Imola (IT), 18 May, 2013
The second round of the 2013 European Le Mans Series took
place at the Autodromo Enzo & Dino Ferrari in Imola, on Saturday
18 May. The event also featured a round of the FFSA
Championnat de France GT series, plus races for the Peugeot
RCZ Cup, XL Formula and F3 Classic. There were 28 entries for
the ELMS race, in four classes, ten in the premier LMP2 class,
three in the LMPC class, eight in the LMGTE class, and seven in
the GTC class. As has been the case in most of Europe so far
this year, the weather was changeable, with rain early on Friday
dampening the first practice sessions, but thereafter it was largely
dry for the main race activity of the weekend.
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The qualifying sessions on Saturday morning, one for the LMGTE
and GTC runners, and another for the LMP2 and LMPC cars,
were held in warm bright sunny conditions, so the drivers could
extend their car’s potential to the maximum. In the two GT
classes Ferraris were the most numerous, with five 458 Italia
GT2s in the LMGTE class, and four 458 GT3s in the GTC class,
including three from the Russian SMP Racing team, making their
ELMS debut. In the LMGTE class pole position went to the # 52
RAM Racing Ferrari driven by Matt Griffin, despite beaching the
car in the gravel trap midway through the 20 minute session,
which brought out the red flag while the car was extricated. His
time was just 0.06sec ahead of the # 67 IMSA Performance
MATMUT Porsche 911 GT3 RSR driven by Patrick Long, whilst
next up was the second # 53 RAM Racing entry of Gunnar
Jeannette, just ahead of Joel Camathias in the # 66 JMW
Motorsport Ferrari 458 GT2. In the GTC class pole position was
taken by the # 60 Kox Racing Lamborghini Gallardo LP600 GT3
of Peter Kox, just under half a second ahead of Stefano Gai in the
# 62 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GT3.
In the LMP2 and LMPC session which followed on immediately
after the GT session, the championship leaders Jota Sport scored
their second consecutive pole position, courtesy of Oliver Turvey
in the # 38 Zytek Z11SN-Nissan, who was nearly half a second
ahead of the # 1 Oreca 03-Nissan of Thiriet by TDS Racing, driven
by Mathias Beche. The # 18 Murphy Prototypes entered Oreca
03-Nissan of Brendon Hartley challenged strongly towards the
end of the session to set the 3rd fastest time, just ahead of the #
36 Signatech Alpine of Nelson Panciatici. The LMPC class pole
went to Gary Hirsch in the # 49 Team Endurance Challenge FLM
Oreca 09, a massive 2.5secs ahead of team mate Matthieu
Lecuyer in the # 47 FLM example.
When the lights went out at 16.00 on Saturday afternoon to signal
the start of the 3 hour race, the pole sitting # 38 Jota Sport Zytek
Z11SN-Nissan capitalised on its pole position to lead into the first
turn. It was closely followed by the # 18 Murphy Prototypes
Oreca 03-Nissan, the # 1 Thiriet by TDS Racing Oreca 03-Nissan,
the # 36 Signatech-Alpine and the # 43 Morand Racing Morgan-
Judd. The order remained like this through to the first round of pit
stops, with this group covered by a mere 3secs for most of the
time. The # 18 Murphy Prototypes Oreca 03-Nissan wouldn’t
restart after its pit stop, and the team lost around a minute before
they could coax it back into life, dropping it to 7th place. The
Thiriet by TDS Racing team made a quicker pit stop than the Jota
Sport crew, which reversed the positions at the head of the field,
but they were almost stuck together like glue for the second part
of the race.
