In the closing minutes of yesterday’s chaotic ELMS race at Imola, amid the flurry of incidents, penalties and investigations, the only thing that seemed certain was a double victory for TF Sport.
Its #99 AO by TF ORECA came out on top in LMP2 Pro/Am as the #82 Corvette delivered an emphatic win in the LMGT3 ranks. It was a magnificent all-around performance from the decorated British team, which has finally hit its stride in 2025 across all its programmes.
Following a tough stretch in both the FIA WEC and the ELMS through April and May, it’s been quite a mid-season resurgence for Tom Ferrier’s outfit. Prior to the champagne corks flying yesterday, it was fresh from a P2 Pro/Am win at Le Mans and a podium finish with its #81 Corvette in the LMGT3 class.
For PJ Hyett, it seems wins are like London buses: nothing, nothing, nothing, then two come at once. The American, who co-owns fan-favourite AO Racing, now has a pair of class victories to his name in as many races, and appears more confident and comfortable each time he gets in an ORECA.
“I couldn’t believe it,” TF LMGT3 driver Charlie Eastwood told DSC prior to yesterday’s ELMS race. “We were talking about PJ’s career recently, and I had no idea he hadn’t ever won a race until Le Mans. If you’d have asked me had he won zero races or 40 prior to Le Mans, I’d have leaned towards 40.”
Nevertheless, with a maiden victory now in the bag, it appears the levee has broken for Hyett and his co-drivers in ‘Spike the LMP2 Dragon’, Dane Cameron and Louis Deletraz. And they now lead the championship by four points heading into the second half of the season.
“It was an absolute pleasure to be out there. We’ve had plenty of bad luck and screw ups in the past, but that makes the success feel sweeter,” Hyett said post-race. “I definitely prefer winning races now!”
Meanwhile, the LMGT3 win for Charlie Eastwood, Hiroshi Koizumi and Rui Andrade from eighth on the grid was historic for the brand it represents. The Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R now has a first win in the European Le Mans Series, adding to the growing list of accolades for the young customer programme, now overseen by Jessica Dane.
“There’s no denying that the change of manufacturer from Aston to Corvette hasn’t been easy for me, but internally I had so much faith in TF, Corvette, Pratt Miller and GM that once we started to piece things together, results would come,” Eastwood told DSC.
“Le Mans was fantastic for us, strategically. The team kept us in it when we didn’t have the pace. And now we’ve had the speed in the ELMS and won.
“It’s my first win with Corvette, it’s Corvette’s first win in the Le Mans Series since 2011 (a class win for Larbre in ILMC, second overall in GTE Am) and the first GT win in ELMS for TF since 2022, here. There’s been a lot building up to this, and this was a tough race, which included some tough calls.”
In addition to a set of silverware, the team received a handsome haul of 25 points for its efforts. It has catapulted the #82 trio into title contention following the woes for the Barcelona-winning Iron Dames Porsche that dropped from first to fourth with a ninth-place finish.
“I don’t know if I’m naive or not, but I genuinely believe we can win every race until the end of the year,” a rather bullish Eastwood added. “We have everything we need to do it at every round. We have that momentum, and it definitely seems to be firing behind us.”
It’s a good time to be a member of TF Sport, but it’s also a busy time. Tom Ferrier and a number of his crew members fly to São Paulo today for the fifth round of the FIA WEC season at Interlagos this weekend. There’s no time to rest when you’re in the thick of the sportscar racing season.
Nevertheless, Ferrier is keen to recognise the achievements of the past month and use them as a springboard to further success during the business end of the season.
“The team is doing brilliantly right now,” Ferrier summarised post-race. “With the Corvette, we were finally able to roll the car out of the truck and match the pace of the others. We need to investigate why, really, because the BoP swing wasn’t that big. I guess the car just suits the circuit and the heat?
“Then, in LMP2, off the back of Le Mans we knew that we could win if we had a clean race. It wasn’t an easy four hours because there was so much going on, but the car had good pace, the drivers made no silly errors, and that’s half of what you need to win in this series.
“Looking at the ELMS situation and where we are in WEC, we’re doing well in all the championship fights now, it’s coming together. It’s still a little early because the points swings can be so big, but feel we can kick on a bit now with some circuits we have done well at in the past coming up.”
Image credits: Corvette & ELMS
