Race one of the Monza Heat provided plenty of excitement on Saturday, 2 July. Bold overtaking and fierce battles were the order of the morning at the Temple of Speed. In the sport-prototype category, Gillian Henrion in the #16 Team Virage Ligier JS P4 made it seven victories from seven starts since the beginning of the season. In the GT class, Cédric Oltramare, behind the wheel of the #4 COOL Racing Ligier JS2 R, scored his first victory in the Ligier European Series.
Polesitter Gillian Henrion in the #16 Team Virage Ligier JS P4 held on to the lead, ahead of Natan Bihel in the #53M Racing entry. A few minutes later, the safety car came out onto the Autodromo di Monza after the #3 LR Motorsport spun. The Italian team managed to get going but was now shotgun on the field. When the green waved, Andrei Vajda in the #85 Smart Driving car powered his way past the #53 to move into second place. Just behind them, the #17 Pegasus Racing car of Dimitri Enjalbert and Anthony Nahra suffered damage probably after an audacious move at the start, resulting in a second safety car period.
When the race resumed, the #53 Ligier JS P4 overtook the #85 to retake its position. Gillian Henrion built his lead up to four seconds. The safety car was back on track just before the opening of the pit stop window after a Ligier JS2 R went off the circuit. All the Ligier JS P4s made their stops except the #44 Smart Driving – Risk Racing car with Alexandru Mirea behind the wheel.
The race was back on the boil with 20 minutes to go. The #85 Ligier JS P4 jumped the restart, overtaking five other cars, including the race-leading #44. Behind, Natan Bihel (#53) passed Gillian Henrion (#16). The Team Virage rookie and championship leader needed several attempts to regain the lead. The #85 received a drive-through and gave way to the #16, followed by the #53. George King and Ronnie Valori in the #23 Monza Garage car were looking good for the third step of the podium.
Gillian Henrion went on for a comfortable win with a more than a 13-second margin of victory to give the Polish Team Virage squad its seventh consecutive victory. The French teenager also set the fastest race time of 1:54.159. Despite a minor scare following a spin, Natan Bihel (#53 M Racing) finished second, ahead of George King and Ronnie Valorie in the #23 Monza Garage car.
The GT class got off to a flying start with stout battles between the three leading cars: the #75 RLR MSport driven by championship leader Haytham Qarajouli, the #29 Pegasus Racing of David Caussanel and Christophe Weber and the #4 COOL Racing, with Cédric Oltramare. Behind them, the #11TM Evolution of Alain Grand and young EuroNascar driver Paul Jouffreau went off in turn 3, causing a yellow flag. When the action resumed, Cédric Oltramare moved up to second place behind the #75 but was chased by the #29. The gaps were very close, with only a few tenths separating the three Ligier JS2 Rs.
Later, Cedric Oltramare took the attack to the #75 of Haytham Qarajouli. The Kuwaiti resisted, and the two cars ran door handle-to-door handle. David Caussanel, in the #29 made a bold move to overtake his two rivals. The #4 dropped to second place and the #75 to third. Before the pit stop window opened, a spin by the #22 Smart Driving car (Marian Oancea and Radu Dumitrescu) brought out the safety car.
The #96 CTF Performance Ligier JS2 R of drivers Fabien Delaplace and Laurent Piguet took the lead in the second stint. But a spin dashed the team’s hopes of victory. After passing the #29 Pegasus Racing car, Cédric Oltramare seized the opportunity to take the lead. He quickly opened up a gap of almost 20 seconds. Behind him, the #75 and the #40 of RLR MSport were fourth and fifth. The best action in the race as the finish neared was the battle for sixth place between two gentlemen crews, the #69 M Racing with Laurent Millara and the #25 TM Evolution with Bruno Chaudet and Freddy Menanteau. On the last lap, Freddy Menanteau got the better of Laurent Millara, who was struggling with his car.
COOL Racing team loyalist Cédric Oltramare took his first-ever victory in the Ligier JS2 R championship after an eventful start to the 2022 season. CTF Performance’s #96, with Fabien Delaplace and Laurent Piguet, crossed the finish line in second place. For the first time this season, the #29 Pegasus Racing team and drivers David Caussanel and Christophe Weber finished on the podium. David Caussanel also set the fastest lap of the race in 2:00.511.
Race 2
Second and final race of the weekend at Monza for the Ligier European Series. With their #16 Ligier JS P4, Gillian Henrion and Team Virage defended their class dominance, winning race two and adding a fourth Saturday sweep to their tally. In the Ligier JS2 R category, Haytham Qarajouli and RLR MSport, with their #75 take their fourth victory of 2022. The two drivers and teams thus strengthen their lead in the classification in their respective categories.
