The AF Corse #83 LMP2 Pro/Am-entered ORECA of Francois Perrodo, Alessio Rovera and Matthieu Vaxiviere charged to victory with a last-lap pass in the 2025 ELMS season opener in Barcelona after a late restart.
Vaxiviere – on fresher tyres than the drivers around him – denied IDEC Sport’s Genesis Magma Racing-backed #18 ORECA 07 of Jamie Chadwick, Daniel Juncadella and Mathys Jaubert a historic overall victory to kick off the season.
The #18 trio, on their LMP2 debuts, previously snatched the lead from the #47 CLX Motorsport ORECA, which was baulked in traffic at Turn 13 earlier in the final hour following the second safety car restart.
The move saw rapid Genesis ‘Trajectory Programme’ driver Mathys Jaubert overtake Genesis Hypercar factory driver Pipo Derani as part of a standout performance.
The young Frenchman – who showed head-turning pace all week in Spain – kept a cool head under pressure after that but couldn’t hang on. He lost the lead at the exit of Turn 5 before bringing the car home first in LMP2 and second overall.
“I tried to defend, but he was clearly faster. I was pushing as hard as I could, as I knew he was on newer tyres. In the end, though, the result is just mega for us,” Jaubert admitted.
After being hassled briefly by Vaxiviere before the final stops, Jaubert had emerged from the pit lane after his splash with a comfortable gap to manage over the VDS Panis ORECA. But the third safety car of the race, called in the closing laps to recover the stranded DKR Ginetta, forced him to defend the place again.
Vaxiviere, who had dropped to fourth due to his longer final stop for fresh tyres, made three daring moves to take the overall win and class win.
“The VSC helped us, but in the end, Francois made no mistakes and Alessio did a lot in the middle of the race. It was the work of the team,” Vaxivere explained.
“The engineer said ‘stay where you are’ because of the Pro/Am, but I’m a competitor and a fighter, I want to deliver and fight for the overall.”
The #48 VDS Panis Racing ORECA, driven by Alpine Hypercar driver Charles Milesi, finished third, behind the #18 but ahead of the Vector Sport ORECA that crossed the line fourth, following an impressive stint from Pietro Fittipaldi.
Derani, meanwhile, retired the contending #47 CLX Motorsport ORECA shortly after exiting the pit lane for his final stop, pulling off the circuit.
The #37 CLX Pure Rxcing 07 had a quiet race, salvaging fifth overall for the team, with Tom Blomqvist steering the car to the finish ahead of the two Algarve Pro Racing ORECAs.
APR’s #20 of Kriton Lentoudis, Alex Quinn and Olli Caldwell followed the #25 to the line and secured second in LMP2 Pro/Am. TDS Racing’s #29 ORECA completed the Pro/Am podium with a 10th-place finish.
Further down the order, it was a tough outing for Inter Europol Competition. The Polish team was quick through testing and practice but failed to feature for the win.
Its #34 car finished 16th after a costly off caused by contact with the WTM Duqueine, and the #43 could only manage 23rd after suffering mechanical issues.
It was a similar story for Iron Lynx Proton. Jonas Ried started the race well in the #9, but an issue that prevented the car from firing at a pit stop cost the team 20 laps.
In LMP3, the first win of the new era for the formula went the way of CLX Motorsport and Ligier.
The Swiss team’s #17 entry of Paul Lanchere, Adrien Closmenil and Theodor Jensen led a 1-2-3 for the JS P325 with the #15 RLR example second and the #88 from Inter Europol third.
Closmenil clung on to first place in fine style, keeping RLR’s Gillian Henrion at bay in the final two laps.
“It was a difficult win because I needed to save fuel and tyres. The final safety car helped, allowing us to fuel save,” admitted pole-winner Adrien Closmenil after the race.
DKR Engineering’s Ginetta G61-LT-P325 Evo ran well and looked on course to finish sixth before stopping on track in the run to Turn 1 with 19 minutes left. The kill switch was hit on the car, making for a cruel twist of fate at the end of a highly encouraging debut for the car.
The WTM Duqueine D09 – which spent time in the lead early in the race – finished two laps down in sixth after losing a chunk of time in the gravel at Turn 14 in the penultimate hour.
Iron Dames left its heartbreaking retirement from the 2024 4 Hours of Barcelona in the rearview mirror with a dominant display to kick off the new season in LMGT3.
Celia Martin starred early on, seizing control of the class at the start in the #85 Porsche, before Sarah Bovy and Michelle Gatting maintained the lead, scoring Iron Dames its third class win in the ELMS.
“It’s always easier to manage the race from the front, so I pushed to get the lead and then manage the gap. The game was to be consistent and stay in the zone,” Martin said.
Bovy added: “Today we all started the day quite down after what happened to (fellow Iron Dame) Marta Garcia last night (in the Le Mans Cup, when she was involved in a huge incident).
“It was very shocking, and we were concerned. But be arrived at the circuit though with good news that she has no major issues. We won for her today.
“This race was about consistency, and we did it. I’m proud of what we achieved.”
The winning margin was seven tenths over the #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari, which enjoyed a fault-free run to second on the back of strong performances from Takeshi Kimura, Ben Tuck and later, Daniel Serra.
The #60 Proton Porsche of Claudio Schiavoni, Matteo Cressoni and Alessio Picariello completed the podium with a fine run from last on the grid.
The trio benefitted greatly from a late retirement for Iron Lynx’s Mercedes-AMG, which was on course for a second-place finish before retiring with a throttle issue at the start of the fourth hour.
Spirit of Race and AF Corse’s Ferraris rounded out the top five in the class.
Next up on the 2025 ELMS schedule is the 4 Hours of Le Castellet on May 4th.
