ELMS Preview: 4 Hours of Imola

The start of last years 4 Hours of Imola | Credit: Jan Patrick Wagner

The European Le Mans Series (ELMS) returns for the first time in two months this weekend. The LMP2, LMP3 and LMGT3 grids take to the Autodromo Enzo E Dino Ferrari this weekend in Imola.

Championship Standings

LMP2

Griffin Peebles, Gregiore Saucy and Benjamin Hanley lead the way in LMP2 in their No.22 United Autosports machine. A win last time out in Paul Ricard, and third place in the season opener in Barcelona leaves them on 40 points at the head of the field.

The car in second place - Inter Europol's No.34 - has finished in second at every event this year. Bijoy Garg and Reshad De Gerus have taken P2 in both Barcelona and Le Castellet, and to add on top of that they finished second in LMP2 in Le Mans last month as part of Inter Europol's No.343 entry alongside Nico Müller. They are just three points behind the No.22, on 37 points.

There's a gap of 11 points back to the No.29 Forestier Racing by Panis entry of Louis Rousset, Oliver Gray and Esteban Masson. The trio won out in Barcelona, but a DNF in France after securing pole position leaves them on 26 points. The trio since secured a podium finish at Le Mans.

Jamie Chadwick, Valerio Rincella and Laurents Hörr sit fourth place on 24 points in the No.18 IDEC Sport entry, after two fourth place finishes so far this season. Rounding out the top five in the championship is the No.10 Vector Sport entry on 18 points. Ryan Cullen, Vladislav Lomko and Pietro Fittipaldi secured sixth and fifth place finishes in both of the opening rounds.

Then comes the No.28 IDEC Sport car and the Le Mans winning No.43 Inter Europol crew, both tied on 16 points. The No.37 CLX Motorsport entry has 12 points, ahead of the No.24 Nielsen crew on seven. The No.9 Proton crew and the No.25 Algarve Pro Racing (APR) team finish off the standings, both on four points.

LMP2 Pro-Am

Credit: Oriol Franch

Giorgio Roda, Doriane Pin and Richard Verschoor top the standings in Pro-Am in their No.30 Duqiene car, with a pair of second places and pole in Barcelona leaving them on 31 points at the top. Five points back is the No.83 AF Corse machine of Francois Perrodo, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Antonio Fuoco, after second in Barcelona and sixth in Le Castellet.

Then come this season's two winners so far. The No.20 APR car (Mikkel Jensen, Enzo Trulli, Malthe Jakobsen) and the No.27 Nielsen Racing entry (Alex Quinn, Kriton Lentoudis, James Allen) both sit on 25 points. APR won in Barcelona, while Nielsen won in France, but both failed to score points in the other race.

The No.14 TDS Racing car of Steven Thomas, Sami Meguetounif and Scott Huffaker sit fifth on 24 points after two consistent fourth place finishes.

Then comes the No.99 AO by TF 'Spike the Dragon' entry on 20 points, closely followed by the No.7 Vector Sport entry on 18 points and the No.19 Rossa Racing by Virage car on 16. Filling the bottom four spots is the No.21 United Autosports entry on 10 points, the No.3 DKR Engineering on five points, the No.88 Proton machine and the No.47 CLX Motorsport car both on two points.

LMP3

Alexander Bukhantsov, Henry Cubides Olarate and Chun Ting Chou lead the way in their No.13 Inter Europol car, coming off third place in Barcelona and a win in Paul Ricard. Their 40 point total gives them a lead of nine points over the Barcelona winners, the No.5 Rinaldi Racing Ligier of Jose Fernandes Cautela, Alvise Rodella and Mikkel Gaarde Pederson.

The No.85 R-ACE GP entry is the only Duqiene D09 on the grid - and the only non-Liger - and it sits third in the standings on 27 points. Fabien Michal, Pierre-Alexandre Provost and Hugo Schwarze finished second in Barcelona (from pole) and sixth in Le Castellet.

Fourth is the No.35 Ultimate entry on 20 points, two points ahead of the No.68 M Racing car and the No.4 DKR Engineering car, both on 18 points. Tied for seventh on 14 points are the No.8 Team Virage car and the No.17 CLX Motorsport car. The No.11 Eurointernational is ninth on 12 points, with the No.31 Racing Spirirt of Leman car bringing up the rear on eight points.

LMGT3

The No.57 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Takeshi Kimura, Mathys Jaubert and Daniel Serra lead the way on 40 points, with third in Barcelona and a win in France. They're nine points ahead of the No.75 Proton Competition Porsche of Matt Kurzejewski, Thomas Sargent and Richard Lietz who are on 31 after winning in Barcelona, but only seventh in Paul Ricard.

You then have to go a further 11 points back to the next car, the No.55 Ferrari on 20 points. The No.23 United Autosports McLaren and the No.33 TF Sport Corvette are tied on 18 points, after both cars finished second and failed to score in the other race so far.

The No.96 GR Racing Ferrari is sixth on 15 points, just one ahead of a three way tie for seventh. The No.62 Qatari Iron Lynx Mercedes (pole in both races so far), the No.77 Proton Porsche and the No.63 Iron Lynx Mercedes have all amassed 14 points so far this season.

The No.50 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari rounds out the top 10 on 10 points. The No.54 High Class Porsche is next on four points, ahead of the No.59 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin on three and the No.51 AF Corse Ferrari on two. The No.74 Kessel Ferrari is the only car in the field that is yet to score a point.

The track

Credit: European Le Mans Series

The three mile (4.9 km) Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari (better known as Imola) is a circuit right in the heart of the town of Imola, in Italy's Emilia-Romagna region. The circuit has 19 corners, 10 to the left and nine to the right.

Turns 1 and 19 here aren't really corners for any of the cars on the ELMS grid, just a pair of kinks that make up the pit straight. That means that the first time the drivers hit the brakes is for turn 2, the Tamburello chicane.

This left, right, left complex is likely to be this weekend's most popular overtaking spot, with drivers able to slipstream the car in front all the way down the main straight. Another possible overtaking spot is turn 7, Tosa. It's much less likely than the aforementioned Tamburello, but it is a spot where drivers might attempt a move late on the brakes.

One of the trickiest sequences of corners on this track are turns 11, 12 and 13. Also known as Acque Minerale, drivers will be braking and turning at the same time as they head downhill into the slow turn 12. The track turns uphill again on the exit on turn 13, making this a tricky one for drivers to get right.

The final corner - Rivazza - is so important to get a good exit out of, because if the drivers don't, they'll be bleeding lap time all the way down the long pit straight.

Another quirk of this track is it's long pit lane. The pits take up the majority of the pit straight, and therefore make pit stops even more costly. Drive-throughs, and extra unneeded pit stops this weekend will prove to be more costly than what the drivers usually experience.

Schedule

The action kicks off on Friday morning at 10:50 local time (09:50 BST) with Free Practice One. At 14:55 (13:55 BST) later that afternoon, the Bronze Driver Test will go green, a session which only Bronze drivers are permitted to drive. That means we will not see any of the LMP2 cars, only LMP2 Pro-Am, LMP3 and LMGT3.

Saturday action kicks off at the same time as Friday, with Free Practice Two at 10:50 (09:50 BST). Then we'll begin qualifying at 14:55 (13:55 BST). Finally the main event will get underway at 13:00 (12:00 BST), and run for four hours.

Fans at the track and those following along at home can also enjoy action from the Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux and Eurocup 3.