Silverstone, 16 April 2016

The first of the six rounds of the 2016 European Le Mans Series was held at the Silverstone circuit on Saturday 16 April as part of the FIA World Endurance Championship meeting. The entry for the 4 Hours of Silverstone comprised of an impressive total of 44 cars in the three classes, with 15 in the LMP2 class, 19 in the LMP3 class, 9 in the LMGTE class, and a singleton entry in the Innovative Car Class. Race goers were treated to typical balmy British weather during the morning preceding the race. We are all used to April showers, but not normally April snow showers, which was the case for about an hour, which made the start to the day decidedly chilly. Fortunately they swept through prior to the race start, and the rest of the day remained dry, with even some bright sunshine later in the afternoon to warm the chilled bones, even though the ambient temperature was only around 7degC.

The practice sessions were held on a wet Friday, with qualifying on the chilly and still wet track on the Saturday morning, after the snow storm had blown through. In the LMP2 class it was the # 46 Thiriet by TDS Racing Oreca 05-Nissan of Thiriet / Beche / Hirakawa, that claimed the overall pole position. Next quickest was the # 32 SMP Racing BR 01-Nissan of Coletti / Leal / Wirth, followed by the # 29 Pegasus Racing Morgan-Nissan of Taittinger / Striebig / Roussel. The quickest of the LMP3 Ligier JS P3-Nissans was the # 6 360 Racing entry of Woodward / Kaiser / Swift, followed by the # 19 Duqueine Engineering example of Hallyday / Lunardi, and the # 9 Graff entry of Trouillet / Petit / Guibert. In the LMGTE class the qualifying honours went to the # 96 Aston Martin Racing entered Aston Martin V8 Vantage driven by Goethe / Hall /Stanaway, with the # 88 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR 991 of  Roda / Lietz / Ried next up, followed by the # 66 JMW Ferrari 458 GT2 of Smith / Butcher / Bertolini.

When the lights went out for the rolling start, the # 29 Morgan-Nissan barely crossed the line before turning sharp right into the pit wall, a victim of cold tyres on an even colder track. Further back on the grid there was avoiding action when the # 19 Ligier JS P3-Nissan appeared to get tapped into a spin, so it was all action from the word go! Both cars recovered, although the # 29 needed to pit for repairs, and eventually ended up not being classified in the race results, whilst the # 19 Ligier recovered to finish 5th in class.

The pole sitting # 46 Oreca 05-Nissan ran wide at the first corner, which allowed the # 32 BR 01-Nissan through into the lead followed by the 4th place starting # 38 G-Drive Racing entered Gibson 015S-Nissan, which took the overall lead further round the lap. From that point it was in command for virtually the whole race, apart from after a full course yellow period, when it was headed for about 30 minutes by the # 23 Ligier JS P2-Nissan of Panis Barthez Competition driven by Barthez / Buret / Chatin, which eventually succumbed to pressure from the # 38 Gibson, and later fell back with unspecified problems in the final quarter of the race. The pole sitting # 46 Oreca had a crash early in the race when the throttle stuck open, which resulted in immediate retirement. The race win went to the # 38 G-Drive Racing Gibson of Dolan / Tincknell / Van de Garde, with the 2nd place starting # 32 BR 01 driven by Coletti / Leal / Wirth finishing the race where it started, with the final podium spot going to the # 22 SO24 ! By Lombard Racing Ligier JS P2-Judd of Capillare / Lombard / Coleman. With three different marques on the podium, the season looks interesting in terms of which will eventually take the honours.

The LMP3 class win was taken by the # 2 United Autosports entry of Brundle / Guasch / England, from the sister # 3 team car of Patterson / Bell / Boyd, and the # 9 GRAFF entry driven by Trouillet / Petit / Guibert. In the LMGTE category, the race was dominated by the JMW Motorsport Ferrari, which took the win on the road, but was later excluded from the results as its front splitter didn’t match the homologation papers. This promoted the Beachdean Ice Cream liveried # 99 Aston Martin V8 Vantage of Howard / Turner / Macdowell to the class win, followed by the # 56 AT Racing entered Ferrari 458 GT2 of Talkanitsa / Talkanitsa Jr. / Pier Guidi, and the class pole sitting # 96 Aston Martin V8 Vantage of Goethe / Hall / Stanaway.

Overall & LMP2 Podium

1st       # 38, G-Drive Racing, Gibson 015S-Nissan, S. Dolan/H. Tincknell/G. Van de Garde
2nd       # 32, SMP Racing, BR 01-Nissan, S. Coletti/J. Leal/A. Wirth
3rd       # 22,SO24 ! By Lombard Racing, Ligier JS P2-Judd, V. Capillare/O. Lombard/J. Coleman

LMP3 Podium

1st       # 2, United Autosports, Ligier JS P3-Nissan, A. Brundle/M. Guasch/C. England
2nd       # 3, United Autosports, Ligier JS P3-Nissan, M. Patterson/M. Bell/W. Boyd
3rd       # 9, GRAFF, Ligier JS P3-Nissan, E. Trouillet/P. Petit/E. Guibert

LMGTE Podium

1st       # 99, Aston Martin Racing, Aston Martin V8 Vantage, A. Howard/D. Turner/A. Macdowall
2nd       # 56, AT Racing, Ferrari 458 GT2, A. Talkanitsa/A. Talkanitsa Jr./A. Pier Guidi
3rd       # 96, Aston Martin Racing, Aston Martin V8 Vantage, R. Goethe/S. Hall/R. Stanaway



Keith Bluemel
04/2016