The days following the ELMS season finale saw several days of testing, with Sunday seeing the official ELMS ‘Rookie Test’ with some 33 cars entered and Monday/Tuesday featuring a Proton Competition-organised event with fewer cars permitted (c.20).
LMP2, LMP3 and GT3 cars ran throughout, with the Monday/Tuesday also featuring two of the 2025-spec LMP3 cars ahead of their introduction into the ELMS and Le Mans Cup in 2025.
First up, a look at the LMP2 runners.
Algarve Pro Racing tested a number of new faces for the team including 2024 ELMS LMP3 Champion Michael Jensen, the Dane was being assisted by Alfie Briggs in the #25 car with Ollie Caldwell and Alex Lynn also on hand.
Jensen looks set to race in the Asian Le Mans Series with the team ahead of taking up the LMP2 Le Mans invitation earned with RLR MSport for the LMP3 Championship victory.
2023 ELMS champion Kyffin Simpson also tested with APR on Monday and was understood to be using the opportunity for on-track sessions to work with his IndyCar engineer on garnering more experience in tyre management.
ELMS LMGT3 Championship runner-up Esteban Masson meanwhile, tested in the #47 COOL Racing ORECA ahead of his appearance in the FIA WEC Rookie Test in the Toyota GR010. The test is believed to be his first run in a prototype.
Whilst Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Kazuki Nakajima is a regular attendee at ELMS race meetings in support of development driver Ritomo Miyata, he was not spotted with the team at the test.
The #47 car was also shared by Portimao ELMS LMP3 race winner Manuel Espirito Santo.
Nielsen Racing tested both Adam and Daniel Ali in one of its ORECAs on Sunday with Colin Noble assisting.
United Autosports ran through three drivers on Monday. Swedish youngster Joel Granfors and John Schauerman 68-year-old turned laps with previous LMP3 driving partner Wayne Boyd.
Also of note, on the Sunday Wayne and John also tested Kessel’s Ferrari 296 LMGT3, with a GT3 return looking like the most likely option.
After a year away from racing for the 68-year-old, John and his wife realised they missed the experience of competing in Europe.
AF Corse’s ORECA was driven on Sunday by WEC LM GT3 Ferrari racer Simon Mann and 2023 FIA WEC GTE Am champion Nico Varrone.
Monday saw the car being dialled in by Olivier Pla, though the Frenchman doesn’t have a programme. Instead, he was present coaching an American duo including Patrick Byrne, who are looking to compete in Asian Le Mans Series with AF Corse in one of a two-car entry. (Double ELMS LMP2 Pro/Am champion Francois Perrodo will be in the other.)
It will be a return to the ACO’s Asian championship for Byrne after five years away. His last season was spent racing with Guy Cosmo and Salih Yoluc back in 2018/19 in a Ligier JS P2, the team scoring an overall podium in the opening round and finishing second in LMP2-AM.
Prior to that, Byrne and Cosmo had taken the LMP3 Championship the previous season with Jackie Chan DC Racing x Jota.
Max van der Snel from More Motorsport in Le Mans Cup tested at least three cars in Portimao. He drove the #19 Team Virage ORECA on Sunday and both 2025-spec LMP3s on Monday.
AO by TF had two cars on site. PJ Hyett and Gunnar Jeanette are not ready to confirm their full plans for 2025 yet, but PJ tested throughout the running in a spare TF car, with 2024 ELMS champion Louis Deletraz, IMSA GTP Champion and Michelin Endurance Cup Champion Dane Cameron and IMSA GTD Pro Champion Laurin Heinrich.
“There are no clashes between ELMS and IMSA’s LMP2 class, ” said a pair of team spokespeople!
Heinrich’s test was a ‘thank you gift’ from AO Racing following his championship-winning success in GTD Pro this year. It was an impressive showing, which saw him set the fastest time overall on Monday, a 1:31.410.
Dane Cameron meanwhile was understandably tight-lipped about his 2025 plans, as DSC spoke to the now-former Porsche GTP factory driver before the news broke that he would leave the effort. It seems very likely though that Dane will feature in AO’s plans.
The team’s title-winning car did not run at the Rookie Test but was on track on Monday with Deletraz, assisting WEC LMGT3 championship-winning team Pure Rxcing. The team’s Bronze Alex Malykhin spent most of the day in the car.
TF Sport’s plans for the European Le Mans Series are understood to include a request for three entries, two in LMP2 (Pure Rxcing and AO by TF) and potentially an LMGT3 entry which if successful, would bring the Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R into the ELMS for the first time.
DSC believes that TF Sport is not the only Corvette customer team requesting an entry for 2025.
TF Sport though is not the only team to report to DSC that getting confirmation for their requested entries is not proving to be straightforward. There is a significant glut of demand for 2025 places on the grid in every class.
Finally, Proton used the time to test potential customers for the Asian Le Mans Series and Europe, including some familiar names from the Michelin Le Mans Cup.
Check back tomorrow for Part 2, which will run through the LMP3 and LMGT3 cars on hand.
With apologies for the incomplete and late posting of this news. Ill-health intervened!
