Round 2 of the 2024 ELMS sees the series travel to a traditional early-season stomping ground at Paul Ricard, a circuit that always generates entertaining multi-class racing. Last year’s encounter produced real fireworks, particularly in the final hour, and there’s no reason we won’t see a similarly entertaining clash this time.
The question is, what’s in store in each of the classes after an intriguing season opener in Barcelona?
Anyone’s game in LMP2?
LMP2 in 2024 is the tale of established teams, some established and emerging talents behind the wheel, with a whole lot of new talent poured on top. This was immediately evident in Barcelona, which produced plenty of action in both the lead LMP2 class and Pro/Am.
This weekend’s race is finely poised, with the countdown to Le Mans well and truly underway for the LMP2 teams in particular. What’s refreshing is that in an age of Balance of Performance in both Hypercar and LMGT3 in WEC, there’s no such pressure on the LMP2 teams racing in the ELMS to hold back in performance terms at this stage of the season – what you see is what you get.
Formula ORECA this may be, but when the car, the engine, the tyres, the teams and the drivers are at a standard this high, there is little to complain about. That’s before you get to the fact that the cars are back to near full power, a decision that has been universally welcomed by the drivers. It’s no wonder ELMS LMP2 is such a smash hit…
Looking ahead, after the week in Spain which featured a substantial amount of track time due to the Prologue test being held before the race meeting, this weekend’s encounter should serve as a useful preview of both the LMP2 field at Le Mans and the remainder of the ELMS season ahead.
Up front, it will be interesting to see if can match or better the frontrunners from the opener: COOL Racing, Algarve Pro Racing and United Autosports.
What stood out there was how capable COOL Racing’s trio of drivers looked, with Lorenzo Fluxa, Ritomo Miyata and Malthe Jakobsen showing early signs that they are more than capable of winning the championship this year. And you’d expect there to be more to come as Super Formula and GT title winner Miyata gains more experience behind the wheel of a P2.
Algarve Pro Racing’s drivers in the #25 did however look immediately strong too and up to the stern task of delivering the team a second straight title. Alongside reigning driver’s champion Alex Lynn, Matthias Kaiser looked good early and Olli Caldwell put in a head-turning performance during his stint.
United Autosports were also in the hunt in Catalunya, with the #22 taking pole and featuring in the fight for second in the dying moments before coming home third. Will we see both United ORECAs in the mix this time? The quality of its two driver crews would suggest so.
It is still early days though, and additional contenders for the victory and the titles may emerge this Sunday.
There is certainly more to come from AO By TF, which endured a rather miserable start to the season, taking damage early, missing the mark strategically and finishing ninth overall. One would expect that this was a blip for the trio of Jonny Edgar, Louis Deletraz and Robert Kubica, who ahead of the season were considered by many in the paddock to be outright favourites.
Some of the other established ELMS players such as Panis Racing, IDEC Sport, Duqueine Team and Inter Europol shouldn’t be counted out either.
Can anyone match AF Corse in Pro/Am?
While it doesn’t appear as likely that the LMP2 Pro/Am front-runners will be contending for overall wins during this campaign, it doesn’t yet feel like the pecking order has been fully established.
Even at this early stage, the win from AF Corse’s #83 car of Francois Perrodo, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Alessio Rovera in Barcelona should not be treated as a flash in the pan. All three drivers are of high quality and a second straight title for Perrodo and Vaxiviere wouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.
Instead, the spotlight is on the rest of the class. Will the ORECAs from Richard Mille TDS and Nielsen Racing find themselves on the podium again, or will the likes of Team Virage, United Autosports and Proton Competition breakthrough?
Will Henrion’s fairytale run continue?
Gillian Henrion won successive titles in the Ligier European Series and Michelin Le Mans Cup, and already looks at home in the ELMS LMP3 ranks.
There is the potential, it seems, to fulfil the ACO and Ligier’s ambitions to prove their ladder concept.
Julian Gerbi, the team principal, steps up with the young Frenchman and looks a very strong Bronze, while Benardo Pinheiro too has come out of Team Virage’s development system and shown talent after stepping up from the Ligier European Series.
Against that effort, the title-defending COOL Racing team will have been disappointed with second place with its new-look driver squad for 2024. There’s little doubt though that it will be in the mix, with three quality drivers and a team with a full understanding of the minutae of LMP3 strategy.
Eurointernational started the season with a two-man crew, and it remains to be seen whether the switch to a single-car effort brings more consistency to the already competitive Italian squad. Matthew Bell is amongst the strongest of the Bronze drivers again, whilst Adam Ali looks to have taken a step forward in pace since last season.
RLR Msport, the only two-car team in the class this season, will have come away frustrated from the season opener after one car retired early while the other narrowly missed out on a podium.
This is though, a squad with strength in depth in the garage and onboard its Ligiers. Look out for more to come.
LMP3 features variety in chassis again this year, but neither Duqueuine-equipped team managed to put together a contending performance in Spain. Might DKR Engineering and WTM by Rinaldi turn things around on what is a very different style of circit in the south of France?
Can the Iron Dames bounce back from their Barcelona heartbreak?
This weekend marks the second opportunity to see the LMGT3 formula in action in the ELMS.
In Barcelona, the differences between GTE and LMGT3 racing were on full display. While differences in pace may be limited, the way the pace was produced, particularly the shorter fuel stints from the energy-limited formula, gave the opener a fresh look. It may take a bit more time for even the most experienced teams and drivers to get fully up to speed in LMGT3 with the ELMS’ four-hour format.
The headline from Round 1 concerned the Iron Dames Porsche, which was dominant early in the race before suffering an almost comedically bad bout of luck. It all went wrong when Michelle Gatting climbed in the car and disengaged the pit limiter at pit-out. At that point, a stray wheel nut (that was lost during the pit stop) jammed itself between the wheel and the brake calliper, locking the right rear solid.
The car was parked immediately, with the cause not obvious at first. It was only after further inspection, when the car was pulled into a place of safety, that the issue was established and the wheel nut fell from the car. The Danish racer was left to rue that she had walked away from a car that, unbeknownst to her, could have continued.
That leaves us with the biggest question hanging over LMGT3 this weekend: will the Iron Dames crew come away with a result that matches their pace this time?
But that’s not the only storyline to watch out for in the GT class. The misfortune for Iron Dames left the door open for Formula Racing to take a surprise win. If Johnny and Conrad Laursen continue to show form, expect Nicklas Nielsen to be in the fight for a spot on the podium at the end of the race again.
Another strong finish here would act as a confidence boost for the father-son duo ahead of Le Mans, where the Laursens will compete in the Spirit of Race Ferrari.
GR Racing too will hope it can head to La Sarthe after a second standout performance to start the 2024 ELMS season. In Spain, Mike Wainwright and co looked fully up to speed with the 296 platform en route to finishing second.
GRID Motorsport by TF is another team to keep an eye on. The expectation is that it will feature at the sharp end in Le Castellet after a torrid time in Spain.
Martin Berry’s incident during the Prologue left the team scrambling to source a loan Vantage from Comtoyou Racing and prompted a more cautious approach to the race weekend. With a new car installed in the garage, the expertise of TF Sport combined with the driving trio of Lorcan Hanafin, Jonny Adam, and Martin Berry can and should emerge as a contender from this weekend onwards.
