First ELMS win for Algarve Pro Racing Team
18 ORECA 07s competed this weekend in the 4 Heures du Castellet, the second round of the European Le Mans Series. At the end of the suspense, it was the Portuguese Algarve Pro Racing Team who took their first ELMS victory!
Under a blazing sun and at the end of a race full of twists and turns that saw two changes of leadership in the last 30 minutes, Algarve Pro Racing Team took the win! James Allen, Kyffin Simpson and Alexander Lynn gave their team their first European Le Mans Series victory.
Just one second behind the winners and after a great battle for victory, Neel Jani, René Binder and Nico Pino Duqueine Team clinched a second consecutive podium after their second place in Barcelona.
Louis Delétraz also took part in the final battle with panache, but was handicapped by his front axle and saw victory slip from his grasp. Nevertheless, he finished a creditable third overall, enabling Racing Team Turkey and team-mates Salih Yoluc & Charlie Eastwood to claim a second success in the Pro Am category.
The Inter Europol Competition team of Rui Andrade, Olli Caldwell and Jonathan Aberdein finished just off the podium, ahead of the #47 ORECA 07 of Jose Maria Lopez, Vladislav Lomko and Reshad De Gerus, which started from pole and secured a top 5 finish.
While still leading the race with 21 minutes to go in the IDEC Sport ORECA 07 #28, Paul-Loup Chatin unfortunately lost out when a puncture forced him back into the pits. He and team-mates Paul Lafargue and Laurents Hörr finished sixth overall.
Seventh place went to the #37 Cool Racing ORECA 07 driven by Nicolas Lapierre, Alexandre Coigny and Malthe Jakobsen, who took second place in the Pro Am category.
In eighth place, Panis Racing put in a fine performance on the track, but a puncture prevented it from finishing higher. Ninth overall, AF Corse climbs to third place in Pro Am, ahead of Nielsen Racing’s #24 and United Autosports’ #21.
After a qualifying session prematurely halted due to a fuel pump problem, the #22 United Autosports ORECA 07 made a fine comeback to finish twelfth overall.
Finally, the ORECA 07s of Proton Competition (#99), Dragonspeed USA (#81), Algarve Pro Racing (#20), DKR Engineering (#3) and United Autosports USA (#23) closed the gap.
After a short summer break, the LMP2s return to Aragon on August 26 for the third round of the ELMS.