Inter Europol Competition has scored its first European Le Mans Series victory in over two years, after its #43 ORECA 07 – Gibson LMP2 of Kuba Smiechowski, Nick Yelloly and Tom Dillmann triumphed in this afternoon’s 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.
An incident-filled first two hours saw the race boil down to a 105-minute sprint, with cars split across multiple strategies in a race of two distinct halves.
Yelloly restarted from the race’s final Safety Car in eighth overall, but with a fuel advantage over the seven LMP2 Pro/Am runners ahead of him.
This meant that the Polish squad was able to take the overall lead during the next round of pit stops, with Yelloly leading from the #10 Vector Sport ORECA of Vladislav Lomko.
When Yelloly and Lomko made way for Dillmann and Pietro Fittipaldi respectively at the penultimate round of pit stops, Vector Sport was able to move into the lead by not changing tyres.
Fittipaldi instead changed tyres at his final pit stop with 33 minutes to go, with Dillmann emerging from his own pit stop one lap later back ahead by around two seconds. The Frenchman then managed the gap to bring victory home for the back-to-back 24 Hours of Le Mans LMP2 winners by 3.379 seconds.
“We didn’t have a great start to the season, really unlucky, but always a lot of pace,” Dillmann said.
“I’m really happy we managed to execute. For me, it was about managing my last double and making sure I had tyres left until the end. Especially with all the Safety Cars, you never know if you will have another restart coming, so you have to keep a bit of tyre life.”
It is Inter Europol’s first outright ELMS win since the 2024 4H Le Castellet.
Lomko, Fittipaldi and Ryan Cullen might have come up just short of victory, but second place is still Vector Sport’s best-ever overall finish.
The #29 Forestier Racing by Panis ORECA of Louis Rousset, Oliver Gray and Esteban Masson finished third, ahead of the #18 IDEC Sport entry, which has maintained its run of finishing fourth in every race this season. The #22 United Autosports ORECA retained its championship lead by a single point over the #29 crew after finishing fifth.
The #22 ORECA controlled proceedings for the opening half of the race, after Griffin Peebles passed the pole-sitting #18 ORECA of Jamie Chadwick on the race’s first Safety Car restart.
The young Australian then pulled out a 19-second lead, despite having picked up damage after being rear-ended by the #34 Inter Europol ORECA of Bijoy Garg at the start of the race, before a series of Safety Car interruptions kept his advantage in-check.
Peebles exited the car shortly before the halfway mark, during a round of pit stops where Inter Europol was able to jump to the front of the LMP2 pack, placing Yelloly in prime position for when the race settled down in the final two hours.
LMP2 Pro/Am honours, in sixth overall, went to the #83 AF Corse ORECA of Francois Perrodo, Antonio Fuoco and Matthieu Vaxiviere.
The Italian squad, like Inter Europol, was able to claim track position shortly after the final Safety Car restart, with Vaxiviere then having to fend off the charging #99 AO by TF ORECA of Louis Delétraz in the closing stint.
Delétraz had a run on the Frenchman down the Kemmel Straight with two minutes to go, when a late block from Vaxiviere saw contact made and Delétraz spin.
The #20 Algarve Pro Racing ORECA therefore inherited second, with Delétraz falling back to third.
Rinaldi Racing’s #5 Ligier JS P325 – Toyota won in LMP3, with José Fernandes Cautela, Alvise Rodella and Mikkel Gaarde Pedersen extending their championship lead with their second win of the season after a consistent run.
The #17 CLX Motorsport Ligier was second, ahead of the pole-sitting #85 R-ace GP Duqueine D09.
And in LMGT3, GR Racing’s #86 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo was victorious, scoring the first win for Michael Wainwright’s operation since Silverstone 2015. Wainwright, Mex Jansen and Lorcan Hanafin ran on an alternate strategy to most of their rivals, with Hanafin emerging from his final pit stop in the lead.
The Briton then held off the #77 Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2) LMGT3 by 2.772 seconds, with the #62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 in third. The #51 AF Corse Ferrari finished fourth, whilst the #75 Proton Competition Porsche reclaimed the championship lead with fifth, as just seven points now cover the top five cars in a tight battle.
Unfortunately, the opening half of the race offered strong comparisons with yesterday’s Michelin Le Mans Cup round, with six Safety Car periods due to multiple incidents.
On the first lap, Alexander Bukhantsov spun on the approach to Les Combes aboard the #13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier, forcing the car which entered Spa second in the LMP3 championship into retirement.
The 26 minutes of ensuing green flag running was the longest racing period of the opening stanza, before contact between Steven Thomas’ #14 TDS Racing and Georgios Kolovos’ #47 CLX Motorsport ORECAs saw the latter stranded at the Bus Stop, with the former receiving a 10-second penalty.
In quick succession, contact on restarts between Andrew Gilbert’s #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari and Max Moritz’s #54 High Class Racing Porsche, Takeshi Kimura’s #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari and Louis Stern’s #8 Team Virage Ligier, and Anthony McIntosh’s #59 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin and Matthew Kurzejewski’s #75 Proton Competition Porsche triggered three more Safety Cars.
The #54 Porsche, #8 Ligier and #75 Porsche were each given drive through penalties for these incidents.
Then, with exactly two hours remaining, contact between the #47 CLX Motorsport ORECA of Ferdinand Habsburg and the #50 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari of Custodio Toledo on the exit of Pouhon caused the Ferrari to make heavy contact with the inside wall, retiring from third in LMGT3.
The 2026 European Le Mans series resumes at Silverstone on 11th to 13th September 2026.
More to follow…
Images courtesy of David Lord
