(With apologies for late posting of this report (from weekend of 7-8 September).
Mid-Season Championship standings
With 3 races remaining this season (including Mugello), Team Virage (75 points) had a dominating lead of 34 points over TS Corse (41 points). This resulted from three consecutive wins from either the #1 or the #88 Ligier JSP320. Third in the category was Inter Europol competition (33 points).
The full season drivers of the #1 (Axel Gnos and Georgios Kolovos) led the LMP3 Drivers Championship (60 points) ahead of Sacha Lehman (50 points) – another Team Virage driver – and the line-up of the #88 sister car (Daniel Macia, Raphael Narac and Jacek Zielonka).
Meanwhile in the NP02 category, Graff Racing led the Team Championship with a total of 65 points, resulting from two wins and a podium finish from either the #7 or the #9 Nova Proto NP02s. Second in class was CD Sport (45 points). The French team was three points ahead of Cogemo (42 points).
James Winslow (full season driver of the #7) led the NP02 Drivers Championship with 40,5 points. That was half a point ahead of teammate John Corbett (40 points) and 2,5 points ahead of #154 Cogemo driver Jesse Bouhet.
Ortelli is recovering from his accident
Stephane Ortelli suffered an horrific accident at Portimão last May (as reported here) which led him to remain in hospital for a while. The Monegasque finally shared a comforting update on his health early August. “Am back in business, pedal to the metal!” he wrote on his Instagram account.
Goodyear set to replace Michelin as sole supplier of the European Endurance Prototype Cup in 2025
The American manufacturer announced that it will expand its footprint in the Ultimate Cup Series by becoming the exclusive supplier of the Endurance Prototype Cup next season. Goodyear currently provides tyres for the Ultimate GT Endurance Cup, and the Ultimate GT Sprint Cup grids while Michelin supports the European Endurance Prototype Cup.
“Our partnership with the Ultimate Cup European Series will become even stronger in 2025” said Mathias Kipp, Goodyear Motorsport Manager EMEA. “We are really pleased to become the exclusive (tyre) supplier of the European Endurance Prototype Cup. We have acquired a ton of experience over several years with these prototypes. I am excited and impatient to have these teams enjoy our products”.
The European Le Mans Series LMP2 and LMGT3 classes as well as the World Endurance Championship LMGT3 class are also exclusively supplied by Goodyear this season.
A healthy grid of 35 cars
The European Endurance Prototype cup grid featured a healthy and diverse grid of 35 cars including 17 LMP3s (13 Ligier JSP320s, two Ginetta G61s and two Duqueine D08s) – and 18 Nova Proto NP02s.
Many competitors (including Cool Racing, Team Virage, RLR M Motorsport, Eurointernational, Racing Spirit of Leman, Inter Europol Competition, CD Sport, ANS Motorsport, MV2S Racing, Reiter Engineering and GG Classics) used this event as a dress rehearsal before the forthcoming European Le Mans Series and Michelin Le Mans Cup rounds planned at the Mugello at the end of the month.
Nova Proto NP02s dominated Free Practice sessions
Nova Proto NP02s led all but one of the five free practice sessions. The fastest free practice lap times were set on Saturday by the #7 Graff Nova Proto NP02 driven by James Winslow and John Corbett (1:43.080).
The fastest LMP3 and second fastest overall was the #34 Inter Europol Competition Ligier JSP320 shared by Alexander Bukhabtsov, Pedro Perino and Kai Askey (1:43.177).
Further down in the time sheets, the fastest Duqueine D08 was the #24 TS Corse, some six tenths behind the fastest LMP3 car (1:43.722) while the #12 – the fastest of the Ginetta G61s – was a second and a half slower than the class leading Ligier (1:44.606).
CD Sport took Pole in Red-Flag Shortened Qualifying Sessions
The #5 CD Sport Nova Proto NP02 shared by Thomas Imbourg and Jonathan Thomas snatched pole on Sunday morning’s qualifying sessions (Average lap time: 1:43.575). They would sit on the front row of the grid with the #34 Inter Europol Ligier JSP320 driven by Alexander Bukhabtsov, Pedro Perino and Kei Askey (Average lap time: 1:43.935).
Row two on the grid would be occupied by the NP02 Championship leader, the #7 Graff Nova Proto NP02 (1:44.339) as well as the #71 ANS Motorsport Nova Proto NP02 (1:44.306).
The leaders of the LMP3 Championship – the #1 Team Virage Ligier JSP320 – would start seventh on the grid (1:45.107).
Further down in the ranks, the #61 MG Sound Studio Ginetta G61 and the #85 R-Ace GP Duqueine D08 did not clock any lap times. Only the #61 would ultimately take the start of the race on Sunday afternoon.
There were four red flag episodes during the three qualifying sessions. The first one occurred during Qualifying Practice 1 and resulted from Daniel Macia in the #88 Team Virage Ligier JSP320 hitting a tyre wall at Turn 12. The car suffered minor front bodywork damages and was repaired on time to attend the remainder of the qualifying sessions.
The second red flag was waved in Qualifying Practice 2 as the #17 Lamo Racing Nova Proto NP02 lost a wheel and went off track. That car was significantly damaged while the driver was uninjured. Moments later, another red flag was raised as Alessandro Bressan spun the #69 Bretton Racing Ligier JSP320 at Turn 7 and as the #42 Team Virage Ligier JSP320 stopped on track.
The final red flag episode occurred during Qualifying Practice 3 with Sebastien Morales going off-track in the #555 Cogemo Racing Nova Proto NP02 at Turn 7 / Savelli.
1-2 for Graff Racing in Red Flag Interrupted Race
The #7 Graff Nova Proto NP02 driven by James Winslow and John Corbett took a dominant win on a wet track. They took the chequered flag thirteen seconds ahead of the sister car, the #9 shared by Eric Trouillet, Luis Sanjuan and Lorys Kyburz.
It is the second 1-2 for Graff and the third overall victory of a Nova Proto NP02 this season.
With this win, the #7 and Graff expand their lead in the NP02 Drivers and Team Championships.
40 minutes after the green flag was waved, the race was stopped because of very heavy rain. The interruption lasted over 80 minutes. The race eventually resumed under safety car but only to get red flagged again as heavy rain returned on track. The race finally resumed with only 90 minutes left on the clock.
“It was extremely tricky out there. I am glad the race is over and that we are in one piece (…) “said James Winslow. “John did a fantastic first stint, when the rain was at its worst. There were rivers on the track. He survived. It was tricky for me but not as tricky as what he had to deal with. Graff did a fantastic job. It was a scary race”
“You basically could not see anything” added John Corbett. “It was getting to the point where it was becoming dangerous. I was thinking “I really don’t want to have an accident today”.
Third on the overall podium was the first of the LMP3s: the #15 RLR M Motorsport Ligier JSP320 shared by James Dayson, Chris Short and Wyatt Brichacek.
The current LMP3 Team Championship leader – CD Sport – took second and third spots on the LMP3 podium with the #88 and the #1 Ligier JSP20s while the #51 Nova Proto NP02 took third spot in the NP02 podium.
Further down in the ranks, the only remaining Duqueine D08 – the #24 TS Sport – finished 7th in the LMP3 class while the best of the two Ginettas – the #12 CMR – finished 13th.
Images courtesy of David Delien – European Ultimate Cup Series
