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4H Portimao: Graff wins, G-Drive Racing by DragonSpeed is Champion!

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The 4 Hours of Portimao was the final race of the European Le Mans Series. After a highly successful season, with 1 win and 4 podiums in six rounds, G-Drive Racing by DragonSpeed have realised their potential and won the 2017 ELMS, offering the ORECA 07 its first title. French team Graff Racing also ended the season on a high note, clinching a second win with Yacaman/Bradley/Allen’s No. 40 ORECA 07.

A first title for the ORECA 07

This season, four ORECA 07s entered the European Le Mans Series: two raced for American team DragonSpeed, one of which with G-Drive, while another two competed for French squad Graff Racing. Amongst very high-level contenders, the ORECA 07s showed potential. Constantly racing at the front, G-Drive by DragonSpeed’s No. 22 car scored a great amount of points in the overall standings right from the start of the season. Race after race, the Russian team’s ORECA 07 strengthened its leadership and settled in first place without ever ceasing to put pressure on impressive and formidable rival United Autosports which fought until the very last minutes.

Offering this first title to the ORECA 07, against the Ligier and Dallara cars, G-Drive Racing by DragonSpeed confirms the ambitions and motto of its prototype: Licence to Win.

Race report

At the start of the ultimate round of the season, the tension had reached its peak, with each contender looking to play their last cards. In 2nd (21), 3rd (22), 4th (39) and 9th (40) positions on the starting grid, the ORECA prototypes had to make their way amongst dense traffic. During the first lap, all cards got reshuffled and distributed again as the first three ORECAs moved down in the standings. Two laps in and the No. 21 car went off track. No major damage, and Swedish driver Henrik Hedman was able to start again, two laps behind unfortunately.
As for the No. 22 car, it settled in second position while Yacaman caught back up with the No. 40 prototype and placed himself third. At the end of the first hour, the No. 40 went into second place while Graff’s sister car No. 39 was in Top 5.
In the second hour, the race picked up momentum again as the No. 22 prototype came back into the Top 3 while the No. 40 ORECA 07 did let go of the first place – gained just a few moments before – due to a different refueling strategy. The No. 39 car moved down within the Top 10. James Allen (No. 40 ORECA 07), fought his way back towards the front of the race, in second then first position, followed by the No. 22 car.
During the third hour, Hanley made a great comeback on board the No. 21 car, reaching the Top 10 again.
The final hour was hotly contested but also marked by Paul Petit (No. 39 ORECA 07) going off track. The No. 40 car kept on fighting for the first place and the No. 22 prototype managed to secure a Top 5, maintaining its ranking in the championship.

 

Elton Julian: “First I want to thank all of those who have made this possible. Thanks to all team members. Thanks to Henrik Hedman who has offered the team an opportunity to enter this car and thanks to G-Drive. Also, thanks to ORECA for this fantastic car and their support throughout the year. We’re really glad to be champion as this is only our second LM P2 season. Clinching a title in an European competition is very special to me. Finally, a big thank you to our drivers and their great job. Mémo was on top of his game and definitely met our expectations. Ryo was so professional throughout. And Léo moved out of the shadows into the limelight. Just like the whole team itself, the crew was very international too. There was no pressure on our shoulders, yet it’s a real satisfaction to achieve this title. I’m glad that we’ve won against such rivals.”

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