As expected, the ELMS 4 Hours of Imola were packed with race incidents and drama. The overall victory went to the #9 Prema Racing Oreca 07 Gibson shared by Lorenzo Colombo, Louis Deletraz and Ferdinand Habsbourg in spite of three race penalties. It is the Italian team’s second consecutive victory this season. The #9 won with a margin of 4 seconds over the #22 United Autosport Oreca 07 Gibson driven by Phil Hanson, Tom Gamble and Duncan Tappy and nearly 30 seconds over Nicolas Lapierre, Niklas Kruetten and Yifei Ye in the #37 Cool Racing Oreca 07 Gibson.
The #34 Racing Team Turkey Oreca 07 Gibson shared by Salih Yoluc, Charlie Eastwood and Jack Aitken won the LMP2 Pro-Race category. It is also their second consecutive victory this season.
In LMP3, Kay Van Berlo and Andrew Bentley drove the #3 United Autosport Ligier JSP 320 Nissan to its first victory this season.
Finally, in LMGTE, it was a one-two for the Oman Racing with TF Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage AMRs – the #69 driven by Ahmad Al Harty, Marco Sorensen and Samuel de Haan took the top spot of the podium.
In LMP2, drama hit the track before the red lights were even out as the second fastest LMP2 car in qualifying, the #31 TDS Racing Vaillante, started the race a lap down, from the pits.
At the start, Lorenzo Colombo in the #9 Prema Racing Oreca 07 Gibson led the field ahead of Julien Canal in the #65 Panis Racing Oreca 07 Gibson and Niklas Kruetten in the #37 Cool Racing Oreca 07. Meanwhile, Perrodo in the #88 AF Corse Oreca 07 Gibson slipped to fourth position.
Less than 15minutes into the race, a first safety car episode occurred. On restart, Duncan Tappy in the #22 United Autosport Oreca 07 Gibson overtook Kruetten. Meanwhile, Colombo easily pulled away from the rest of the field.
On lap 15, Canal went off track without damaging his car but losing 8 positions. In turn, Niklas Kruetten reached third position in the #37 Cool Racing Oreca 07 Gibson.
On lap 22, the race leader was called in for a drive through penalty given that he had not respected the full formation lap procedure. That said, Colombo kept the lead of the race in a remarkable twist of fate, taking the penalty under green flag conditions, and followed down pit lane by the majority of the LMP2 field for their routine stops.
The Prema car continued around to pit a lap after, but by then a Full Course yellow had been called, the #9 pitting under caution and inheriting a big lead when the race went back to green.
At the top of the second hour, the #9 led the #37 and the #22. Moments later though, the #9 was called in for another drive through penalty as Colombo crossed the white line at pit exit. Niklas Kruetten took over the lead of the race while the #9 slipped to 9th position and Julien Canal returned to third place.
Drivers were changed in the top three cars with Nicolas Lapierre in the #37 leading Nicolas Jamin the #65 and Phil Hanson in the #22. Meanwhile in the LMP2 Pro Am, Charlie Eastwood led the category in the #34 Racing Team Turkey Oreca 07 Gibson.
At the top of the third hour, cars in the lead pitted a third time. This allowed Ferdinand Habsburg in the #9 to reconnect with top LMP2 positions and to overtake the #22 for third place. Unfortunately for the Austrian, the #9 took an additional 10 second penalty addition to a routine stop following a pit stop infringement but he kept third place.
A little before the start of the final hour, top LMP2s pitted once more yet the race order changed with Job Van Uitert in the #65 leading Yifei Ye in the #37 by a few seconds and ahead of a tight group of LMP2 cars (including the #9, the #28 and the #22) fighting for third place, some twenty to thirty seconds behind.
With less than thirty minutes left on the clock, Ye overtook Van Uitert at Rivazza.
As the top LMP2 cars observed their final stop, drama hit the track one last time with Thomas Laurent in the #21 Mulner Motorsport Oreca 07 Gibson and Richard Bradley in the #30 Duqueine Team colliding at Tamberello. This triggered a FCY during which the #9 and the #22 were fortunate to pit while the #65 and #37 slipped to third and fourth place. After that incident, the #9 secured its victory by building a sufficient gap with the #22 while the #37 fought for third place with the #65 Panis Racing until the chequered flag.
Perhaps somewhat overlooked behind was the #19 Algarve Pro Racing effort, bent Viscaal keeping the car in the hunt before having over to Sophia Floersch. The German hanging on to the battles ahead and very unlucky indeed in the final stages to have a strategy-led opportunity to score a very significant finish ruined by the combination of the timing of the penultimate full course yellow and a contact from the #31 TDS x Vaillante Oreca that saw a diveplane from the #31 propelled into the wheel arch of the #19 where it lodged between the bodywork and the wheel, machining the left front tyre to a puncture!
