The COOL Racing #37 ORECA 07 Gibson of Lorenzo Fluxa, Ritomo Miyata and Malthe Jakobsen claimed an emphatic victory in the 2024 season-opening European Le Mans Series race at Barcelona, after an absorbing duel with the 2023 title-winning Algarve Pro Racing ORECA.
This year’s curtain-raiser was a rollercoaster of a race in LMP2, with many twists and turns. Early on Fluxa starred for COOL, taking the lead from United Autosports’ Filip Ugran in the pole-sitting #22 after a daring move at the end of a Full-Course Yellow in the opening hour.
Olli Caldwell for Algarve Pro then steered the #25 to the lead, making a calculated move in traffic at Turn 3 past Super Formula and GT Champion Ritomo Miyata in the middle portion of the race.
APR’s lead would not last though, as a quicker stop from COOL Racing vaulted Malthe Jakobsen to the top of the timing screens for the final run to the flag. It came down to a fight between Jakobsen and defending champion Alex Lynn, who through the final set of stops and multiple caution periods was unable to close in and retake the lead.
“The key was always going to be the manage the tyres, as this circuit is so hard on them, especially at the end of a race like this with all the marbles and dust. Arguably I think if we look back the Algarve Pro car was a little bit faster, but we made no mistakes,” Jakobsen said after the race.
The Dane, who benefitted from quicker stops as a result of fuel saving, eventually crossed the line 16 seconds ahead of Lynn to score the first overall ELMS win for COOL and all three drivers.
By the end, with Jakobsen proving uncatchable, Lynn was forced to keep an eye on his mirrors to ensure a hard-charging Ben Hanley in the #22 United ORECA, on fresher tyres, didn’t get past through traffic.
Just outside the top three IDEC Sport’s ORECA took fourth, ahead of Panis Racing’s car which gradually climbed the order in the second half of the race.
Further down the results sheet, it was a messy start to the season for AO By TF and COOL Racing’s #47 ORECA. The former dropped off the lead lap early to a nose change due and finished ninth overall while the latter also finished off the lead lap after getting beached in the Turn 7 gravel with the Vector ORECA when Ryan Cullen made an overly ambitious move on Alex Garcia.
LMP2 Pro/Am meanwhile saw AF Corse’s #83 ORECA get its title defence off to a perfect start, after Francois Perrodo, Alessio Rovera and Matthieu Vaxiviere got the better of the Richard Mille by TDS trio in the closing stages of the race.
It was an impressive win. Quick pit work and strong drives by Rovera and Vaxiviere vaulted the car into the lead after the team was delayed by a drive-through for overtaking under yellow in the second hour.
The race-winning move came in pit lane. After Gregoire Saucy held Rovera at arm’s length for the majority of his stint, Vaxiviere emerged from the pits ahead of Beche after a stop that was eight seconds faster. From there Vaxiviere held off Beche in the final hour to take the win.
“It was a nice recovery from us, but I knew it would be possible,” said Rovera, who set the race’s fastest lap during his stint.
“The car was flying. I actually pushed it a bit too hard as the tyres were a bit cooked by the end of my stint. But it was really fun and nice to win in the first race of the season. We hope for the same at Paul Ricard.”
Third was eventually taken by the #24 Nielsen Racing ORECA after the #19 from Team Virage was spun out at Turn 2 by the DKR Engineering P2 car late in the race. The contact dropped Nelson Piquet Jnr to seventh after hitting the tyres and being retrieved from the gravel.
LMP3 was won by Team Virage’s #8 Ligier JS P320 after a race-long strategic battle with COOL Racing’s #17 and Eurointernational’s #11 Ligiers.
The lead changed multiple times throughout the four hours, as the three contending cars opted to serve their mandatory longer stops at different times.
But in the end, it would be Virage’s day following faultless performances from Julien Gerbi who took the class lead at the start, Bernardo Pinheiro and Gillian Henrion, who finished eight seconds up the road.
The pole-sitting COOL Ligier of Miguel Cristovao, Cedric Oltramare and Manuel Espirito Santo finished second and Eurointernational took third.
It was a 1-2-3-4 for Ligier in the category, the first of the Duqueines – the #4 DKR Engineering M30 – coming home fifth behind the #88 Inter Europol Competition.
Meanwhile, the brand new LMGT3 class saw drama in the final hour turn the race on its head. The first three hours were utterly dominated by the pole-sitting Iron Dames Porsche, with Sarah Bovy and Rahel Frey building a strong advantage of 28 seconds heading into the last stint.
But the all-female crewed 911 would leave with nothing after Michelle Gatting stopped at pit-out after climbing in.
The team explained to DSC after the race that during the pit stop in question, the rear-right wheel nut went astray. The mechanic then replaced it with a spare immediately. But as Gatting made her way down pit lane there was a terrible noise coming from the rear corner.
It later emerged that the stray wheel nut had become jammed between the wheel and the calliper. When the car set off from the pit lane it did terminal damage. To add to the team’s woes it was then fined post-race for releasing the car in an unsafe condition.
This handed the victory to Formula Racing, its Ferrari leading a 1-2 for the Italian brand. It was a hugely impressive result for the team and its drivers Johnny Laursen, Conrad Laursen and Nicklas Nielsen, capping off a challenging week.
The Danish crew missed the Prologue after a testing crash before the trip to Spain left it rebuilding its Ferrari in the garage mid-week before Free Practice. The victory, its first in the ELMS since 2015, therefore serves as a handsome reward for its hardworking crew which refused to throw in the towel.
“The aim of our race changed a bit,” Nielsen revealed when asked about the team’s reaction to the Iron Dames Porsche retiring.
“But thankfully Johnny and Conrad did a good job at building a gap to the cars behind so my job was to manage that when I got in and not take risks in traffic.”
The podium was completed by the GR Racing Ferrari after an eye-catching run and the #63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini, which was involved in a fight with the #80 Proton Competition Porsche to the flag. Andrea Caldarelli completed a masterful defensive drive pitted against Julien Andlauer who pushed him to the limit in the run to the chequered flag.
The 2024 ELMS season resumes next month with the 4 Hours of Le Castellet on May 5th.
