ELMS competitors in good shape at Le Mans 24 Hours Test Day

Unpredictable weather meant that everyone was able to work on their cars’ set up in differing track conditions, both wet and dry, and it was thus that the Irish Murphy Prototypes team clinched the best time from among the ELMS LMP2 runners. With the third fastest time in class overall, behind OAK Racing and Signatech Alpine, Karun Chandhok, in the No.48 ORECA 03 Nissan, headed JOTA Sport and Thiriet by TDS Racing.  The ELMS trio already look to be in the ball park on performance and ready to run at the front of the field as the European series’ teams go into the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Greg Murphy, Principal of the Irish team, was more than satisfied with the day’s running at Le Mans: "I am very pleased with our session. We were able to work on set up and our strategy for the race, and we completed the programme we set out to do.  Setting the fastest time (ELMS) during the second session is great proof of our work, and all our drivers were able to run in all weather conditions. This is a good omen for the coming race.”

JOTA Sport used this opening Le Mans session to allow its three drivers to practice sharing the cockpit of the No.38 Gibson 015S Nissan.  While Simon Dolan was somewhat disappointed with the outcome of a difficult day, Mitch Evans – who turned his first laps at Le Mans – was delighted with his debut outing in the Sarthe.  As for Olivier Turvey, being back with the team with whom he won here last year was enough to fully motivate him in his preparations for the race. The British team set the second fastest time of the ELMS runners just ahead of the No.46 ORECA 05 of Thiriet by TDS Racing. The French team finished the second session in second place, was sixth overall in LMP2 in the combined classification and third among the ELMS entrants.

Tim Greaves, boss of Greaves Motorsport, was meanwhile very happy with the day:  “One of our main tasks today was to qualify Björn Wirdheim which took place without any problems, despite the difficult weather conditions.  We also allowed Gaëtan Paletou (an ELMS LMP3 driver this year) to qualify in case an opportunity [to compete] comes up for him.”

SMP Racing definitely needed the full day of testing to fully prepare for the race. It is still very early days for the new BR01, but reliability seems to be in place even if there is some fine-tuning to be done on the set up.  The Russian team’s No.27 and No.37 cars have been sorely short of track time since their debut at Imola in early May.

Tracy Krohn, at the wheel of the No.40 Ligier JSP2 of Krohn Racing, never managed to do two consecutive laps in the same track conditions! "We gathered a lot of information for the race, but the weather didn’t help us. Now we’re waiting for just one thing, the race!”

Pegasus Racing completed 53 laps on the test day and set the 7th fastest time in LMP2 with the No.29 Morgan-Nissan during the second session. The French team was fourth fastest among the ELMS teams which was an encouraging performance for the race.  At Ibanez Racing, both its No.44 and No.45 ORECA 03Rs participated in testing but only the No.45 will be on the starting grid for the Le Mans 24 Hours.  This test day was a great opportunity for the San Marino-entered team to prepare for its first entry in the twice-round-the-clock classic.

Finally, of the four ELMS LMGTE cars which ran in testing last Sunday two Ferrari 458 Italias will be present on Wednesday for the first day of practice and qualifying: the No.55 AF Corse entry and No.66 of JMW Motorsport. They respectively set the 3rd and 4th fastest times in LMGTE Am during the second session.

All information and times from the Le Mans 24 Hours official test day can be found on www.fiawec.com

Morning session results HERE

Afternoon session results HERE

Photo ACO