The provisional entry list for the 4 hours of Monza next weekend (11 October), Round 4 of the 2020 European Le Mans Series sees a 34 car entry at the ‘Temple of Speed’
LMP2 sees a 15 car entry rich in talent with some changes in the driver line-ups to note.
The #24 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca sees the return to the Series of Indian talent Arjun Maini, replacing Loic Duval who is on DTM duty on the same weekend, another victim of the necessarily congested delayed motorsport calendar this year.
The #21 DragonSpeed Oreca is missing from the entry, replaced by a #27 entry for Ben Hanley, Henrik Hedman and Charles Milesi.
And there’s the first opportunity in the ELMS to see the #50 Richard Mille Racing Oreca with its full three-driver all-female crew, Tatiana Calderon, Beitske Visser and Sophia Floersch fresh from an excellent top ten performance in class at Le Mans.
In the Championship stakes, current leaders Filipe Albuquerque and Phil Hanson are fresh from their class victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where they also secured the FIA World Endurance LMP2 Drivers’ Championship and the team title for United Autosports.
The Anglo-Portuguese duo are currently 29 points ahead of their United Autosports teammates Alex Brundle, Job Van Uitert and Will Owen in the #32 Oreca and should they finish more than 26 points ahead of their nearest rivals on Sunday afternoon they will add the ELMS titles to their world and 24 Hours of Le Mans crowns, a first clean sweep in history.
LMP3 sees more driver changes with Gustas Grinbergas a welcome returning name after a one-off for BHK Motorsport in Paul Ricard last time out he’s racing for the front-running RLR MSport squad at Monza, replacing Robert Megennis aboard the #15 Ligier with the American racing at the Indianapolis 8 Hour this weekend and unable to travel thereafter.
The #16 BHK Ligier sees another driver shake-up with Tom Cloet and Philippe Paillot joining full-season driver Lorenzo Veglia.
In the battle for the LMP3 title its United leading the way here too, double race winners, Rob Wheldon, Tom Gamble and Wayne Boyd are the current championship leaders in the #2 United Autosports Ligier, 14 points ahead of Round 3 winners David Droux and Esteban Garcia in the #o8 Realteam Racing Ligier, who are on 38 points.
However, the chasing pack are not far behind with Duncan Tappy and Andrew Bentley in the #3 United Autosports Ligier on 34 points in 3rd, while 2019 Vice Champions Martin Hippe and Nigel Moore in the #13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier and Malthe Jakobsen and James Dayson in the #15 RLR MSport Ligier are tied on 33 points.
LMGTE has a seven car entry for Monza, the #51 Ferrari a no-show post Le Mans.
There’s one driver change to note, Niki Cadei rejoining the #74 Kessel Ferrari after missing the last two rounds.
The lead of the LMGTE category is shared by the #77 Proton Competition Porsche of Alessio Picariello, Christian Ried and Michele Beretta and the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Michael Broniszewski and David Perel.
Both crews have 56 points and with one win, one second, one fourth and one pole position each, they are incredibly difficult to split, with the #77 Porsche classified as leading the championship only by the fact their win in round 1 came before the #74 Ferrari’s victory at Spa-Francorchamps.
Round 3 winners Aaron Scott, Duncan Cameron and Matt Griffin in the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari are 16 points behind the two leading cars on 40 points, while the all-female crew of double podium finishers Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting and Manuela Gostner in the #83 Iron Lynx Ferrari are on 38 points in 4th place.
