Pedro Moreno and Jeronimo Berrio of the #66 Team Virage Ligier JS P4 took victory at the Circuit de la Sarthe on Sunday, while the JSR2 battle was won by M Racing’s #69 car of Natan Bihel.
“Winning here in Le Mans is a dream come true,” said Pedro Moreno. “It’s such a historic track. It’s just incredible.”
“For us it’s a dream to be racing here in Europe and to win a race like Le Mans,” added Jeronimo Berrio. “To be able to win the race as we did, a really challenging race, it was really a dream.”
Moreno was given the #66 Team Virage JS P4 in the lead of the race, and despite pressure from the sister car and the charging Iko Segret in the #6 ANS Motorsport JS P4, managed to pull a gap and take victory.
Jeronimo Berrio took the lead of the race off the start, as pole-sitter Iko Segret dropped from pole down to third, also losing ground to Ian Aguilera in the #77 RLR M Sport car. Segret managed to make it back through on Aguilera, but the lead of the race soon went to Romain Favre in the #7 Inter Europol car, who got through on both Segret and Berrio in the opening 10 minutes.
Berrio managed to chase Favre and regain the lead, only for Farve to take the lead back at the half-hour mark. But the big mover was Theo Micouris in the #1 Team Virage machine, who had picked off Aguilera and Segret for third, then managed to pass both Berrio and Favre to take the lead of the race as the pit window opened.
It was Moreno, now in the #66 Team Virage car who emerged in the lead, with Haydn Chance in the #1 Team Virage sister car in second, while Romain Favre in the #7 Inter Europol car and the #6 of Iko Segret’s ANS Motorsport machine just behind. Segret managed to fight to the battle for the lead with just over a quarter of an hour remaining.
But he was unable to stay with Moreno, who drove away to take the chequered flag by 6 seconds for Team Virage’s fourth LES win at Le Mans, fourth win of the season, and the first win for Moreno and Berrio.
Iko Segret managed to hold onto second place in the #6 ANS Motorsport machine, while Romain Favre, in the #7 Inter Europol Competition JS P4, rounded out the podium.
The Am class was won by Jacques Nicolet in the #54 Les Deux Arbres JS P4 after a close race with the #27 P4 Racing car of Andrew Ferguson, with Yuki Tanaka bringing the #16 Pegasus Racing finishing third, while Pro-Am saw the #81 LR Motorsport JS P4 of Pierre Kaffer and Michael Doppelmayr take victory.
JS R2 saw pole-sitter Natan Bihel take the holeshot and lead in the #69 M Racing JS R2, ahead of the Pegasus Racing #29 of Julien Schell and Gregorio Bertocco’s #60 Iron Lynx by LRMotorsport, who engaged in battle for second place all the way through the first stint.
An unplanned stop for Bertocco left Schell free in second place, which became first as Bihel out front chose to take his pit stop right at the beginning of the pit window. Unfortunately for Bihel, he lost time during the pit sequence and dropped to third behind Louis Stern in the #18 Pegasus Racing and Clement Mateu’s #89 AGS Events cars.
Bihel was the fastest on track though, and dragged his way past the pair and into the lead, building a 10-second gap over the field. Also making moves was Steven Palette in the LADC Motorsport #61 JS R2, who managed to pass both Stern and Mateu and take a significant chunk out of Bihel’s lead. But Bihel wouldn’t be troubled, taking the win by 6.5 seconds in the #69 M Racing car.
“I’m very happy with this new victory, to be back in the Ligier European Series, and to leave with a win,” said Natan Bihel post-race. “I tried to get as much of a lead as possible to make up for my pitstop penalty. I had a puncture which put me under pressure mid-race.
“I restarted in 5th but I recovered well.”
Stephen Palette and Leo Payen took second in the #61 LADC Motorsport car, while Julien Shell and David Caussanel completed the podium in the #29 Pegasus Racing car, which also gave them the Pro-Am victory.
Louis Stern won the Am class in the Pegasus Racing #18 entry, with Clement Moreno in the ANS Motorsport #31 and Herve Tremblaye in the LADC Motorsport #49 cars rounding out the Am podium.
The Ligier European Series returns alongside the European Le Mans Series in Spa Fancorchamps, for the 23rd and 24th of August.
