23Events Racing’s #50 Ligier JS P325 of Giovanni Maschio and Colin Queen took a shock victory in today’s Le Mans Cup race at Paul Ricard.
In sharp contrast to the opening race of the season at Barcelona last month, Round 2 at Le Castellet was a thrilling contest, showcasing the best the ELMS-supporting series has to offer, with key battles all the way to the end.
Queen and his co-driver Giovanni Maschio appeared set to finish third in the closing stages. But the American inherited second out of nowhere when the rear wing of the #86 R-ace GP Duqueine failed, then the lead after battling past the #19 Brutal Fish By Campos Ligier of Matus Ryba.
The fight for the lead with just minutes remaining was fiesty, and ended with Ryba spinning at the Mistral Chicane, dropping to fourth. The story didn’t end there, though, for the #19 crew, who started 12th and climbed all the way to the lead by the time the round of stops concluded.
Post-race, Ryba and his co-driver, Lucas Fluxa Cross, were promoted to third when race control handed the #9 pole-sitting ANS Motorsport Ligier a five-second penalty for overtaking off-track.
All that chopping and changing left R-ace GP’s sister #85 D09 second with Enzo Peugeot successfully defending his position from Louis Iglesias, who was shockingly fast throughout the second half of the race and almost snatched second for the team at the death.
Behind the Brutal Fish and ANS Ligiers, the #92 Forestier Racing JS P325 completed the top five.
There was one safety car in the race, called for an incident at the start of the race involving two teams in LMP3. Halfway through the opening lap, Alex Jacoby aboard the #87 CLX Ligier ended up flying backwards into the side of the #8 Muecke Motorsport Duqueine of Maksymilian Angelard, eliminating both cars.
A late-race charge from reigning class champion Gillian Henrion secured the LMP3 Pro/Am honours for the Motorsport98 team and his teammate Eric De Doncker.
The Frenchman was bold in attack to deny Leo Sami Robinson and the #62 Bretton Racing team the victory, making the final overtake with 24 minutes on the clock. The Bretton Ligier crossed the line second, with the #66 Rinaldi Ligier third.
GT3 was messy, with multiple penalties at the end of the race shuffling the pack.
Kessel Racing’s #17 Ferrari of Lorenzo Innocenti and David Fumanello took a comfortable victory. The #51 AF Corse 296 made it a 1-2 for the Prancing Horse, while Racing Spirit of Leman came out of nowhere to complete the top three.
Off the podium, the #21 Kessel Ferrari was fourth, with the SMC Motorsport McLaren down to fifth after a late drive through for track limits violations.
The pole-sitters at Code Racing Development suffered rotten luck yet again. Its Vantage was dominant and held the lead into the second half of the race before retiring with a suspension failure.
Next up is the new three-hour Road To Le Mans race at the Circuit de la Sarthe on June 12th.