At the second round of stops, it was the Jota Sport’s crew who
won the battle of the pit stops, and the # 38 Zytek Z11SN-Nissan
emerged just ahead of the Oreca 03-Nissan, but shortly
afterwards the former had to take to the grass to avoid a
backmarker who hadn’t seen the lead duel approaching, allowing
the # 1 Oreca 03-Nissan back into the lead. The Jota Sport Zytek
Z11SN-Nissan was later again unsighted by a backmarker, and
the ensuing collision pushed it into the gravel trap at turn 7 and
into retirement. This allowed the # 1 Thiriet by TDS Racing Oreca
03-Nissan of Thiriet / Beche to take a comfortable win from the #
36 Signatech Alpine of Ragues / Panciatici, with the # 43 Morand
Racing Morgan-Judd of Gachnang / Mailleux taking the final
podium spot. In the LMPC class, the pole sitting # 49 Team
Endurance Challenge FLM Oreca 09 of Chatin/Hirsch, took a
comfortable win.
In the GT classes it was to be a double win for Ferrari, with the #
52 RAM Racing entry of Mowlem/Griffin taking LMGTE honours
and the # 69 SMP Racing entry of Babini/Shaitar/Ladygin taking
victory in the GTC class. However, it was a hard fight throughout
in both groups, as the RAM Racing entry of Mowlem / Griffin had
to fight long and hard with the # 67 IMSA Performance MATMUT
Porsche 911 GT3 RSR driven by Milesi/Long. The Ferrari had held
off the Porsche for most of the first hour, but as the pit stop
window approached, it was running low on fuel, so Matt Griffin had
to ease off the throttle to make sure that he could get back to the
pits, which allowed the Porsche to take the lead, but by staying
in the car instead of changing drivers, they regained the lead
when the Porsche made a driver change. Milesi wasn’t able to
match Long’s pace and the battle at the head of the class
became one between the two RAM Racing Ferraris, followed by
the # 55 AF Corse example of Perazzini/Cioci/Leo. Late in the
race the # 53 RAM Racing Ferrari of Montecalvo/Jeanette had an
excursion into the gravel, which dropped it back behind the AF
Corse car, the race finishing in that order. So Ferraris filled the
LMGTE podium, with RAM Racing having both their cars on the
podium for the second successive race, and in fact Ferraris filled
the top four positions, with the # 66 JMW Motorsport example of
Bertolini / Camathias chasing the sister cars home.
In the GTC class the Lamborghini driven by Peter Kox initially led
from the class pole position, but after the driver change it dropped
back down the order, with the # 69 SMP Racing Ferrari 458 GT3
of Babini / Shaitar / Ladygin, coming to the fore, and going on to
take the class win. Second in class went to the # 62 AF Corse
Ferrari 458 GT3 of Rizzoli / Gai / Case, a lap down on the
winners, whilst the only car to break the Ferrari GT podium
stranglehold was the # 79 Ecurie Ecosse BMW Z4 driven by
Millroy / Smith / Twyman, which took the final podium spot.
LMGTE Class
R # Model Chassis # Team Colour Drivers Position O/A Cl.
52 458 GT2 2858 RAM Racing White-Blue J. Mowlem/ M. Griffin
8th 1st
55 458 GT2 2822 AF Corse Red P. Perazzini/ M. Cioco/ F. Leo
11th 2nd
53 458 GT2 2860 RAM Racing White-Blue G. Jeanette/ F.
Montecalvo 12th 3rd
66 458 GT2 2808 JMW Motorsport Yellow A. Bertolini/ J.
Camathias 13th 4th
54 458 GT2 2862 AF Corse White-Blue Y. Mallegol/ J-M.
Bachelier/ H. Blank 20th 7th
GTC Class
69 458 GT3 3454 SMP Racing Blue-White-Red K. Ladygin/ V.
Shaitar/ F. Babini 17th 1st
62 458 GT3 3222 AF Corse Red A. Rizzoli/ S. Gai/ L. Case 18th
2nd
72 458 GT3 3452 SMP Racing Blue-White-Red M. Mediani/ S.
Zlobin/ B. Rotenberg 21st 4th
68 458 GT3 3426 SMP Racing Blue-White-Red D. Markozov/ Y.
Evstigneev/ A. Frolov 22nd 5th
Keith Bluemel
05/2013
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