The Michelin Le Mans Cup enters the second half of the season with a 39 car grid at Spa Francorchamps next weekend.
28 LMP3 and 11 GT3 cars will contest th 110 minute race around the iconic Belgian circuit.
LMP3
A podium finish at Le Mans saw Round 2 winners David Droux and Adrien Chila take the lead in the LMP3 Championship, with the #97 COOL Racing Ligier heading to Belgium on 47.5 points, 7.5-points ahead of the #20 High Class Racing Ligier-Nissan of Jens Moller and Tommy Foster.
While the R-ace GP duo of Fabien Michal and Hadrien David are tied on 40 points with Moller and Foster, the Anglo-Danish pairing is classified in second thanks to the win at the opening race in Spain.
2023 Championship runners up Team Thor are in 4th overall with Colin Noble and Audunn Gudmundsson at 25 points, with reigning LMP3 Team Champions Team Virage on 19.5 points, and Inter Europol Competition, with Rik Koen and Alexander Bukhantsov on 19 points in 6th place after three rounds.
French team MV2S Racing will run a two-car effort and travel to Spa-Francorchamps after celebrating victory at Le Mans in the Saturday race with the #29 Ligier claiming the 15 points for a win. RTLM winner Maximus Mayer will be joined in Belgium by Poland’s Jacek Zielonka.
The win of the shortened opening RTLM race was the ELMS entered WTM by Rinaldi Racing Duqueine, so the points for the first MLMC car home went to the #71 Rinaldi Racing Ligier of MLMC regulars Stefan Aust and Felipe Fernandez-Laser, though only half points were awarded. The German pairing will be hoping for a similar podium performance in Belgium on Saturday 24 August.
ANS Motorsport will once again run two cars, with Belgium’s Eric De Doncker returning to the MLMC alongside Nicolas Schatz in the #6 Ligier.
The #9 Graff Ligier, destroyed in a heavy shunt at Le Mans is a no show in Belgium, and IDEC Sport’s #17 Ligier will npt race either.
GT3
11 cars line up in the GT3 class with a few key changes on the team and driver fronts in Belgium.
After securing victory from pole on their debut in Barcelona and then taking a second victory at Le Castellet, Americans Matthew Kurzejewski and Alessandro Balzan followed it up with a double podium at Le Mans in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3. They currently have 64.5 points, 26 points ahead of their nearest rivals Andrew Gilbert and Fran Rueda Mateos in the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari (38.5 pts).
Kessel Racing and AF Corse make it a Ferrari 1-2-3-4 at the head of the championship standings with the #12 Ferrari 296 GT3 of Frédéric Jousset and David Cleto Fumanelli on 33.5 pts and the #88 AF Corse run 296 of Custodio Toledo and Riccardo Agostini on 30.5 points after three rounds.
The #18 High Class Racing Porsche is in 5th overall with Nick Jones on 29.5 points. The British driver will be joined by Germany’s Nico Menzel for the race in Belgium.
After scoring their first MLMC podium from pole in Le Castellet, the Iron Dames duo of Célia Martin and Karen Gaillard will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing Road To Le Mans in the #83 Lamborghini Huracan. The all-female crew is currently in 6th overall on 27 points.
British team Blackthorn won the first Road To Le Mans race and will enter a single Aston Martin Vantage for Claude Bovet and former 24 Hours of Le Mans winner and ELMS LMGTE Champion Darren Turner.
Stellar Motorsport’s Audi welcomes another returning ELMS star, James Walker returns to ACO rules action for the first time in over a decade, the Jerseyman twice finished as a Drivers Championship runner up with JMW Motorsport, and helped the team to a Teams Championship in 2012. James is joined by ex United Autosports ELMS LMP3 race winner Andrew Bentley in the #24 Audi.
The second Blackthorn Aston Martin is withdrawn for this race but Herberth Motorsport have added a Porsche 911 GT3R, the #92 for US Pairing Jason Hart and Scott Noble.
The Spa-Francorchamps Round, Round 4 of the 2024 Michelin Le Mans Cup, will take place on Saturday 24 August, with qualifying on Saturday morning preceded by two Free Practice sessions on Friday 23 August, full coverage of Qualifying and the race is available live and free on YouTube.
