Prema Racing clinches first win for an Italian team with an ORECA 07

This weekend, 17 ORECA 07 chassis hit the track at the Paul Ricard circuit for the kickoff of the 2022 European Le Mans Series season, with Prema Racing claiming the top step on the podium after a tremendous race. The win marks the first victory for an Italian team with an ORECA 07.

Prema Racing delivered a flawless performance for its first ELMS round in LMP2 and first outing with an ORECA 07. As pole-sitter TDS x Michel Vaillant’s #31 ORECA 07 held the lead, the #9 ORECA 07 fielded by the Italian team slipped into the second spot when United Autosports’ #22 ORECA encountered a wheel problem during a pitstop.

Taking advantage of a series of stops during a Full Course Yellow, Ferdinand Habsburg took the wheel in the second hour, setting a faster pace than Bronze driver Philippe Cimadomo new to the LMP2 class.

The young Austrian driver then gave the wheel to Louis Delétraz who maintained the lead through the checkered flag, giving the Italian team its first victory in LMP2 with 10:936 over its closest rivals.

Meanwhile, Panis Racing, Cool Racing and Algarve Pro Racing battled fiercely for the remaining two podium spots. In the end, after refueling pitstops, three safety car deployments and several Full Course Yellows, Algarve Pro Racing – proudly represented by Sophia Flörsch, celebrating her second podium finish with the team after third place at Portimão in 2021, and Bent Viscaal making his debut in LMP2 – clinched the second step on the podium. After starting from 10th place, the duo steadily gained positions and kept its competitors at bay to reach the podium by the last hour of the round.

Panis Racing rounded out the top 3, proving once again Julien Canal, Job van Uitert and Nicolas Jamin are strong contenders for the title. They finished ahead of IDEC Sport’s Paul-Loup Chatin, Paul Lafargue and Patrick Pilet (fourth) and Cool Racing’s Nicolas Lapierre, Yifei Ye and Niklas Krütten (fifth).

In sixth position overall, Racing Team Turkey won Pro/Am thanks to the especially talented driver line-up of Charlie Eastwood, Jack Aitken and Salih Yoluc.

AF Corse’s #83 ORECA 07 finished second in Pro/Am (eighth overall) and TDS Racing represented by pole-sitter Mathias Beche, Philippe Cimadomo and Tijmen van der Helm rounded out the Pro/Am podium.

The second round of the 2022 ELMS season is set for 15 May at Imola!