Racing Team Turkey earns its first overall win in the ELMS
Eighteen ORECA 07s lined up on the starting grid this weekend in Barcelona for the first round of the 2023 European Le Mans Series. The challenging race ended with Racing Team Turkey, entered in the Pro/Am class, claiming the overall victory. The Turkish team now boasts a general classification win in the ELMS. French outfit Duqueine Team triumphed for the first time on the Pro side.
It was a busy week in Catalunya with both the Prologue and kickoff of this year’s ELMS season on the programme. After shakedowns conducted mid-week, the drivers were impatient for qualifying on Saturday. The 15-minute session saw several teams outperform each other at the top of the timesheet, with COOL Racing’s Reshad de Gerus snatching the pole in 01:29.396 at the wheel of the #37 ORECA 07 in his final lap.
In the Pro/Am class, the first part of the session was dominated by Proton Competition’s #99 ORECA 07, but Racing Team Turkey’s #34 driven by Salih Yoluç ended up clocking the fastest time of 01:30.947.
The public came out in full force for the 4 Hours of Barcelona on Sunday. The round was immediately interrupted in the starting lap following a collision in the first corners, causing the Safety Car to take the track. The remainder of the race was decidedly calmer until the last spellbinding hour when the entire outcome was decided!
As Louis Delétraz was in the lead, a black and orange flag was deployed at the request of Race Direction just 25 minutes from the chequered flag and a pit stop was imposed, bringing the suspense back up to fever pitch. A failure of the rear lights on Racing Team Turkey’s car required the unit to be replaced. Despite a perfectly executed lightning-fast stop, the young Swiss driver came out second behind Duqueine Team’s #30 ORECA 07.
After a few tricky overtaking attempts, Delétraz finally managed to regain the lead and give his Pro/Am team its first overall win in the ELMS.
On the heels of a breathtaking battle, Duqueine Team’s #30 ORECA 07 claimed the second step on the overall podium and won the LMP2 class. The top 3 was completed by AF Corse’s #83 ORECA, second in Pro/Am. Fourth place overall and third in LMP2 Pro/Am went to COOL Racing’s #37 ORECA 07.
Panis Racing’s #65 ORECA 07 finished in the top 5 ahead of IDEC SPORT Racing’s #28 that, despite starting from pit lane one lap behind its competitors and being given a 30-second stop & go penalty, achieved quite an impressive comeback.
Pole-sitter COOL Racing’s #47 ORECA 07 finished in seventh place after incurring a penalty late in the race for contact made with a GTE.
Algarve Pro Racing’s #25 (the victim of a collision mid-race), Nielsen Racing’s #24 (fourth in Pro/Am) and the United Autosports team’s #22 rounded out the top 10.
Trailing the top 10 were the ORECAs fielded by DKR Engineering, Proton Competition, DragonSpeed USA, Algarve Pro Racing’s #20, Team Virage and United Autosports’ #21 and #23, all in the Pro/Am class.
Inter Europol Competition’s #43 ORECA 07 was the only car forced to retire (gearbox problems).
The next round of the 2023 ELMS calendar is the 4 Hours of Le Castellet on Sunday 16 July.
