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