The European Endurance Prototype Cup is the flagship championship of the European Ultimate Cup Series. It features a healthy and diverse grid of 30-33 cars including Ligier JSP320s, Duqueine D08s, Ginetta G61s and Nova Proto NP02s. The latter is a creation of Norbert Santos, the former founder and CEO of Norma Auto Concept – a French company that manufactured LMP3 prototypes before being bought by Duqueine Automotive in 2017.
The Nova Proto NP02 is growingly popular in this series with 19 cars competing for class and overall victory. Its success results essentially from proven low maintenance costs and fast pace on track.
Most Nova Proto NP02 and LMP3 entries are filled this season by teams also competing in the European Le Mans Series and/or the Michelin Le Mans Cup such as RLR M Sport, Inter Europol Competition, Cool Racing, DKR Engineering, Team Virage, Graff Racing, Racing Spirit of Leman, Reiter Engineering, CD Sport, MV2S Racing, ANS Motorsport and CMR.
Six race weekends are planned in 2024 including five four-hour races (two in Le Castellet (France) to kick-off and end the season, one in Magny-Cours (France), Hockenheim (Germany), and Mugello (Italy)) and one six-hour race in Portimão (Portugal).
Two races have already taken place so far:
1-2 for Graff Racing at Le Castellet
Graff Racing dominated the season opener. Eric Trouillet, David Droux and Luis San Juan won the race in the #9 Nova Proto NP02, some 18 seconds ahead of the #8 sister car shared by Loris Kyburz, Louis Rossi and Yann Zimmer.
It was the second overall victory of a Nova Proto NP02 in the European Endurance Prototype Cup since the car debuted in 2021.
“It was a challenging race” said David Droux. “We had to face several obstacles. Thankfully, the team was very reactive. We had to slow down and save some fuel. We could not afford an extra lap. That implied a lot of back-and-forth discussions with our pits.”
Raphael Narac (son of Raymond Narac – former 24 Hours of Le Mans LM GTE AM class winner), Jacek Zielonka and Daniel Macia won the LMP3 category and took third position overall in the #88 Team Virage Ligier JSP 320, some 80 seconds behind the winning car.
“It’s incredible to kick-off our adventure this way,” said Macia. “We are rookies. There can’t be a better way to start our season than by winning this race.”
The #34 Inter Europol Ligier JSP320 shared by Alexander Bukhantsov, Pedro Perino and Tim Creswick and the #77 RLR M Sport Ligier JSP320 driven by Ian Aguilera and James Dayson landed on the LMP3 class podium and completed the top 5 overall.
Further down in the ranks, the first and only competing Duqueine D08 – the #24 TS Corse car, an team that has competed in the Michelin Le Mans Cup in recent seasons, finished 11th overall while the first of the three Ginetta G61s – the #61 MG Sounds car – came home in 21st position.
Race video:
Team Virage dominates drama filled race at Portimão
Team Virage won the second round of the European Endurance Prototype cup in dominant fashion. The #1 Ligier JSP320 driven by Georgios Kolovos, Sacha Lehmann and Axel Gnods claimed victory in the 6-hour race with a whopping margin of a lap over the #7 Graff Racing Nova Proto NP02 shared by James Winslow, John Corbett and Alim Geshev.
Third on the podium were Michael Jensen, Nicholas Adcock and Ian Aguilera in the #3 CD Sport Nova Proto NP02, some 12 seconds behind the class winning car.
The #27 MV2S Racing Nova Proto NP02 shared by Christophe Cresp and Pierre-Alexandre Provost finished fourth overall and snatched third position in the Nova Proto 02 class.
The #24 TS Corse Duqueine 08 driven by Nathan Kumar, Ayrton Simmons and Gianluca Giraudi (fifth overall) and the #34 Inter Europol Ligier JSP320 shared by Alexander Bukhantsov, Pedro Perino and Niels Koolen (tenth overall) respectively took second and third spots on the LMP3 class podium.
Further down in the ranks, the best of the three Ginetta G61s landed in 21st position overall.
Whilst the results of the race were noteworthy, there’s little doubt that the teams left Portimao saddened by an horrific crash for 1998 overall 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Stephane Ortelli.
The Monegasque is competing this season in the #99 Nerguti Competition Nova Proto NP02. He was hit from the rear by the #33 DKR Engineering Duqueine D08 driven by Benjamin Rouget as he was coming out of Turn 15 and slowing down as he can into an incident zone. Ortelli was pitched put of control by the impact and violently collided against a tyre barrier protecting a wall adjacent to the start-finish line grandstands.
After the dust settled, Ortelli left his destroyed car on his own but was shaken and in visible pain. He was taken to the hospital where he was diagnosed with tibia, tibial malleolus, fibula and lateral malleolus open fractures. He remained in hospital for several days after surgery.
“This was our first visit at the track of Portimão” said Greg Raymondis, the General Manager of the Ultimate Cup Series. “(…) We have lived a fantastic European Endurance Prototype Cup race with great battles lasting all the way to the chequered flag. (…) We want to thank teams on track. They acted in no time and promptly evacuated Stéphane Ortelli after his accident. He is doing well, and we wish him a prompt recovery”.
DSC also sends Stéphane best wishes for a full, swift recovery.
Race video:
