IDEC Sport No.18 win the ELMS 4 Hours of Paul Ricard
- Aaron Carroll
- 2 minutes ago
- 10 min read
Written by Aaron Carroll
The No.18 IDEC Sport LMP2 car driven by Jamie Chadwick, Mathys Jaubert and Daniel Juncadella and backed by Genesis Magma Racing have won the second round of the ELMS season at Circuit Paul Ricard for the 4 Hours of Le Castellet
The second round of the European Le Mans Series got underway at 12pm local time today at the Circuit Paul Ricard in the south of France. The No.43 InterEurpol LMP2 led the field away from pole position ahead of four hours of racing.
We got underway with a damp track, different teams making decisions on tyre choice. Some decided to take wet tyres, while the rest took slicks. Included in those runners on the wet tyres was the pole sitting No.43 car. There was also a threat of more rain in the area as the formation laps got underway.
The No.29 LMP2 PRO/AM car spun at the end of the first formation lap, but got going again back to its grid spot. One of the LMGT3 Ferraris also had a spin on the formation laps.
The race got underway with the No.43 leading the way as the field tip toed into turn one. The No.22 United Autosports car spun around at turn one as the wet tyre runners proved to be quicker than those on slicks.
Rain fell on the track as the cars went around on their first tour, with a largely mixed up order. LMP3's ahead of LMP2's and LMGT3's ahead of LMP3's, tyre choice at the start proved crucial.
The AF Corse LMP2, the No.8 LMP3 came out of the opening lap with damage, plenty of debris across the track after a huge hit between the two cars. The safety car was needed to clear the debris. The No.83 AF Corse was into the pits immediately to repair the damage, alongside the No.8 which was wheeled into the garage to take no further part in the race.
The No.83 spun around in the final sector, and then got hit by the fast approaching No.8 LMP3. Both cars received heavy damage.
After the melee at the start, the No.43 led from pole, followed by the No.25 APR car and the No.37 CLX Pure Rxcing car. In LMP2 PRO/AM the No.27 Nielsen Racing car led, with the NO.12 Rinaldi car leading LMP3 from 13th overall, despite there being 20+ LMP2's. The only LMGT3 to start on wets, the No.55 Ferrari led that class, ahead of multiple prototypes.
We sooner got back to green flag running, with the pit lane never opening for tyre changes so there was still a mix of tyre choices in the field. The No.9 LMP2 spun around on cold tyres at turn one on the restart.
The No.12 and the No.68 battled on the first lap after green flags for the lead in LMP3, as the pair sat in the middle of the LMP2 field. The No.88 and No.35 got together and spun round at turn 13 as the rain continued to fall.
The No.43 and No.25 began to battle for the lead, the pair side-by-side into the final sector. There was small contact between the two as the rain fell harder, but the No.25 hung it out around the outside to take the lead of the 4 Hours of Le Castellet.
Behind that pair, the No.27 PRO/AM Nielsen car past the No.37 PRO car for third overall. At this point in the race some of the dry runners headed for the pit lane to switch to wets.
The No.74 Kessel Ferrari took too much kerb coming onto the back straight and spun around, as it became almost impossible for the slick tyre runners to keep pace with the leaders and the rain fell harder.
Back in the lead battle in LMP3, the No.68 and No.12 sat in sixth and seventh overall, with the LMGT3 leader in 11th overall. The Ferrari soon fell back down as quicker cars recovered from their pit stops.
Strangely, the No.25 leading car came into the pits, despite already being on wet weather tyres. The lead was given back up to the No.48 InterEuropol car.
The No.60 Proton Porsche spun, surprisingly staying on slicks in LMGT3. As did the No.57 Kessel Ferrari. The No.57 eventually came into the pits, however the Porsche stayed out. At the lead of the class the No.55 had a lead of over a minute on the No.85 Iron Dames.
With 45 minutes of the race gone by, the No.77 Proton LMP2 PRO/AM driven by Giorgio Roda got past the No.29 TDS Racing car for fourth in class and 16th overall. The No.21 LMP2 PRO/AM would also have a spin out of Siene corner, running in fifth overall.
The No.51 Ferrari spun soon after too, with the No.60 car going around on the same lap in separate incidents.
