24h Le Mans
Photo : FREDERIC LE FLOC'H -
In the end, the forecast rain never arrived and the British round of ELMS was run in dry conditions. The safety car was out only once at the halfway point, following the incident of Simon Dolan, who was at that time in second place behind the wheel of the Jota Zytek.
Jacques Nicolet has not regrets in having equipped his two Morgan LM P2 cars with different engines. The Judd engined No.24 set the pole position time on Saturday, and the Nissan powered No.35 won on Sunday. This first success of the Morgan chassis is the result of the work done by Oak Racing since 2009, the year they acquired the intellectual property of the Pescarolo 01 prototype.
The French driver Olivier Pla, LMS champion in 2009 is back to his winning ways while the Belgian Bertrand Baguette won his first success in endurance racing. Finally, the young "gentleman driver" Dimitri Enjalbert won on his debut behind the wheel of an LM P2.
Victorious in the 6 Hours of Castellet in April, the duo Thiriet-Beche in the Oreca Nissan were second this time (as in the 24 Hours of Le Mans). In third position were Firth-Hartley-Hughes, also in an Oreca Nissan, only 32 seconds behind the winners.
In GTE, the fight has was between the Imsa Performance Matmut Porsche and the JMW Motorsport Ferrari. Both teams won in their respective categories (GTE Pro and GTE Am).
Bertrand Baguette, winner (Morgan Nissan-No.35/OAK Racing): "We have been looking forward to this victory for some time. My team mates and I did a good job. After the problems that we had before the race, I think it's a well deserved victory. I think our strategy of starting on worn tyres and then double stinting with new rubber was important to our victory. "
Oliver Pla, winner (Morgan Nissan-No.35/OAK Racing): "Since the beginning of the year, we have demonstrated the potential of the car but failed to materialize. This was done at Donington despite initiallly difficult weekend. This victory belongs to the whole team who have done an excellent job for us in being as efficient and reliable as possible during the race. For my first race at Donington, I'm very happy. We dedicate this victory to all Moreau who has contributed greatly to the team. "
Dimitri Enjalbert, winner (Morgan Nissan-No.35/OAK Racing): "This was my first race in LM P2 and I could only do ten laps before the race to learn the car. I'm very glad it ended with a victory. "
Mathias Beche, second place (Oreca-Nissan / Thiriet by TDS Racing): "We probably would have won today without the penalty due to excessive speed in pit lane. Our limiter did not work properly. But that's the rule. We finished second but retain the championship lead. That's what matters! "
Jonathan Cocker, first in LM GTE Pro (Ferrari 458 Italia / JMW Motorsport): "It is unfortunate that we did not have more cars in our class, but this did not prevent us having a good race. Allan Simonsen replaced Jamas Walker perfectly at short notice. "
Nicolas Armindo, first in LM GTE Am (Porsche 911 RSR / Imsa Performance Matmut): "We were disappointed with our performance in qualifying. We finally found the best settings at the last minute that worked well in the race. It was important for us to finish ahead of the Ferrari which promised to be better in fuel consumption and tyres. Which meant we had to be be very fast track to be competitive. "
Thomas Dagoneau , LM PC (Formula Le Mans / Ginion Boutsen Racing): "We are pleased to be able to take maximum points after lack of success that we had at Paul Ricard. This class deserves more competitors because it is a necessary step to reach LM P2. "
The next round of the ELMS will be held on the 9th of September at Brno in the Czech Republic.
>> Donington results (pdf) <<
Photo : DONINGTON PARK (UK), 6 HOURS OF DONINGTON, 15th JULY 2012. Olivier Pla, Bertrand Baguette and Dimitri Enjalbert win the 6 hours of Donington.
