ELMS Preview: 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps
- Aaron Carroll
- 3 hours ago
- 5 min read
The European Le Mans Series enters the second half of it's season this weekend, with 47 LMP2, LMP3 and LMGT3 cars set to hit the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps this weekend, for the series' tenth anniversary at the track.
Championship Standings
LMP2
Esteban Masson, Louis Rousset and Oliver Gray in the No.29 Forestier Racing by Panis have won two out of the first three races this season, but a DNF in the second round at Le Castellet has left them second in the title fight on 52 points.
Ahead of them is the winners of that race in Paul Ricard, Benjamin Hanley, Griffin Peebles and Gregoire Saucy in the No.22 United Autosports car. The trio have yet to step off the podium this season, with third in Barcelona, the win in France and second in Imola leaving them on 58 points.
Bijoy Garg and Reshad De Gerus are third in the No.34 InterEuropol Competition entry. Second in Barcelona and Le Castellet, along with sixth last time out in Imola has then on 45 points.
A further nine points back on 36 is Jamie Chadwick, Laurents Hörr and Valerio Rincella in the No.18 IDEC Sport car. This trio will be looking to step onto the podium for the first time this season, after finishing in fourth place in all three races so far. Fittingly, they sit fourth in the standings.
There's a big gap back to the rest then, with the No.25 Algarve Pro Racing (APR) fifth on 19 points. The No.10 Vector Sport and No.43 InterEuropol cars come in closely behind, both on 18, with the No.24 IDEC Sport car and No.29 Nielsen Racing car both on 17. The No.37 CLX car has 16, with the No.9 Proton Competition rounding out the standings on 10.
LMP2 Pro/Am
The No.20 APR car of Enzo Trulli, Michael Jensen and Malthe Jakobsen and the No.7 Vector Sport of Jens Reno Moller, Lorenzo Fluxa and Cem Bolukbasi sit together at the top on 43 points. The former won the season opener in Barcelona, while the latter took their win last time out in Imola.
It's close behind them too, with the No.30 Duqiene of Doriane Pin, Richard Verschoor and Giorgio Roda on 38 points, with Antonio Fuoco, Francois Perrodo and Mathieu Vaxiviere in the No.83 AF Corse just two points behind.
The No.19 Rossa Racing by Virage entry comes next on 28 points, with the No.27 Nielsen Racing and the No.21 United Autosports in sixth and seventh, tied on 25 points. Interestingly, the former of which won at Paul Ricard, while failing to score at either of the other two events so far this season.
Just behind them is the No.14 TDS Racing entry on 24 points, with the No.99 AO by TF entry ninth on 22 points. Rounding out the top 10 is the No.47 CLX car on 10 points, with the No.3 DKR Engineering car on 9. The No.88 Proton Competition car brings up the rear, on just three points.
LMP3
It's Alivse Rodella, Jose Fernandes Cautela and Mikkel Gaarde Pederson atop LMP3 in the No.5 Rinaldi Racing entry. A win in Barcelona and second last time out leave them on 49 points, eight ahead of Alexander Bukhantsov, Chun Ting Chou and Henry Cubides Olarate (who has one point less after missing Imola) in the No.13 Inter Europol.
Third on 40 points is reigning champion Paul Lanchere, alongside Alexander Jacoby and standout debutant in Imola, Louis Iglesias. The latter has only 26 points to his name, being the pole and win the crew secured last time out after replacing Bruno Ribeiro.
Fourth is the No.85 R-ACE GP crew on 31 points, who are the only team not running a Ligier in LMP3 this year - the Duqueine D09 being their choice of machinery. The No.8 Team Virage is two points adrift in fifth, with the No.4 DKR Engineering and No.35 Ultimate cars one and three points further back respectively.
It's only another two back to the No.11 Eurointernational car, with M Racing's No.68 (20 points) and Racing Spirit of Leman's No.31 (16 points) bringing up the rear.
LMGT3
TF Sport and Corvette are on a bit of a roll in LMGT3 racing. Wins at Le Mans and São Paulo in the World Endurance Championship (WEC), and Alec Udell, Blake McDonald and Charlie Eastwood taking victory last time out in Imola. That win, paired with second in Paul Ricard, puts them on top on 44 points.
That's just one point ahead of the chasing No.75 Proton Porsche. Matthew Kurzejewski, Richard Lietz and Thomas Sargent's win in Barcelona, alongside seventh and fourth in the other races put them right in contention.
Daniel Serra, Mathys Jaubert and Takeshi Kimura in the No.57 Kessel Racing Ferrari didn't score in Imola, but third and first in the other races give them 40 points and a fighting chance going into the second half of the year.
The No.62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx Mercedes is fourth on 32 points, closely followed by the No.77 Proton Porsche. The No.55 Spirit of Race and No.86 GR Racing Ferrari's are next on 22 and 21 points, ahead of the No.23 United Autosports McLaren on 18. The McLaren has failed to score in Paul Ricard or Imola, their only points coming from a second place all the way back in Barcelona.
The No.54 High Class Racing Porsche, No.50 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari and the No.63 Iron Lynx Mercedes are all tied up for ninth on 14 points, just four ahead of the No.51 AF Corse Ferrari. Finally comes the No.59 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin on three, with the No.74 Kessel Ferrari picking up their solitary point last time out.
The track
The 4.3 mile (7.004 km) Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps is a staple of any form of motor racing in Europe and one of the most popular and well known tracks in the world.
It's easy to see why with corners such and Eau Rouge and Radillion winding up the circuits steepest hill. At the top of this hill, drivers will find themselves blasting down towards Les Combes, where they'll be hard on the brakes before the right-left-right complex. This is where we'll be seeing the most overtaking action during Sunday's race.
Some may try a late send into the next right handed hairpin of Bruxelles, but this is unlikely once traffic gets involved. From there it's through the high speed Double Gauche (better known and Pouhon), then winding through the rest of sector 2.
Sector 3 consists of a couple of flat out kinks, and the infamous Blancimont left hander. Most drivers will be flat out here during qualifying, with the LMP2 cars well over 250 kph at the apex. Finally it's the slow bus stop chicane, before drivers head back across the line and down to the La Source hairpin and up Eau Rouge once again.
Weather
Spa can always throw anything at the teams and drivers when it comes to weather, and that could be the case this weekend.
Friday and Saturday have about a 40-50% chance of rain around practice and qualifying time, with that dropping to just 15% on Sunday. Temperatures will be around 17/18 degrees celsius, with fairly light wind across the weekend.
Schedule
Wednesday saw a Collective Test session for all teams and drivers, with the full weekend action kicking off on Friday morning. Free Practice 1 at 11:00 local time gives drivers 90 minutes to prepare, with the Bronze drivers given a further 30 minutes at 14:10.
Saturday starts off with FP2 at 9:00 local time, before qualifying at 12:30. The main event gets underway at 13:00 on Sunday, running for four hours to 17:00.
Fans and the track and those tuning in on YouTube can also enjoy action from the Ligier European Series and the Le Mans Cup.
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