ELMS Heads to Le Castellet Showdown

France is well represented on grid for the fourth race of the 2017 season. Over 25 percent of the drivers will race with the French tricolour on the roof, 7 French team of the 28 that will line up on Sunday afternoon and 25 of the 35 cars are from a French chassis manufacturer - Oreca, Ligier or Norma.

LMP2: G-Drive Racing and United Autosports Head to Head

G-Drive Racing are now leading the LMP2 category with Memo Rojas and French driver Leo Roussel currently on 62 points.  They are joined in Le Castellet for the second time this season by Nicolas Minassian, who is racing in the place of Japan’s Ryo Hirakawa.  The highly experienced Frenchman helped the team to their third podium of the season at the Red Bull Ring in the orange and black Oreca 07-Gibson. 

United Autosports are currently second after scooping the victory in Austria to go with their win at Silverstone in April.  Filipe Albuquerque, Hugo De Sadeleer and Will Owen are currently on 58 points and will be looking to move ahead of the G-Drive Racing team in France.

There are 11 other French drivers on the LMP2 grid and 3 French teams.  The no23 Panis Barthez Competition Ligier JS217-Gibson features an all French driver line up with Fabien Barthez joining Timothe Buret and Nathanael Berthon. 

The no39 Graff Oreca-Gibson also features an all French crew of Eric Trouillet, Paul Petit and Enzo Guibbert and travel to Le Castellet after scoring their first podium finish of the season in the Red Bull Ring.

The third all French team is the no28 IDEC Sport Racing Ligier of Patrice Lafargue, Paul Lafargue and Olivier Pla. 

The other French drivers are former LMP2 24 Hours of Le Mans champion Nicolas Lapierre, who is racing in the no21 Dragonspeed Oreca, and Andrea Pizzitola in the no25 Algarve Pro Racing Ligier.

LMP3: Too Close to Call

The 17 car LMP3 grid is made up of 14 Ligier JS P3s and 3 Norma M30s, which are all powered by the same Nissan engine.  There are thirteen French drivers amongst the 46 drivers with three 100% French teams.

The all French no17 Ultimate Ligier of Jean-Baptiste Lahaye, Mathieu Lahaye and Francois Heriau are currently tied on 45 points with the no2 United Autosports crew of Americans John Falb and Sean Rayhall but are classified as second due to the Americans win in Silverstone.

M.Racing –YMR are fielding two cars both filled with French driving talent under the watchful eye of former multiple World Touring Car Champion Yvan Muller.  The no19 Norma M30 will be driven by Yann Ehrlacher and round 2 race winner Erwin Creed.  The no18 Ligier crew of Alexandre Cougnaud, Antoine Jung and Romano Ricci are lying in third place in the championship table, just 2 points behind the leading Ultimate and United Autosports crews.

The no16 Panis Barthez Competition Ligier will see Eric Debard and Simon Gachet joined by American Theo Bean.  French team Duqueine Engineering will also run three French drivers in their two cars with Nicolas Schatz in the no7 Norma, while Vincent Beltoise and Nicolas Merlin will race in the no8 Norma

LMGTE: Aston Martin v Ferrari v Porsche

There are no French drivers or teams in the hotly contested LMGTE category.  Salih Yoluc, Euan Hankey and Nicki Thiim are currently on 59 points at the head of the championship table in the no90 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage, 6 points ahead of the no66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari F488 of Jody Fannin, 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans LMGTE Am drivers champion Rob Smith, with Jonny Cocker joining the team for the third time this season.

Round 3 winners Aaron Scott, Matt Griffin and Duncan Cameron are on 38 points in the no55 Spirit of Race Ferrari F488.  They are tied on 38 points with the no77 Proton Competition Porsche of Christian Ried, Joel Camathias and Matteo Cairoli and with the no99 Beechdean AMR Aston Martin of 2016 ELMS Champions Andrew Howard and Darren Turner, who are joined once again by fellow British driver Ross Gunn.

The 4 Hours of Le Castellet will take place on Sunday 27 August and is round 4 of the six race 2017 European Le Mans Series.

CLICK HERE for the provisional entry list for the 4 Hours of Le Castellet.