ELMS 2013 - The GTC Class season

After a hotly contested first season, the Russian SMP Racing team won the European Le Mans Series Team Trophy for the GTC class, and the Italo-Russian line up of Fabio Babini, Viktor Shaitar and Kirill Ladygin ELMS were presented with the ELMS Trophy for the best GTC drivers.

At the first round, three GTC class constructors made the trip:  Ferrari, Audi and BMW.  Running alongside the opening round of the FIA World Endurance Championship at the Silverstone circuit, the race took place in dreadful weather conditions with incessant rain.  The BMW Z4 of the British Ecurie Ecosse team, driven by Andrew Smith, Alasdair McCaig and Ollie Millroy, was leading at the conclusion of a race stopped after 75 % distance ahead of the AF Corse Ferrari F458 Italia GT3 of Lorenzo Casé, Andrea Rizzoli and Stefano Gai. The Team Momo Megatron Audi R8 LMS, running in the colours of the United States, took third place in the hands of an assortment of nationalities: the Belgian Dylan Derdaele, Swiss Raffi Bader and Pole Kuba Germaniac.

Ferrari 1-2 in Imola

The second 2013 ELMS round took place on Italian soil as part of a joint event with the French FFSA GT Tour.  From Imola there were seven GTC cars on track, a new marque making its debut in the form of Kox Racing's Lamborghini Gallardo LP600 GT3.  There was also the debut of a new team, one determined to make its mark in the ELMS.  SMP Racing entered three Ferrari F458 Italia GT3s and won the race with the No. 69 driven by Fabio Babini, Viktor Shaitar and Kirill Ladygin. The No.62 Ferrari of the Italian AF Corse team, driven by Rizzoli, Casé and Gai took second in its home race ahead of the Ecurie Ecosse BMW Z4 (Andrew Smith, Joe Twyman and Ollie Millroy)

The next three 2013 ELMS events would share the paddock with the World Series by Renault, firstly in Austria, then Hungary and finally in France. At the famous Red Bull Ring, the GTC class had six cars from two manufacturers, Momo Megatron having withdrawn from this race and subsequently from the remainder of the season. SMP Racing's Kirill Ladygin, Viktor Shaitar and Fabio Babini once again claimed the top step of the category's podium, ahead of AF Corse and Ecurie Ecosse, the same podium as in Italy.

The Hungaroring hosted the penultimate round of the ELMS in mid-September and again saw the Russian team beat its GTC competitors, heading its No.72 sister F458 Italia GT3 of Alexander Frolov, Luca Persiani and Devi Markozov. AF Corse finished on the third step of the Hungarian podium before an impressive crowd of spectators. 

The success of the new category

For the last race of the season the GTC class fielded its highest number of cars, eight being registered.  SMP Racing had three Ferraris plus there was one for AF Corse and one for the new Scuderia Villorba Corse team. Ecurie Ecosse and DKR Engineering entered a BMW Z4 each and Kox Racing had one Lamborghini Gallardo LP600.  By the time of the final race, at the Paul Ricard circuit in the south of France, all the titles were still to be attributed.  The leading Russians were only five points ahead of their nearest rivals, the Italians from AF Corse, while 20 points separated them from the BMW Z4 of Ecurie Ecosse. Everyone had to go all out to win not only the race, but also the GTC Trophy for the best team as well as that for the best drivers.  The stakes were, in fact, even greater because the class winner would be offered an invitation to participate in the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMGTE Am category:  the Russian SMP Racing team securing this honour.

Final classification GTC Class: