Duncan Cameron will contest his 50th consecutive European Le Mans Series race on Sunday having raced in every event since the start of the 2014 season.
By comparison, Christian Ried will start his 45th consecutive race, alongside the 70+ consecutive FIA WEC races he has started, Nicolas Lapierre will start his 41st consecutive race, the final race of 2015 coming before full-season efforts ever since and John Falb will start his 40th consecutive race, including spells in LMP3 with Graff and United Autosports before his current Algarve Pro Racing programme which started in 2019.
François Perrodo’s plans for 2023 are currently unclear but, with the end of LMP2 Pro-Am in the FIA WEC at the end of this season and the likely elevation of his co-drivers Nicklas Nielsen and Alessio Rovera to the Ferrari Hypercar programme there’s plenty to think about.
Whilst double GTE Am Champion in the FIA WEC Perrodo has looked at the potential for a return to that category in the final season for the class, sticking with LMP2 looks more likely, with the ELMS the favoured route and with two new co-drivers, one potentially for the full season including any appearance at Le Mans, and another that may have commitments in June!
Perrodo is one of a number of drivers in the paddock today that have reflected that the calendar clash between the ELMS and IMSA for 2023 between the season finales at Portimao and Petit Le Mans is an unfortunate one, the addition of a US programme with the enduro races seen as an attractive ‘top-up’ to a full ‘home’ season.
Multi-car GT3 entrants in the Michelin Le Mans Cup, GMB Motorsport recently took delivery of a new ORECA 07 but have sold the car on to a US buyer, believed to be Tower Motorsports.
The Danish squad are pushing hard to complete a title-winning run in the GT3 class of the Michelin Le Mans Cup and intend to take up the auto-invitation to the 2023 Le Mans 24 Hours if successful, with a parallel GTE programme in the ELMS next season. Which car will feature in that effort, if it comes to pass, would not be revealed by Team Manager Casper Elgaard.
Two changes to the Provisional entry list for the Spa weekend see the withdrawal of the #33 Rinaldi racing Ferrari for the second consecutive race, the car is on site but without a driver line-up present.
Duqueine team, who have parted company with Reshad de Gerus, confirmed yesterday that Matthieu de Barbaut will make his LMP debut here in the empty seat that was filled in Barcelona by Anders Fjordbach.
Reiter Engineering are enjoying their first season in LMP3 with Hans Reiter having a look at the ELMS paddock this afternoon. The team’s immediate future though looks set to be a continued involvement in Michelin Le Mans Cup next season, quite possibly with a two-car effort.
Juan Manuel Correa makes his long-awaited ELMS but this weekend in the Prema Racing Oreca. It is not the first time the Ecuadorian racer has returned to Spa since the terrible accident in 2019 that took the life of his friend and rival Anthoine Hubert and left Juan Manuel with serious injuries but Thursday was, nevertheless an emotional day.
September 22 2022 would have been Hubert’s 26th birthday and Correa paid his own private and solo floral tribute yesterday.
