Road To Le Mans – New for GT3s and LM P3s

On 13th November 2015 the Automobile Club de l’Ouest announced that it would organise a race for LM P3 cars entered for the ACO series and GT 3s entered for the Michelin GT3 Le Mans Cup as a curtain-raiser to the Le Mans 24 Hours.

The Michelin GT3 Le Mans Cup is a new addition to races bearing the Le Mans label and is reserved for GT3 category cars. It will be held at five of the six meetings in the 2016 European Le Mans Series, and will be a supporting race for the Le Mans 24 Hours, which will also count for the Michelin GT3 Le Mans Cup.

This event will also be open to LM P3s which were launched in 2015. These prototypes represent the first step on the Endurance Pyramid put in place by the ACO. Only LM P3s racing the ACO Series (ELMS and Asian LMS) will be allowed to start. However, the ACO reserves itself the right to allow other GT3s and LM P3s to participate in this new supporting race for the Le Mans 24 Hours.

The 60-minute event will be held in the late morning on the legendary Le Mans circuit. The teams can have one or two drivers and the race format includes an obligatory pit stop with a minimum duration fixed by the regulations within a defined time window. Beforehand, two hour-long free practices, and a 30-minute qualifying session will be held during Le Mans week.

Ferrari Challenge

The Ferrari Challenge is the biggest and most admired single-make championship in the world. The series was created in 1993 and all the races have FIA approval which guarantees top-level organisation and safety at each event. 

There are three series: the oldest is the European Series, then the American one and the latest, now starting its fourth year, is the Asian-Pacific region challenge. Four categories take part in each race: the Pirelli Pro Trophy, the Pirelli Trophy, the Shell Cup and the Gentlemen’s Cup. The latter is reserved for drivers of over 55 years of age. This means that there are four races within the race, four winners and four times more action!

The races are usually very closely fought, which is one of the main attractions of the series. The drivers also compete on some of the best-known circuits in the world. The three continental series take place on famous tracks like Monza, Mugello and Le Mans in Europe, Daytona, Montreal and Miami in North America and Shanghai, Suzuka and Sepang in Asia. 

The car used in each of the three Ferrari Challenge Series is the Ferrari 458 Challenge EVO fitted with the latest generation aero kit which improves on-track performances. In the past few years the Ferrari Challenge has become an ideal training series for drivers dreaming of a career in GT like Aleksey Basov, winner of the Shell Cup Europe in 2012, and victor in the LM GTE Am category in the 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours. 

The 45-minute race will be run at 10:05 on Saturday morning. Drivers will have a free practice session on Thursday, from 10:00 to 12:15, followed by a qualifying session later in the day, from 16:00 to 17:00.

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