The second race of the weekend got underway at 2.50 pm. From third on the grid, the #3 LR Motorsport Ligier JS P4 driven by Simone Riccitelli (and Nicola Neri) surprised the #16 of Gillian Henrion and Team Virage at the start and jumped into the lead. Several cars made contact, including the #99 Monza Garage car driven by the young Taiwanese Ray-Yu Wang, which got stuck in the gravel trap. Barely five minutes later, the race was under the control of the safety car. At the restart, the #3 car maintained its lead ahead of the #16 and the #53 M Racing car of Natan Bihel. But Gillian Henrion wasted little time in passing Simone Riccitelli for command of the race.
It was a four-team battle for second place among LR Motorsport (#4), M Racing (#53), Smart Driving (the #85 with Andrei Vajda) and Monza Garage (the #23 with George King and Ronnie Valori). The action was also heating up further back in the field. Jacopo Faccioni in the #12 HP Racing by Eurointernational and Alexandru Mirea in the #44 Smart Driving were in a skirmish for sixth place, with the Romanian team finally getting the nod.
At half-distance and when the pit window opened, Gillian Henrion had a new challenger in the person of Alexandru Mirea. The driver of the #44 Ligier JS P4 came out of the pits in front of the #16 Team Virage and defended his second place with everything he had. Behind him, Gillian Henrion began his offensive. A battle that gave the team managers of both teams a cold sweat. The #16 finally managed to get past, at the cost of a slight contact with his rival.
Gillian Henrion now had to take on Nicola Neri in the #3 LR Motorsport Ligier JS P4, which had come out of the pits with the lead. But the Italian team was already seeing victory slip away when they received a 10-second penalty for failing to respect track limits. Twenty minutes before the chequered flag came out, they were overtaken by the #16 and then by the #44. Natan Bihel, in #53, then took third place.
The #16 Ligier JS P4 left Monza with its record-setting fourth consecutive double win. Gillian Henrion clocked the fastest race time of 1:54.194. Smart Driving took its first podium finish with the #44 of Alexandru Mirea, while third place went to Natan Bihel and the #53 of M Racing.
After a podium finish in Race 1, RLR MSport’s #75 Ligier JS2 R driver Haytham Qarajouli was keen to exact his revenge. He made a perfect start in front of the team’s sister car, the #40 of Horst Felix Felbermayr and Cédric Oltramare in the #4 COOL Racing entry. The fight for fourth place was tight among Laurent Millara (#69 M Racing), Radu Dumistrescu (#22 Smart Driving) and Freddy Menanteau (#25 TM Evolution). Further back, the #11 TM Evolution entry driven by Paul Jouffreau and the #29 of Pegasus Racing with Christophe Weber battled for seventh place. The curbs and the scorching heat forced the #25 Ligier JS2 R to retire 20 minutes into the race following a puncture.
The #75, the #40 of RLR MSport, and the #4 of COOL Racing ran in the top three when it came time for the mandatory pit stops. This order remained unchanged at the start of the second stint. Haytham Qarajouli, Horst Felix Felbermayr and Cédric Oltramare were separated by roughly seven seconds. But galvanised by his victory in race 1, Cédric Oltramare did not want to settle for third place and caught up with the young Austrian from RLR MSport. A driving error was all he needed to move up to second place. Just as third place seemed assured for the #40 Ligier JS2 R, bad luck struck again as it stopped at the pit exit and retired with only two laps remaining.
The #75 RLR MSport Ligier JS2 R took its fourth win of the season ahead of the #4 of COOL Racing. The retirement of the #40, which set the fastest lap of the race in 2:00.428, promoted the #69 of M Racing and Laurent Millara to the third step of the podium.
Gillian Henrion, Team Virage, Ligier JS P4 #16, Winner of Race 2: “It wasn’t an easy race. On the start I had an issue with my brakes so I wasn’t completely at ease. I lost one position and I was fighting back when the safety car came in. After I managed to pass Simone Riccitelli [#3 LR Motorsport] and to regain the lead. We were back in second place after the pit stop because of the Silver / Bronze rule. It was a hard fight with Alexandru Mirea [#44 Smart Driving]. I had a lot of fun”.
Haytham Qarajouli, RLR MSport, Ligier JS2 R #75, Winner of Race 2: “I felt quite comfortable in the second race as we created quite an early gap and pretty much sustained it till the end. It was really hot there. I wouldn’t say I managed the heat but I tolerated it! I’m looking forward to the next meeting at Spa-Francorchamps.”
The Ligier European Series will now take a summer break! Heat five of the season will take place on 23 and 24 September at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium.