The #34 secured the LMP2 Pro Am win ahead of the #31 TDS by Vaillante and the #24 Nielsen racing effort that had started the race from the very back of the grid after losing a wheel in Qualifying yesterday.
Further down in the LMP2 ranks:
– John Falb in the #47 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca 07 Gibson made contact with the #10 Eurointernational Ligier JSP 320 Nissan. Both the Oreca and the Ligier suffered damage.
– on lap 51, the #88 AF Corse Oreca 07 Gibson came into the pits for lengthy repairs on a rear wishbone. The Oreca eventually returned on track.
– on lap 90, Gabriel Aubry in the #51 CD Sport Oreca 07 Gibson went off at Aqua Minerale. The car retired on track.
Meanwhile in LMP3, Noam Abramczyk in the #14 Inter Europol Competition had an impressive start of the race as he took the lead on lap 2 after overtaking the LMP3 pole sitting car and Tom Rompuy in the #4 DKR Engineering Duqueine M30 D08 Nissan. Less than 30 minutes into the race, the latter was overtaken by Austin Mccusker in the #15 RLR MSport Ligier JSP 320 Nissan.
The lead car took its first pit stop early, and left first position to the #15 followed by Maurice Smith in the #17 Cool Racing Ligier JSP 320 Nissan.
After the second FCY episode, the top three positions were totally reshuffled with Andrew Bentley in the #3 United Autosport Ligier JSP 320 Nissan leading James Dayson in the #14 Inter Europol Competition Ligier JSP 320 Nissan and Tony Wells in the #7 Nielsen Racing Ligier JSP 320 Nissan. The #3 took advantage of race incidents in the second half of the race and grew a very solid lead over a group of LMP3s comprised of the #27 Cool Racing Ligier JSP 320 Nissan and the #14. Kay van Belo added very considerable pace to the effort, with Jim McGuire not here this weekend the #3 effort was a two-driver affair and they won the race comfortably as several class rivals his trouble.
The #7 would suffer contact and a subsequent holed radiator, day ruined. The #6 360 Racing Ligier was, by then already out after an ‘off’, possibly in fluid dropped by the #13 Inter Europol car, put Terence Woodward into the barriers at Tosa, the car out on the spot and Terence looking as if he had taken quite a jolt.
In the final moments of the race though, as the #3 and the #27 cruised to the finish line, the #14 went off at Tamburello with a throttle sensor failure. This allowed the #17 Cool Racing Ligier JSP 320 Nissan to inherit the third spot on the podium, Malthe Jakobsen had been mounting a chase to the flag, as it turned out the podium slot arrived more easily.
Meanwhile in the GTE Category, the pole sitting car and Sarah Bovy in the #83 Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GTE Evo led the field while Giacomo Petrobelli was third in the #66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari 488 GTE Evo. One and a half hour into the race, the #66 pitted early for a driver change while Duncan Cameron raised to third place in the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GTE Evo. The Brit was a full minute behind the top two GTEs.
At mid race, the top two GTE cars also pitted for driver changes. The #69 kept the lead of the race but the #95 sister car driven by Jonny Adam took second position ahead of Rahel Frey in the #83 Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GTE Evo.
A few laps later, drama hit the #83 with Frey suffering a rear puncture, pitching the car backwards into the barriers. The Ferrari lost a lot of time trying to return to the pits and slipped down the GTE ranks. But there were further dramas still, the team releasing the car after a repair that seemed just too quick, That assertion proved to be correct on numerous fronts, the car losing the left rear wheel as it pulled away requiring a pull back to its pit stall, the repair on the right rear soon failed with the corner smoking again, and then the tm were called to repair the broken right rear brake light – Rahel Frey was visibly upset by the turn of events, not the birthday present the Sarah Bovy would have wanted.
In the meantime, Frederik Schandorff in the #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo moved up to third place while the two Oman Racing with TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage AMRs swapped positions. After the top GTEs’ third pit stop, the #69 regained the lead ahead of the sister car and cruised to the chequered flag ahead of #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 Evo.
(Update) Post-race the #57 Kessel Ferrari was excluded for a non-conforming rear diffuser – the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari is elevated to the final step of the podium with he #66 JMW Ferrari now fourth despite a substantial penalty post-race for a drive-time infringement.
The race win was firmly anchored by an exceptional stint from Ahmad Al Harthy, an effort rewarded with the first time ever the the Omani National Anthem has been herd on an ACO rules podium.
The win was the first in the ELMS for an Aston Martin since Silverstone in 2017.
Further down in the GTE ranks:
– Pierre Ehret in the #32 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo and Michael Fassbender in the #93 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR 19 made heavy contact at Tosa after the Ferrari spun into the Porsche. The #32 retired, Fassbender pitted with significant front end damage but the car would rejoin the race.
– on lap 40, the #18 Absolute Racing Porsche 911 RSR 19 retired on track after a clash with an LMP3 car.
