Two-car line-ups
Three cars will run at Portimao this week as two-driver entries.
As reported previously, in LMP3 the #17 Cool Racing Ligier will compete with the quick Portuguese pairing of Miguel Cristovao and Manuel Espirito Santo, as per the Bronze/Silver duo of Matthew Richard Bell and Adam Ali for championship leaders EuroInternational.
The #11 car’s two-man crew is not only aiming to secure the LMP3 title, but a victory in doing so would be the Italian team’s 250th race win in its 44 championships history, as told to DSC by Team Principle Antonio Ferrari, who will also be hands-on as the pit ‘lollipop man’ for the last time: “Seven times in ten championships I’ve come here with a chance to win,” explained the affable Italian.
Antonio also confirmed the team will be back in the ELMS in 2025 with a brand new Ligier JS P325 as a single car entry, while rebuilding a second car to 2025 spec, probably for Michelin LM Cup.
LMGT3 also features a single two-driver attack, Johnny and Conrad Laursen sharing the load for Formula Racing’s Ferrari 296 LMGT3. With regular third driver Nic Nielsen on duty at Imola this weekend for Ferrari’s Finali Mondiali, and with Conrad due to run at Bahrain’s WEC round next month as the Silver for the Lexus RCF LMGT3 team, extra seat time for Laursen Jr. is a useful opportunity.
Expect too to see Laursen Jr as a full-time WEC driver in 2025.
DSC has spoken to three different teams all of whom are seeking ELMS LMGT3 entries with cars not represented in the 2023 field – All three would be new entries in the class and two of the three teams are acquiring cars for 2025 that they have not campaigned anywhere in 2024!
Bronze Driver Session
After the first Free Practice session (see separate report), the Bronze driver contingent had its own session, 30-minutes further seat time ahead of Friday qualifying.
Though not a competitive run per se, Giorgio Roda nevertheless took LMP2 Pro/Am honours and set fastest time overall for Proton Competition, a 1:34.427 for the experienced Italian the best Bronze time in the meeting so far. Francois Perrodo sat two-tenths behind for AF Corse: 1:34.686, with Rodrigo Sales third in the consistently strong Richard Mille by TDS Oreca; 1:35.014 set on his last lap in the session.
Best LMP3 Bronze time went to Alex Bukhantsov’s #88 Inter Europol Competition Ligier JS P320 – Nissan, his 1:40.134 two-tenths better than Torsten Krantz for WTM by Rinaldi Racing, a further two-tenths ahead of Miguel Cristovao for Cool Racing in third.
LMGT3 Bronze times were headed by Sarah Bovy’s 1:43.659 for the Iron Dames Porsche 911 GT3R LMGT3, closely trailed by the Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2 of Hiroshi Hamaguchi; 1:43.789. Johnny Laursen’s best for Formula Racing put his Ferrari 296 LMGT3 third with a 1:43.899, this top three finely matched.
Hypercar Hype
A look through the entry here reveals an exciting feature: if we include the absent Nic Nielsen, 25 drivers either currently drive, or have previously driven Hypercar or GTP cars in racing and/ or testing.
Also, with the exception of Glickenhaus, every Hypercar manufacturer is represented in that list!
Ferrari: Nic Nielsen (Formula Racing LMGT3), Robert Kubica (AO by TF LMP2), Alessio Rovera* (AF Corse LMP2 Pro-Am)
Cadillac: Alex Lynn (Algarve Pro LMP2) & Felipe Drugovich (Vector Sport LMP2), Nico Varrone* (AF Corse LMP2 Pro-Am)
Toyota: Ritomo Miyata* (Cool Racing LMP2),
Porsche: Julien Andlauer (Proton Competition LMGT3) & Will Stevens (Nielsen Racing LMP2), Bent Viscaal (Proton LMP2 Pro-Am), Rene Binder* (Proton LMP2)
BMW: Nick Yelloly (Nielsen Racing LMP2 Pro/Am)
Peugeot: Paul Di Resta (United Autosport LMP2) & Malthe Jakobsen* (Cool Racing LMP2),
Alpine: Charles Milesi (Panis Racing), Ferdinand Habsburg (Cool Racing LMP2), Matthieu Vaxiviere (AF Corse LMP2 Pro/Am)
Acura: Louis Deletraz (AO by TF LMP2),
Vanwall: Tom Dillmann (Inter Europol Competition LMP2), Tristan Vautier (Team Virage LMP2 Pro-Am), Job van Uitert* (IDEC Sport LMP2)
Lamborghini: Matteo Cairoli (Iron Lynx Proton LMP2), Andrea Caldarelli (Iron Lynx Lamborghini LMGT3)
Isotta Fraschini: Carl Bennett (Cool Racing LMP2), Gabi Aubry* (Nielsen Racing LMP2)
Additionally, Reshad De Gerus* for IDEC Sport in LMP2 has a Hypercar test with WEC’s winning team at the Bahrain Rookie Test this year and Frederik Vesti is heavily tipped to feature in GTP in 2025
And – Alpine’s Nico Lapierre is not racing here but is present as Team Principal of Cool Racing
In fact, with Jules Gounon here today, ahead of an appearance in the DTM at the weekend only Mick Schumacher and Paul Loup Chatin aren’t at Portimao from Alpine’s 2024 driver roster!
And – for completeness, seven additional drivers have raced in LMP1 machinery – This is an exceptionally high quality field!
* Testing only
