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ELMS ... Michelin Le Mans Cup, Le Castellet


51, SPIRIT OF RACE, Ferrari 488 GT3, s_n 4274, Christoph Ulrich_Maurizio Mediani

51, SPIRIT OF RACE, Ferrari 488 GT3, s_n 4274, Christoph Ulrich_Maurizio Mediani

 

Le Castellet, France, 13 April 2019 

The Michelin Le Mans Cup race was the main support race to the European Le Mans Series race at Le Castellet over the weekend of 13-14 April, and was held on the Saturday afternoon, preceding the main race on Sunday. It was a 2 hour endurance race for LMP3 and GT3 cars, with 21 entries in the former category and 10 in the latter. Whilst the LMP3 class was split between Norma M30- Nissans and Ligier JS P3-Nissans, the GT3 class had a broader entry list comprising of Aston Martin, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche.

The overall and LMP3 qualifying pole position was taken by the # 3 DKR Engineering entered Norma M30-Nissan with Francois Kirmann at the wheel, with a time of 1min 51.917secs. This was 0.895sec quicker than the similar # 9 Graff entry driven by Adrien Chila. The session had to be red flagged after a collision between the # 23 United Autosports entered Ligier JS P3-Nissan and the # 5 DKR Engineering Norma, which had left everybody scrambling to set competitive times in the closing minutes of the session, which is when Kirmann posted his pole sitting time. In the GT3 qualifying session, it was a team making its debut in both this series and the European Le Mans Series, Luzich Racing, with their Ferrari 488 GT3 in the hands of Fabien Lavergne who claimed the class pole position, with a time of 1min 54.940secs, which was just 0.346sec quicker than the similar # 8 Kessel Racing entry driven by Sergio Pianezzola. 

From the start the pole sitting # 3 Norma led the way in the hands of Kirmann, chased by the # 39 Graff entry of Chila and the # 25 Lanan Racing example driven by Michael Benham. Further back, a car making strong progress was the # 24 United Autosports entered Ligier driven by Wayne Boyd, which had only qualified in 16th position, in all probability due to the red flag hiatus, and within a short space of time it was up to 2nd place. All remained calm, apart from some fierce dicing through the field, until the 18th lap when the safety car was brought out after the # 4 Cool Racing entered Ligier spun into the barriers in the final turn. Just after the track went green again  # 12 Eurointernational Ligier made contact with the # 5 DKR Engineering Norma resulting in the safety car being deployed again. This occurred just as the pit stop window opened, so the majority of the field dived in to make their stop and driver change. 

After the pit stops had panned out it was the # 11 Racing Experience entered Norma that held the lead, but it wasn’t long before it ceded the place to the similar # 9 Graff entry and the Graff sister # 29 car. Meanwhile the # 25 Lanan Racing example was forging its way towards the head of the field, as was the similar # 3 DKR Engineering entry, which passed the # 25 car for 3rd place, but in doing so exceeded the track limits, which resulted in a subsequent drive-through penalty nullifying its charge. Into the final quarter of the race the # # 25 Lanan Racing entry of Benham / Tappy, now driven by the latter, took the lead and held it through to the chequered flag, despite a third safety car period in the dying minutes of the race.

In the GT3 class, the pole sitting # 71 Luzich Racing entered Ferrari 488 GT3 of Mikkel Mac / Fabien Lavergne fulfilled its qualifying performance to head the group through the first half of the race chased hard by the # 8 Kessel Racing example of Sergio Pianezzola / Giacomo Piccini. Unfortunately it all fell apart at the mid race pit stop, when it was one of 12 cars that missed the pit lane red light, which resulted in a hefty 2 minutes Stop-Go penalty. The # 8 Kessel Ferrari, which it had been leading, had pitted before the light changed from green to red, and thus took the class lead. The drama continued, as this car was then given a one second Stop-Go penalty for not obeying the minimum pit stop time! However, its lead was such, that it carried on to take the class win from the # 54 SPS Automotive Performance entered Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Dexter Mueller / Yannick Mettler, by 1min 22secs. Despite its lengthy Stop-Go penalty the # 71 Luzich Racing Ferrari took the final podium spot, only 18secs behind the 2nd place Mercedes. It also set the fastest GT3 class race lap with a time of 1min 53.76secs. 

Overall & LMP3 Podium

1st - #25, Lanan Racing, Norma M30-Nissan, M. Benham / D. Tappy
2nd - # 3, DKR Engineering, Norma M30-Nissan, F. Kirmann / L. Horr
3rd - # 2, Nielsen Racing, Norma M30-Nissan, A. Wells / C. Noble

GT3 Podium

1st - # 8, Kessel Racing, Ferrari 488 GTE, S. Pianezzola / G. Piccini
2nd - # 54, SPS Automotive Performance, Mercedes-AMG GT3, D. Mueller / Y. Mettler
3rd - # 71, Luzich Racing, Ferrari 488 GT3, M. Mac / F. Lavergne

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European Le Mans Series, Le Castellet, France, 14 April 2019

Ferrari Entry

 

Race #

Model

Chassis #

Team

Colour

Drivers

Position

 

O/A

Cl.

Class LM GTE

 

 

51

Ferrari 488 GTE “EVO”

3828

Luzich Racing

Red-White-Blue- Black

A. Pier Guidi /
N. Nielsen /
F. Lavergne

27th

1st

83

Ferrari 488 GTE “EVO”

3832

Kessel Racing

Blue-Black-Pink

M. Gostner /
R. Frey /
M. Gatting

30th

2nd

66

Ferrari 488 GTE “EVO”

4404*

JMW Motorsport

Yellow-Black Silver-Red

J. Segal /
W. Lu /
M. Cressoni

32nd

4th

55

Ferrari 488 GTE “EVO”

3812

Spirit of Race

Green Met’-White

D. Cameron /
M. Griffin /
A. Scott

33rd

5th

60

Ferrari 488 GTE “EVO”

3830

Kessel Racing

Blue-Black- Orange

C. Schiavoni /
S. Pianezzola /
A. Piccini

37th

9th

*488 GT3 Converted to GTE “EVO” Specification

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Michelin Le Mans Cup, Le Castellet, France, 13 April 2019.

Ferrari Entry

 

 

 

Race #

Model

Chassis #

 Team

Colour

Drivers

Position

 

Class GT

O/A

Cl.

 

8

Ferrari 488 GT3

4444

Kessel Racing

Blue-Black-White

S. Pianezzola /
G. Piccini

8th

1st

 

71

Ferrari 488 GT3

4230

Luzich Racing

Red-White-Blue- Black

M. Mac /
F. Lavergne

15th

3rd 

 

50

Ferrari 488 GT3

4212

Kessel Racing

Red-Black-Blue

J. Hartshorne /
O. Hancock

22nd

6th

 

51

Ferrari 488 GT3

4274

Spirit of Race

Orange-GWR Stripes

C. Ulrich /
M. Mediani

23rd

7th

 

 

Keith Bluemel         
04/2019