Tuesday Evening saw the Michelin Le Mans Cup runners for 2022 assembled for the full grid shot ahead of testing through Wednesday.
Missing from the picture (and from the test running were the H24 Hydrogen Electric demonstrator, the car set once again to feature in Free Practice sessions this year, and the late arriving Frikadelli Ligier, Klaus Abbelen set to be joined by Felipe Laser for what should be a full-season effort (the team arriving with a pair of identically liveried cars).
Other notable snippets, the #46 Ebimotors entry was due to be filled by Emanuele Busnelli’s beautifully presented Lamborghini. We’ll see the car later in the season but it is currently yet another casualty of the current supply chain difficulties after the team discovered too late that the Huracan’s fuel cell was out of date, a replacement not immediately available from the UK supplier.
Busnelli then was forced to purchase a replacement car, the Porsche on parade here a car that has served duty only on track days thus far.
38 cars would take to the track for the test day.
They included the #12 EuroInternational Ligier, this car actually is the #10 ELMS entry which was unable to run on Monday and Tuesday, the neat solution offering the driver trio the opportunity for significant running. The car will not feature on the Le Mans Cup entry.
24/7 Motorsport added Alex Kapadia to the full-season duo of Andrew and Jeremy Ferguson for the test, the experienced LMP3 racer assisting the team to establish a good set-up ahead of the weekend’s race action together with some driver coaching.
Another change, and this time one that will carry through to the weekend, is the substitution of Kay van Berlo for Andy Meyrick in the #32 United Autosports Ligier alongside Daniel Schneider, Andy called home with a family emergency – We’re thinking of you Andy – Much love from all here.
The four hour morning session was not short of drama, no fewer than six red flag interruptions would feature with several cars suffering damage.
They included the #40 Graff Ligier and #11 WTM Racing Duqueine, an on track clash leaving the #40 with rear end damage, the #11 with front end scars.
More serious damage came the way of the #99 Bullitt Racing Aston Martin and the #3 DKR Engineering Duqueine after Stephen Pattrick spun and was collected by an unsighted Laurents Horr. The Duqueine suffering significant damage to the rear, the Vantage with big damage to the front, the team having to scour the customer marketplace for replacement body panels, a delivery from ProSport in Germany finally assuring their return in time for the race weekend – Big thanks are due to Nico Verdonck for the connection.
The #69 Cool Racing Ligier was the fastest in the two Wednesday sessions with Malthe Jakobsen, who set a time of 1:50.200 in the afternoon. The Dane 0.044 ahead of the Ligier #12 of Dutchman Glenn van Berloo (Eurointernational), second in 1.50.244.
The fastest of the Duqueines was the #4 Nielsen Racing M30-D08 driven by Matt Bell, which set the fastest time in the morning session. Thanks to his time of 1:50.636, the Briton finished the day in third position and preceded the #23 Ligier of Wayne Boyd (United Autosports) by 0.141.
Reigning LMP3 champions Tony Wells and Colin Noble are eleventh in the session this afternoon. The time of 1:51.625 achieved by Noble in the morning finally earned him the thirteenth fastest lap of the day.
The GT3 category saw Danish team GMB Motorsport claim three of the four fastest times on Wednesday. The #88 Honda NSX GT3 led both sessions in the hands of Mikkel Pedersen. This is the fastest both in the morning and in the afternoon and his fastest time of the morning (1:54.463) would remain the reference of the day.
The #55 Honda NSX was second in both sessions. It was in the afternoon that Kasper Jensen achieved the second best performance of the day, in 1:55.587.
Before the incident noted above, Theo Nouet set the third fastest time in the #99 Aston Martin, a 1:56.131.
