24h Le Mans
G-Drive Racing is on a roll. After a stunning victory last weekend in LMP2 at the Total 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in the World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC), the Russian team has claimed the top step on the podium once again, this time in the European Le Mans Series. Now its sights are set on to the 24 Hours of Le Mans...
G-Drive Racing's #26 ORECA 07-Gibson driven by Roman Rusinov, Andrea Pizzitola and Jean-Eric Vergne won this particularly exciting 2018 edition of the 4 Hours of Monza. The safety car was deployed four times. The first after an incident (due to a technical problem) into the tire stacks at the second Lesmo corner for Graff's #39 ORECA 07-Gibson driven by Alexandre Cougnaudouci. The second after Enzo Guibbert lost control of G-Drive Racing's #40 ORECA 07-Gibson managed by Graff at the Ascari corner (the car was seriously damaged and a great deal of work is now required to be ready for Test Day for the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 3rd). The third involved DKR Engineering's #8 Norma M30 in LMP3 when it struck the safety railing. And the last time was due to contact made between two Ligier JS P3s, the #18 of Yvan Muller Racing and the #9 of AT Racing.
TDS Racing had a triumphant race given that technical support of the winning #26 is provided by the French team, and the #33 ORECA 07-Gibson driven by François Perrodo, Loïc Duval and Matthieu Vaxivière finished second ahead of IDEC Sport's #28 ORECA shared by Paul Loup Chatin, Paul Lafargue and Memo Roja.
In LMP3, the final standings seemed decided just a few minutes from the checkered flag with the win most likely clinched by defending LMP3 champion United Autosport. Yet, Eurointernational's #11 Ligier JS P3 managed to snatch first place in the final moments ahead of Inter Europol Competition's #13 and the American team's #3.
LMGTE was not quite as suspenseful. Spirit of Race's #55 Ferrari 488 GTE driven by Duncan Cameron, Matthew Griffin and Aaron Scott clearly dominated the class despite the presence of 2016 24 Hours winner Marc Lieb, official Porsche GT Team driver in the FIA WEC Gianmaria Bruni and Andre Bertolini. Victory for the Italian car thrilled the "tifosi" in attendance in Lombardy. It finished ahead of the #77 Porsche 911 RSR of Proton Competition and the #80 of Ebimotors (the latter set to debut at the upcoming edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans).
The next race for many of the LMP2s and nearly all the LMGTEs is the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 16th and 17th!
PHOTO (Copyright - Jakob Ebrey Photography/ELMS)
Video YouTube - ELMS Official
