Focus on the ELMS Championship rankings

Following an event run under extreme weather conditions in Great Britain at Silverstone in April, and a nail biting encounter in Italy at the Imola circuit, the ELMS grid is in good shape with 28 cars represented on the points' tables.

In the series' top category, 10 teams are sharing the LMP2 points.   With a 3rd place at Silverstone and a victory in Imola, Thiriet by TDS Racing leads with 40 points ahead of Race Performance and Signatech Alpine who are both on 30 points.  Jota Sport, with its win at Silverstone, holds 4th place with 27 points, in front of Boutsen Ginion Racing (16 points), Morand Racing (15 points) and Murphy Prototypes (14 points).  Greaves Motorsport is 8th with 10 points, ahead of DKR Engineering (8 points) and HVM Status (4 points).

In the drivers' classification, Pierre Thiriet leads with 40 points ahead of Michel Frey (Race Performance), Nelson Panciatici (Signatech Alpine), Patric Niederhauser (Race Performance) and Pierre Ragues (Signatech Alpine) – all on 30 points.  Oliver Turvey and Simon Dolan (Jota Sport) have accumulated a total of 27 points and head Mathias Beche (Thiriet by TDS Racing) who is in 4th place with 25 points and Jonathan Hirschi (5th/19 points).  In 6th place in the drivers' standings are Bastien Brière, John Hartshorne and Thomas Dagonau (Boutsen Ginion Racing) who have each garnered 16 points since the start of the season.

In LMPC there will be four cars entered for the Austrian race.  However, with the Algarve Pro Racing Team making its ELMS debut in Austria, just three are currently in the overall standings after Imola.  It's the No. 49 entry of Team Endurance Challenge which leads with 45 points, ahead of No. 48 (43 points) and No. 47 (15 points), all entered under the same team colours.  In terms of drivers, the No. 49 duo of Gary Hirsch and Paul Loup Chatin occupy the first two places with 45 points each.  Anthony Pons and Soheil Ayari (No. 48) are close behind with 43 points each, while Alex Loan and his teammate Matthew Lecuyer follow with 15 points.

Eight LMGTE cars share the points in that category.  The No.52 and 53 Ferrari 458 Italias of Ram Racing occupy first and third places with 45 and 30 points respectively.  Proton Competition is currently between the two with 35 points, with JMW Motorsport and AF Corse's No.55 entry on 24 points in 4th and 5th places.  IMSA Performance Matmut is at 6th with 16 points ahead of Prospeed Competition and the No.54 AF Corse Ferrari who have accumulated 10 points each.

Twenty-two LMGTE drivers are listed in the overall standings.  Johnny Mowlem and Matt Griffin are ranked first with 45 points, while Christian Ried and Gianluca Roda (Proton Competition No. 77) take second place with 35 points on the scoreboard.   Americans Frankie Montecalvo and Gunnar Jeannette are holding 3rd with 30 points, while Nick Tandy follows with 25 points.  Five drivers occupy the 5th spot with 24 points: Andrea Bertolini, Federico Leo, Joel Camathias, Marco Cioci and Piergiuseppe Perazzini.  Patrice Milesi is 6th with 16 points.

The ELMS Trophy for the GTC category is provisionally in the hands of the Ecurie Ecosse team which leads the class after its victory in England and 3rd place in Italy (40 points).  AF Corse follows with 36 points ahead of Imola newcomers, the Russian SMP Racing team, which is currently 3rd in the series with 25 points.  Momo Megatron DF1 is 4th with 16 points, and the other two SMP Racing cars occupy 5th and 6th places with 12 and 10 points on the scoreboard respectively.  Kox Racing completes the list of GTC teams.

Andrew Smith and Ollie Millroy (Ecurie Ecosse) are leading the drivers' standings with 40 points each. They are ahead of Andrea Rizzoli, Lorenzo Casé and Stefano Gai (36 points), and Alasdair McCaig, Fabio Babini, Kirill Ladygin and Viktor Shaitar with their respective 25 points each.  Dylan Derdaele, Kuba Giermaziak and Raffi Bader have 16 points, while Joe Twyman has 15 points and is in 13th place in the GTC drivers' classification.

Come along this weekend for the third round of the 2013 ELMS.  It will be the first ELMS race on this track and teams and drivers will be going all out to establish endurance records at the Red Bull Ring, and to score the first points in the discipline at the Austrian track.