G-Drive Racing triumphs

The European Le Mans Series is truly a championship to follow this year with fierce battles all the way to the checkered flag. Though victory eluded G-Drive Racing's #22 Oreca 07-Gibson a month ago at Silverstone in the U.K., this time the trio Memo Rojas, Léo Roussel and Ryo Hirakawa won the race with a stunning performance by the French driver who took the car from fourth position to the lead! This win allows the team to snatch the top spot in the championship.

With DragonSpeed's #21, Oreca even pulled off a one-two with the driver line-up Nicolas Lapierre-Henrik Hedman-Ben Hanley, the latter grabbing second place in the final laps of the race.

Another podium finish was claimed by the High Class team's #49 Dallara P217 (Dennis Andersen and Anders Fjordbach) confirming the outfit is a contender for the title after its third place finish at Silverstone and also that the car is performing optimally. 

The Ligier JS P217s didn't fare quite as well at this circuit, the best result among them achieved by United Autosports' #32 - shared by Felipe Albuquerque, William Owen and Hugo de Sadeleer - winner at Silverstone last month.  

Of the 12 cars present in Italy, 11 are expected at the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 17th and 18th. 

A one-two for Yvan Muller Racing in LM P3

The win in the LMP3 class was clinched by a Norma M30 for its first victory in endurance racing. Driven by Ricky Capo and Erwin Creed, and managed by Yvan Muller Racing, it finished ahead of the French team's other car, the #18 Ligier JS P3 shared by Alexandre Cougnaud, Antoine Jung and Romano Ricci. A second Ligier rounded out the podium with the #17 (Ultimate) driven by Jean-Baptiste Lahaye, Matthieu Lahaye and François Heriau. 

The F458 Italia has still got it!

JMW Motorsport's #66 Ferrari F458 Italia not only kept up with the more modern cars, it won the LMGTE class. Thanks to Rob Smith, Jonathan Cocker and Jody Fannin, the car added yet another victory to its already impressive record before participating in the 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans with a different driver line-up (see article). The British team also announced Le Mans will be the final race of the car's career and is set to be replaced by an F488 GTE. The two Aston Martin Vantages of TF Sport (#90) and Beechdean AMR (#99) completed the podium.

Photo (Copyright - VSA): Monza was the first victory of the season for G-Drive Racing's #22 Oreca 07-Gibson.