UPDATE: A flurry of post-race decisions from the stewards saw confirmation of penalties in LMGT3 for two key cars. The infractions elevated the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari to third and saw the #51 AF Corse Ferrari and #60 Proton Competition drop to fourth and fifth, respectively. As a result, the #74 Kessel Racing 296, which initially lost second place with a five-second penalty, regained its runner-up spot.
In LMP3, a 35-second time penalty was doled out to the Racing Spirit of Leman Ligier, but it was not enough to see the car lose a position.
Meanwhile, in the LMP2 class, there was no further action for the race-winning #48 VDS Panis Racing ORECA for refuelling outside its defined pit box. The second place #43 Inter Europol Competition 07 also didn’t receive a penalty for its role in the contact with the Vector Sport ORECA late in the race.
VDS Panis Racing’s #48 ORECA won today’s action-packed ELMS 4 Hours of Imola, which was red-flagged and extended by 20 minutes for a multi-car pile-up before culminating in a sprint finish after a late safety car for debris.
In what turned into a Le Mans rematch between VDS Panis Racing and Inter Europol Competition, Charles Milesi sealed the victory for the French team and his teammates Oliver Gray and Esteban Masson this time. The Alpine Hypercar factory driver pulled away from Tom Dillmann’s #43 ORECA in the closing laps, crossing the line 8.8 seconds up the road.
Prior to the final safety car – which was called at the end of the third hour when the troubled M Racing Ligier suffered a right-rear blowout – the VDS Panis team’s lead was shrinking. But Quentin Antonel spreading rubber, carbon and gravel across the track in the #68 Ligier proved to be a stroke of luck for the Olivier Panis’ outfit.
The #48 controlled much of the race after the red flag in the opening stint. At one point, rising star Gray held a 30-second advantage out front after taking the lead off Genesis Trajectory Programme driver Jamie Chadwick at Variante Alta.
But that advantage didn’t swell any further as Nick Yelloly began to reel in Esteban Masson in the penultimate hour before the late safety car, reducing the gap to under 10 seconds. The Briton’s charge was helped in part by a trip through the gravel at Rivazza for Masson in tricky conditions during a rain shower in the third hour.
It wasn’t meant to be this time for the Le Mans-winning Polish team, though, which ended up settling for second with its #43 ORECA.
“It felt like a bit of redemption for us after the heartbreak at Le Mans,” Gray told DSC. “And we now have a chance to fight for the title, as I think we have everything we need to stay consistent for the rest of the season.”
The podium was completed by the pole-sitting #25 Algarve Pro Racing ORECA, which gained significant track position late in the race after Theo Pourchaire dived into the pits for fuel during a Full Course Yellow.
However, both the #48 VDS Panis and #43 Inter Europol ORECAs are under investigation at the time of writing. The winning car’s refuelling process at its final stop is being examined, while the #43 may face a post-race penalty for Dillmann turning around the Vector Sport ORECA just before the #43’s last stop.
Maceo Capietto, Jonas Ried and Matteo Cairoli’s #9 Iron Lynx Proton ORECA, which was fast and fought at the sharp end throughout, dropped out of the top three, from third to fourth with a late penalty for a Full Course Yellow infringement. The #47 CLX Racing crew were classified fifth.
Further down the order, the #18 Genesis-backed IDEC Sport ORECA, which led the championship heading into the weekend, finished 11th in class.
After briefly leading in the second hour of the race, Daniel Juncadella ended up going straight on into the barriers at Variante Alta. The Spaniard was able to rejoin the race after being recovered by marshals, but required a front clip change, which ultimately dropped the car three laps off the lead and out of contention.
Juncadella, Jamie Chadwick and Mathys Jaubert’s points lead has evaporated as a result, with the #48 crew now leading by a single point,
In the Pro/Am LMP2 category, the Le Mans class-winning #99 AO by TF ORECA took the win. PJ Hyett, Louis Deletraz and Dane Cameron collected their second victory as a trio and their first in the ELMS in fine style over Proton Competition’s #77 machine.
Algarve Pro Racing’s #20 ORECA stormed to third late in the race and survived late contact with the TDS ORECA of Mathias Beche to secure a double podium for the Portuguese-flagged team.
LMP3 was chaotic, with penalties and incidents shaking up the order throughout. The runaway title leaders from CLX Racing prevailed, though.
The team’s #17 Ligier JS P325 of Paul Lanchere, Adrien Closmenil and Theodor Jensen was the class of the field once again, winning by two laps, extending their championship lead in the process.
The trio didn’t put together a flawless run, though. They had to overcome a drive-through penalty for contact with M Racing’s Ligier en route to their third straight victory; they also switched to wets briefly when the rain came, which proved to be the wrong decision.
Racing Spirit of Leman’s #31 Ligier took second, though it is another car that may drop places due to the team failing to pit the car to fix a legality panel at the end. The Eurointernational Ligier finished a distant third.
For TF Sport, it was a double win. The British team’s #82 Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R scored the GM brand its first ELMS LMGT3 victory after a fine performance from Hiroshi Koizumi, Rui Andrade and Charlie Eastwood.
“It’s really special, and I hope this is a turnaround for us,” Andrade said.
Eastwood, who was entrusted with the final stint, added: “What we showed this year is that we execute really well, we just haven’t had the pace. Today we had a close to flawless race, and the car came alive at the end, so I was able to maintain the lead.”
Behind the fight for the podium places was as fierce as ever, with the #51 AF Corse Ferrari taking second. A late time penalty for contact with the Spirit of Race 296 saw Kessel Racing’s #74 Ferrari drop to third at the flag.
Iron Dames’ efforts to retain its championship lead fell apart today, with Celia Martin, Sarah Bovy and Michelle Gatting falling to ninth. A spin for Martin into the gravel that left the #85 Porsche beached at the end of her stint cost the team dearly. By finishing off the lead lap and ninth, the fan-favourite trio are now fourth in the standings and five points off the #51 crew that have taken the top spot.
The aforementioned stoppage to the race, which saw the race time extended by just over 20 minutes, came after a four-car incident at the Tamburello chicane half an hour into the contest.
Contact between the delayed LMGT3 pole-sitting Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Martin Berry (who dropped from first to eighth on Lap 1 after being held up by the spinning RLR Ligier at Tosa) and the GR Racing Ferrari of Mike Wainwright caused a multi-car shunt.
The AMG clipped the rear of the 296 at the corner entry, turning Wainwright around and sending him backwards across the track and into the path of Berry.
With nowhere to go, the Australian ploughed into Wainwright as he was hit from behind by the #57 Kessel Ferrari of Takeshi Kimura, who in turn was rammed hard by the #28 IDEC Sport ORECA of Paul Lafargue.
All four cars were on the spot retirements, and thankfully, all four drivers walked away from the incident.
Images courtesy of VDS Panis & ELMS
