Feeling hot, hot, hot!
After a bout of torrential rain yesterday trackside during the afternoon, Imola is set to be scorched for the remainder of the week and weekend, with temperatures into the 30s throughout.
Series organisers clearly pre-empted this and were unusually popular on set up day yesterday, after arranging for a local gelateria to dispense free ice cream all afternoon to the teams!
Bovy is back!
After missing the Spa 24 Hours last weekend after a substantial off at Watkins Glen, Sarah Bovy from the Iron Dames is back in action this weekend at Imola.
This summer has been a punishing one for many, and with the Iron Dames racing in ELMS, the FIA WEC, IMSA and the Spa 24 Hours, the team felt it necessary to rest Sarah after a short stay post-race in hospital in New York.
A return this weekend in Imola means the full-season ELMS effort is uninterrupted.
New-look support paddock
Imola in 2024 is the ELMS round that does not feature the regular support package of the Le Mans Cup and Ligier European Series, both of which top up their seasons with appearances in support of the Le Mans 24 Hours.
In their place this weekend are Porsche Carerra Cup Benelux and the FX Racing Series Supersport and GT4 Italia cars.
Rovanpera ready
Double and reigning WRC Champion Kalle Rovanperä is present this weekend.
The 23-year-old Finn is competing in Porsche Carerra Cup Benelux, as part of a four-round commitment alongside his partial season campaign in WRC, which included a last-minute call-up to Rally Poland last week with Toyota Gazoo Racing.
There he subbed for Sebastien Ogier, who was injured in an incident during the recce, and went on to win.
Scalextric at DKR
Nemo is back in the ELMS paddock, albeit in miniature form as part of a Scalextric set-up in DKR’s hospitality unit!
DHH’s VIP drive
David Heinemeier Hansson cured his post-Le Mans blues by competing in the Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia, in his native country, Denmark last weekend.
The Dane, who is competing for Nielsen Racing #27 in ELMS this year, and competed with them in car #24 during Le Mans, was invited to run the VIP car during the Danish round held at FDM Jyllandsringen on June 29-30.
DHH has competed in Porsche before, with the most recent being in the FIA WEC in 2019/20 season, where he ran in the Team Project 1 RSR for the first half of the season in the GTE Am. Prior to that, he did a full season with Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing in 2016, finishing second in the standings.
De Gerus wins Wingfoot Award
IDEC Sport’s Reshad de Gerus has been confirmed as the winner of the Goodyear Wingfoot Award for the LMP2 class at last month’s 24 Hours of Le Mans after recording the fastest triple stint average en route to a class podium finish for the team.
The award is calculated by taking the average lap time across a set number of stints (excluding laps under Full Course Yellow, Safety Car and Slow Zones). It recognises the consistent performance needed to be successful in endurance racing.
“It was crucial to do a clean race and to be able to finish on the podium was amazing. Many drivers know how to extract performance from an entire stint, and the most important aspect is not to be the fastest over one lap but to manage the tyres over a longer duration. We made the right choices in collaboration with our Goodyear tyre engineer, especially in the first stint being able to preserve and then be rewarded with extra pace later.”
“The most important thing is to take care in the corners where you generate a lot of lateral forces. For example, in the last sector at Le Mans you have to take care through the Porsche curves: not because the tyres can’t handle it, but because you can gain more time towards the end of the stint.”
The LMGT3 Wingfoot Award winner for Le Mans will be announced ahead of next weekend’s WEC 6 Hours of Sao Paulo.
GT3 photoshoot
The 11 LMGT3 cars that will take part in this weekend’s 4 Hours of Imola gathered at Variante Alta for a picture last night to mark the first time the new class will race in the ELMS at the circuit.
The LMGT3 category raced in Imola in April when the FIA WEC visited, but this weekend it will be the first time GT3 cars have raced in the ELMS at the circuit since 2015 when Rino Mastronardi, Francesco Castellacci and Stuart Hall won the GTC class in an AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GT3.
APR quickest in testing
Thursday’s collective test sessions at Imola saw Algarve Pro Racing top the times in both the morning with the #20 ORECA and the afternoon with the #25.
Both sessions were littered with red flags, though without any serious incidents for any car involved.
Cadillac factory driver Alex Lynn emerged as the fastest driver with a 1:31.175 in the afternoon in the #25.
LMP3 meanwhile saw the #17 COOL Racing Ligier of Manuel Espirito Santo go fastest, with a 1:39.191, whilst LMGT3 saw the #51 AF Corse Ferrari lead the way with Nico Varrone. His 1:42.705 edged the best effort of Esteban Masson in the #57 Kessel Ferrari by under two-hundredths of a second.
Featured image and GT3 photoshoot courtesy of ELMS