The No.27 LMP2 PRO/AM leader came into the pits for a scheduled stop, along with the No.88 LMP3. The LMP3 coming in with damage after being the cause of the spinning No.60 Porsche.
The No.37 CLX LMP2 went into the barrier at the exit of turn 10, a place where multiple cars were struggling for grip. The stricken ORECA 07 brought out the second safety car of the race.
This interruption would bunch up the field, eradicating all of the gaps in the field, including the gap for the overall lead, and the lead in LMGT3.
We went back to green flag racing with the No.43 still in the lead, but came into the pits for their first fuel stop after more than an hour, where LMP2 cars normally need to pit after 45-50 minutes. The No.9 Iron Lynx-Proton car also came in, as the pair fell behind all of the cars who had already pit for wets much earlier.
About 20 minutes later, many of the other LMP2's came into the pits, reshuffling the order again. With the No.25 APR leading, the rain began to get heavier again. The spray coming off of the cars got thicker and thicker, leaving a bit of a fog over some parts of the track as cars constantly went by.
The No.74 Kessel Ferrari was tagged by an LMP2 and hit the barriers just before pit entry, having to come straight into the pits for repairs.
The No.25 APR leading car came into the pits, handing the lead over to the No.9 Iron Lynx-Proton car. Meanwhile in LMP2 PRO/AM Giorgio Roda in the No.77 took the class lead from the No.27 of Sergio Sette Camara.
The first FCY (Full-Course Yellow) of the race came out for some debris between turns three and four, and on the main straight. After we went back to green, the No.22 United Autosports LMP2 had a spin, but got back going relatively quickly.
The No.29 TDS Racing car took second from the No.27 Nielsen Racing car in LMP2 PRO/AM, seventh and eighth overall. Clément Novalak in the No.29 was on a charge, getting past the No.47 CLX Motorsport car for sixth overall.
During the lap one melee, the No.18 IDEC Sport car got involved in an incident, but over the course of the next two hours recovered to fourth in LMP2 and overall. Daniel Juncadella in the No.18 was fighting Vladislav Lomko in the No.10 Vector Sport car for third at that point in the race.
The second placed No.24 Nielsen car went straight on at the chicane on the back straight, Ferdinand Habsburg having to weave through the bollards and come back onto the track.
The No.29 TDS car quickly caught the No.77 Proton for the lead in LMP2 PRO/AM with Novalak still on the charge and looking for a way by. Meanwhile the No.18 of Juncadella was still looking for a way past the No.10 just ahead of the PRO/AM pairing on the road.
Novalak sold René Binder a dummy down to turn one, but Binder in the No.77 came back at the TDS car to retake the place. All of the time the two battled, Nick Yelloly in the No.43 InterEuropol was catching them.
The race leading No.68 LMP3 got a drive-through penalty for a pass around infringement under the safety car. Back in the LMP2 battles the No.29 and No.43 both pit for scheduled stops.
The No.18 LMP2 was catching the No.10 for second place, but pit before he could mount an attack. A slower stop for the No.10 dropped them to tenth, awarding Juncadella in the No.18 second, behind the No.9 Iron Lynx car.
A lap later the No.10 went off the track, and spun while rejoining, dropping him to ninth place. Although the track was almost dry, there were still wet patches catching drivers out. Lap times dropped rapidly, the fastest lap time dropping by eight seconds in the space of four laps at one point.
Many of the cars began to switch from wet tyres, over to the yellow side-walled slick tyres as the track was drying out.
The No.9 car who had been leading overall had a tyre come off when he exited the pit, the car had to return to the garage, out of contention. A lap later the No.28 IDEC Sport car hit the barrier in turn 6, triggering a safety car.
The No.28 was tagged by the No.34 InterEuropol car, sending the IDEC Sport car into the wall and out of the race. The No.28 got going again, albeit with heavy damage and a lap down. The No.34 also had bodywork hanging off the car.
The No.9 car came back out of the garage, multiple laps down but still in contention for points if one or two more cars had trouble in the LMP2 class.
We went green with just over an hour remaining, with the No.24 in the overall lead. The No.77 Proton car led LMP2 PRO/AM from sixth overall, with the No.68 leading LMP3 and the No.63 Iron Lynx Mercedes leading LMGT3.
Ferdinand Habsburg in the lead car got away well from the restart, with the No.47, No.30 and No.18 battling for third, fourth and fifth behind. Habsburg came into the pits however, leaving the No.10 in the lead.
