2018 European Le Mans Series – 4hr at Spa

The Spa-Francorchamps circuit played host to Round 5 of the 2018 European Le Mans Series Championship from 21-23rd September. …

This round would be decisive in the drivers’ championship standings as a victory or 2nd-place finish for Roman Rusinov and Andrea Pizzitola of G-Drive Racing would secure the team and driver titles – teammate Jean-Eric Vergne would be out of contention by virtue of missing the previous round at Paul Ricard due to his Formula E commitments, thus dropping points – for car #26 of the Russian team. A rain-hampered FP1 would see Norman Nato of the #24 Racing Engineering Oreca top the time sheets, giving the 2nd-placed LMP2 championship contender the early lead. However, G-Drive would stamp its claim on the championship again as Jean-Eric Vergne would set the fastest time in FP2 with the reigning Formula E champion repeating his success in qualifying by taking pole position in qualifying with a time of 2:00.735, a mere 0.177 seconds ahead of Filipe Albuquerque of the #22 United Autosports Ligier, who had set provisional pole position just moments before. Matthieu Lahaye set the fastest time in the LMP3 class with a 2:13.634 for the #17 Ultimate Norma whilst Matteo Cairoli would lead the LMGTE class for the #88 Proton Competition Porsche, setting a time of 2:15.654. Neither the #39 Graff Oreca nor the #40 G-Drive Racing Oreca, both in LMP2, would take part in qualifying due to damage sustained in FP2 and would therefore have to start from the back of the grid.

Safety concerns over the expected heavy rain forced the decision from the ELMS race organisers to start the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps at 10:45am on Sunday, almost two hours ahead of the original 12:30pm start (with the pit walk/autograph session being cancelled). The 40-car race was started under the Safety Car though the green flag would be waved 15 minutes later. Andrea Pizzitola would maintain the lead of the race in at the wheel of the #26 G-Drive Racing Oreca though after a few laps, he would be passed by Nicolas Jamin’s #29 Duqueine Engineering Oreca at the Fagnes chicane. Treacherous weather conditions caught several drivers out as Jean-Baptiste Lahaye, leading the LMP3 class in the #17 Ultimate Norma, crashed out at Pouhon, bringing out the safety car. Having fallen from second on the grid, United Autosports’ Phil Hanson returned to the pits to hand the #22 Ligier to teammate Albuquerque, exploiting the Safety Car and minimising time lost during the pit stop – this would later prove decisive as the #22 car would fight its way to lead the race later on. After the restart, Pizzitola was chased fiercely by the Gustavo Menezes in the #31 APR-Rebellion Oreca eventually leading the Pizzitola running wide and dropping to 9th place before he handed the car over to Vergne.

Trouble continued down the field where an ill-judged manoeuvre by Alexey Chuklin in the #5 Nefis by Speed Factory Ligier driving in to the path of Nic Jonsson’s #83 Krohn Racing Ferrari at the approach to La Source resulted in the LMGTE car running into the back of the LMP3 car as Jonsson was not given enough room to brake. While Jonsson was able to bring his damaged car back to the pits, the car had to be retired; Chuklin was handed a drive-through penalty for causing an avoidable collision. Back in LMP2, Vergne was now challenging Ryan Cullen in the #31 APR-Rebellion Oreca for 6th place. As Vergne made a move to try passing Cullen by Bus Stop, he ran into the side of Christian Ried’s #77 Proton Competition Porsche, pushing the German on to the wet grass and collecting Cullen when he re-joined the circuit, severely damaging both cars. The resultant debris brought out he Safety Car for the third time, compounded by the Colin Noble (driving the #7 Ecurie Ecosse Ligier) having gone off at Les Combes. Vergne would receive a 2-minute stop and go penalty.

The weather took a turn for the worse as the rain came down even more heavily, effecting a Red Flag issued by the Race Director putting a stop to the race after 2 hrs 6 minutes and ordering the cars to take position on the grid. However, after 20 minutes of deliberation, the race was not resumed and the results were declared. As less than 75% of the race time had elapsed, only half-points were awarded. While the #26 G-Drive Racing Oreca would be classified in 12^th place due to its time penalty, the half-points score would hand the team the championship and crown Rusinov and Pizzitola as drivers champions-elect with an all but unassailable lead in the standings (Vergne could technically win the championship if he wins the final round but only in the unlikely event that his teammates did not compete).

Filipe Albuquerque and Phil Hanson would take overall victory and the LMP2 class win for United Autosports in the #22 Ligier, Henrik Hedman, Ben Hanley and Nicolas Lapierre would take second place driving the #21 DragonSpeed Oreca whilst Timothe Buret, Julien Canal and Will Stevens would take the final step of the podium overall and in class, racing the #23 Panis-Barthez Competition Ligier.

In the LMP3 class, John Falb would bring home the #2 United Autosports Ligier to win the category (11^th overall), having partnered last-minute replacement Scott Andrews (his debut ELMS race) who took on the duties of Sean Rayhall after the latter was deemed too unwell to travel. The #15 RLR MSport Ligier driven by John Farano, Job Van Uitert and Robert Garofall finished second in class and Terrence Woodward and Ross Kaiser took third for the #6 360 Racing Ligier. Taking the win in the LMGTE class was the #80 Ebimotors Porsche 911 driven by Fabio Babini, Riccardo Pera and Brett Curtis. Duncan Cameron, Matt Griffin and Aaron Scott took second spot for the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari while the #88 Proton Competition Porsche driven by Gianluca Roda, Giorgio Roda and Matteo Cairoli finished third in class.

Supporting the ELMS race was the penultimate round of the Michelin Le Mans Cup on 22^nd September where a strong finish could wrap the driver and team championships with both the LMP3 and GT3 classes. Michael Benham of the #25 Lanan Racing Norma took pole position overall whilst Sergio Pianezzola, racing the #8 Kessel Racing Ferrari claimed the lead of the 6-car GT3 class. While the race started in somewhat slippery track conditions, most of the cars opted to start the race on slicks thought this would prove costly for the polesitter who would lose the lead as the weather quickly worsened just 20 minutes after the start. Though championship leader Pianezzola would lose the lead of the GT3 class to the sister #77 Kessel Racing Ferrari driven by Claudio Schiavoni, he would reclaim the lead by the third lap and neither he nor his teammate Giacomo Piccini would look under threat in the GT3 class. Numerous drivers spun in the wet weather and an unlikely lead toward the end of the race was taken by the #24 Cool Racing Ligier, which had started the race in 18^th position. In similarly difficult weather conditions to the rain-shortened ELMS 4 Hours of Spa, visibility became the greatest challenge to the drivers, making life difficult for Alexandre Coigny of the #24 car being chased down by Colin Noble in the #79 Ecosse Ligier. With less than 10 minutes to go, Coigny lost control of his car and crashed at the exit of Pouhon forcing a full-course yellow, which was rescinded with two laps remaining in the 2-hour race. The Ecurie Ecosse/Nielsen team would take a 1-2 finish as Noble and Alasdair McCaig took the victory with Tony Wells and James Littlejohn taking second place. Having taken three victories earlier in the seasons, a third-place finish for Jens Petersen and Leonard Hoogenboom confirmed the driver and team titles for DKR Engineering. A fourth victory taken by Sergio Pianezzola and Giacomo Piccini secured the GT3 driver and team championship for the Italian duo.

The final round of the 2018 European Le Mans Series and Michelin Le Mans Cup will take place at the Portimao Circuit on 27/28^th October.