Photo : sebastien.BASSANI (ACO)

 

The  five races of the ELMS in 2013 resulted in very competitive races and  showed a remarkable balance of power in LM P2, with four different teams victorious in five races and covered by just 21 points in the final standings .

Prototypes : Signatech Alpine consistency. Thirty-five years after the victory of Didier Pironi and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Alpine did not fail in their  return to endurance racing. For this new challenge, the Signatech team retained its reputation of consistency and was run by Philippe Sinault, drivers Pierre Ragues and Nelson Panciatici are the only ones who completed all five rounds in 2013 in the top five, with a victory ( Hungaroring ), two second places ( Imola and the Red Bull Ring) and two fourth places ( Silverstone and Le Castellet ) . Having two successful outings (  Imola and the  Red Bull Ring) , Thiriet by TDS Racing remained the strongest candidate to retain their title from last year . Level on equal points with Signatech Alpine at Le Castellet , the team led by Xavier Combet were ahead in the race, before the loss of a wheel ruined the chances of Pierre Thiriet and Mathias Beche . The British duo of Simon Dolan and Oliver Turvey in their  Zytek ( of Jota Sport ) were extremely effective in winning at Silverstone and earning two other podiums, while Murphy Prototypes Oreca-Nissan won at Le Castellet in 2013 with  victory for Jonathan Hirschi and Brendon Hartley . Having had two seasons in LM P2 , they should quickly attract the interest of some big teams ... Also of note was the good first season of the Swiss Racing Morand Team who, with their Morgan-Judd, were close to victory at Le Castellet , with three podiums in five races for Natacha Gachnang and her two team mates Franck Mailleux and Christian Klien . In LM PC , Team Endurance Challenge were the only team committed to the full season and not surprisingly were winners. Will  Paul-Loup Chatin, move up to the Alpine team run by Philippe Sinault in LM P2 next year? The future will tell.

LM GTE and GTC : Ferrari takes all ! The European Le Mans Series season in 2013 gave the 458 Italia it's  first two titles of the year in the various series labelled "Le Mans" . In LM GTE, the Team from GB, RAM Racing driven by Matt Griffin and Johnny Mowlem had  three victories, finally defeating the Proton Competition Porsche 911 team (with two wins) . Note that both companies are neck and neck in the FIA World Endurance Championship : they are tied the top of the FIA Endurance Trophy for LM GTE Pro teams , while three points separate the duo of Giancarlo Fisichella and  Gianmaria Bruni ( Ferrari ) and Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz ( Porsche ) . The GTC class was dominated by the Russian team of SMP Racing with their Ferrari 458 GT3 , which has won four victories in five races, driven by Viktor Shaitor and Kirill Ladygin with the invaluable assistance of experienced drivers like Mika Salo and Fabio Babini , connoisseurs of GT racing with the  Maranello company. The only race that escaped the Russian Ferrari team was the opening round at Silverstone (where they did not compete) , which was won by the BMW Z4 Ecurie Ecosse team.

Please visit the official ELMS site ( http://www.elms.com) for more information and to find the detailed rankings of 2013 on the site.

Jean -Philippe Doret / ACO

Photo: CIRCUIT OF THE 24 HOURS (Le Mans, Sarthe), 24 HOURS OF LE MANS RACE, June 22, 2013. Winner of the European Le Mans Series in 2013 after completing all the races of the season, the Alpine A450 also received the chequered flag in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.