The No.10, No.47 and No.30 would all follow suit the next lap, leaving the No.18 in the lead. The IDEC Sport car backed by Genesis Magma Racing had already completed their stop before the safety car.
Behind Jaubert in the lead, there was a train of five LMP2 PRO/AM cars, led by the No.77 Proton car of Bent Viscaal. They were still being chased by the No.29 TDS Racing car, now driven by Mathias Beche.
The No.43 InterEuropol car sitting in sixth overall at the time, recieved a drive-through penalty for the earlier incident with the No.28, with the No.20 just ahead also getting a drive-through for not following the race directors instructions.
There was more trouble for the No.9 car, with bodywork hanging from the front-left of the car. Matteo Cairoli had to limp back to the pits for more repairs.
Many of the LMP2 PRO/AMs that were in the lead group came into the pits for their final pit stops, with the No.29 taking the lead of that class. Meanwhile the No.51 LMGT3 Ferrari went for a high speed spin at siene corner, but rejoined with no significant damage.
The No.29, No.27, No.43 and No.77 all pit on the same lap, as all of the pit crews got to work to get their car out ahead of the rest. Meanwhile in LMP3, the No.17 CLX car took the lead in class from the No.68 which had led most of the race.
The No.12 LMP3 ran out of fuel in the pit lane too, having to be pushed back to its box by the team.
The No.24 came out ahead of the LMP2 PRO/AMs, with the No.29 in third overall and the lead in PRO/AM. Then came the No.27 PRO/AM and the No.21 PRO/AM as the No.18 IDEC Sport car came into and out of the pits, still in the lead of the race with 40 minutes to go.
Mathias Beche in the No.29 made a mistake and dropped from third overall, down to sixth. From first to third in LMP2 PRO/AM too. The No.27 Nielsen Racing car took the LMP2 PRO/AM lead because of Beche's mistake.
He was soon caught by Louis Delétraz in the No.99 'Spike the Dragon' LMP2 PRO/AM. Delétraz made quick work of Beche, moving up to third in class and fifth overall.
In LMGT3, the No.50 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari took the lead from the No.63 Iron Lynx Mercedes through pit stops. Lilou Wadoux had an 8 second lead with 25 minutes remaining in the race.
Louis Delétraz soon caught the No.99 and began trying to get past Marino Sato in the No.21 United Autosports car for third overall and second in LMP2 PRO/AM. 'Spike' soon found a way past the United car, as the No.86 defended from the No.55 for third in LMGT3.
Through traffic the No.18 lost time to the No.27 in the battle for the lead with under 10 minutes to go. James Allen in the Nielsen car chasing Jaubert for the win. The gap soon came back out to two seconds however.
However there was a battle for fourth overall, between the No.43 and No.21. Tom Dillmann in the No.43 got past, but Sato behind didn't give the place up easilt, but eventually had to settle for fifth, as he needed to bring the car into the pits again for emergency fuelling.
The No.18 IDEC Sport car crossed the line to win the LMP2 class for the second time this season, and their first overall win. The No.27 Nielsen Racing car finished second overall but they took the win in LMP2 PRO/AM.
In LMP3 it was the No.17 CLX Motorsport car making it two wins from two this season, with Lilou Wadoux holding off the No.63 Mercedes to take the win in the No.50 Ferrari.
Race Results - Top 10
1st No.18 IDEC Sport - Chadwick, Juncadella, Jaubert
2nd No.27 Nielsen Racing - Wells, Allen, Sette Santos (PRO/AM)
3rd No.99 AO Racing - Hyett, Delétraz, Cameron (PRO/AM)
4th No.43 InterEuropol - Dillmann, Smiechowski, Ghiotto
5th No.29 TDS Racing - Sales, Beche, Novalak (PRO/AM)
6th No.77 Proton Competition - Roda, Binder, Viscaal (PRO/AM)
7th No.21 United Autosports - Sato, Schneider, Jarvis (PRO/AM)
8th No.47 CLX Motorsport - Espiritio Santo, E. Fittipaldi, Derani
9th No.10 Vector Sport - Cullen, Lomko, P. Fittipaldi
10th No.20 APR - Lentoudis, Quinn, Caldwell (PRO/AM)
