading most of the way, and at times by a big margin, before slipping to second at the end of the third hour as good calls from the TDS team put the #26 ahead, and good pace from its drivers left the early leaders unable to significantly close the gap.
Nelson Panciatici had to fight hard to the very end of the race even for second though with the #24 Racing Engineering ORECA of Olivier Pla, which at times looked capable of winning the race outright before the G-Drive strategy edged the #26 away. Pla came close in his late race push for second, but couldn’t make a move stick.
Just off the podium, was the #22 United Autosports Ligier, the team again representing the first of the other LMP2 chassis, after Phil Hanson and Filipe Albuquerque battled with a damaged rear throughout the race which blunted the car’s raw pace, the Ligiers apparently struggling with a front tyre which, it seemed, suited the ORECAs better.
The Pole-sitting IDEC Sport ORECA, faded to fifth after the penalty for contact with the #30 AVF Dallara.
In LMP3, RLR Msport’s #15 JS P3 survived a late charge from Eurointernational’s #11, Inter Europol’s #13 and Ecurie Ecosse/Nielsen Racing’s #7 Ligiers to take its second win of the year.
Job Van Uitert, John Farano and Rob Garofall once again drove faultlessly, but during Farano’s stint, the team’s comfortable lead of over a minute was reduced to just 14 seconds by Colin Noble in the Ecurie Ecosse JS P3.
The late-race safety car also put the British team’s lead in doubt after Noble caught up, the Eurointernational team benefitting greatly from the field being neutralised, taking the top spot going into the final stint before the car was forced to pit with an electrical problem.
That handed RLR the lead back with Garofall back in the car, and left Martin Hippe (in the Inter Europol Ligier) and Alex Kapadia (in Ecurie Ecosse’s car) fighting for second, Kapadia eventually getting the better of the German – who nevertheless had a stunning outing – to finish second, five seconds off the lead.
It was a result that sees the RLR MSport team leave Austria with the Championship lead, overhauling the #11 Eurointernational effort after the Giorgio Mondini/ Kay van Berlo effort hot trouble more than ponce, blunting the edge of an otherwise pacey display.
“I will definitely buy more (lucky) nail polish for next time, but maybe we need to try something new. I made a big lead, extended it, and that’s what we needed to that the other two drivers could manage the lead, and win the race again,” explained Van Uitert.
In LMGTE meanwhile, the #88 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR driven by Gianluca Roda, Giorgio Roda and Matteo Cairoli was dominant throughout the race. The #88 took the lead from the first lap onwards and essentially kept it until the chequered flag. It marks the second consecutive win with the Porsche 911 RSR for Proton, after another of the team’s cars took the win at Le Mans, the first for the latest spec of Porsche GTE car in the ELMS.
The JMW Ferrari F488 GTE shared by Liam Griffin, Alex MacDowall and Miguel Molina fought for second position during the first hour of the race. But on lap 50, McDowall stopped on track at Turn 7 on his out-lap and retired after suffering gearbox problems.
From that moment, the second position swapped repeatedly between the #55 Spirit of Race driven by Duncan Cameron, Matthew Griffin and Aaron Scott and the #77 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR shared by Christian Ried, Marvin Dienst and Dennis Olsen.
It was only in the final hour of the race that the #55, by then in the hands of Matt Griffin managed to pull away and secure its second position some 32 seconds behind the winning car.
The #77 lost the final podium position to the #80 Ebimotors Porsche 911 RSR driven by Fabio Babini, Ricardo Pera and Bret Curtis in the final minutes of the race as the Proton Competition Porsche took a drive-through penalty for constant abuse of track limits, much to the on-screen chagrin of team members as the penalty appeared on the timing screens.
“We deserved this one, it went so well, the car was amazing to drive. Finally we did it!” Exclaimed Cairoli.
