Historic Monza is Ready for the 43 Car ELMS Grid

Forty three cars and one hundred and twenty drivers from all around the world representing twenty six nations will compete in the 4 Hours of Monza on Sunday afternoon. This huge grid will feature three Italian teams, one in each of the three classes, and fourteen Italian drivers

The ELMS grid is split into three classes.  LMP2 features several different chassis manufacturers, with three, Ligier, Oreca and Italian manufacturer Dallara, racing in the ELMS, all powered by the Gibson Technology 4.2l engine. 

The no24 Racing Engineering Oreca of Norman Nato, Olivier Pla and Paul Petit took a hard fought debut victory for the Spanish team in France ahead of an all Oreca LMP2 podium but it was close with the top four finishers being covered by less than 12 seconds at the end of the four hour race.

The Italian team Cetilar Villorba Corse will be hoping for a good result in Monza with Brazilian Felipe Nasr replacing Andrea Belicchi and racing alongside Italians Roberto Lacorte and Giorgio Sernagiotto.

LMP3: Italia well represented

In the first race the honours went to the no15 RLR MSport with a dominant performance by Job van Uitert, John Farano and Rob Garofall. The no15 Ligier finished over 30 seconds ahead of the no19 M.Racing-YMR Norma in second and the no11 Eurointernational Ligier with Italian Giogio Mondini and co driver Kay Van Berlo from the Netherlands standing on the third step of the podium.

The LMP3 grid will feature the Italian outfit Oregon Team with Italian driver Riccardo Ponzio being joined by Colombian Andres Mendez and Clement Mateu of France. 

Other Italian drivers on the LMP3 grid are Andrea Dromedari in the no12 Eurointernational, Luca Demarchi in the no14 Inter Europol Competition Ligier and an all Italian driver line up in the no16 BHK Motorsport Ligier JS P3 with Francesco Dracone and Jacopo Baratto.

LMGTE: Ferrari and Porsche head to head

The LMGTE grid sees Ferrari and Porsche go head to head on track, with three 911s against three F488s competing in the 4 Hours of Monza. 

Reigning LMGTE Champions JMW Motorsport from the UK return to defend their hard won 2017 title with the distinctive yellow, red and black Ferrari 488 and got their title defense off to a great start in round one by taking the chequered flag in a dramatic encounter with the no88 Proton Competition Porsche with Italy’s Matteo Cairoli unable to fend off the determined challenge of Spain’s Miguel Molina on the final lap of the race.

Italian team Ebimotors will once again race with the Porsche 911 driven by Italian duo Fabio Babini and Riccardo Pera, who are joined by French driver Raymond Narac. The no83 Krohn Racing Ferrari features 24 Hours of Le Mans winner and former FIA GT1 World champion Andrea Bertolini and the no88 Proton Competition Porsche will feature an all Italian driver lineup with father and son Gianluca and Giorgio Roda being joined in Monza by former FIA WEC LMGTE Pro Champion Gianmaria Bruni, who is standing in for Matteo Cairoli.

The 4 Hours of Monza will once again provide action and drama for the final endurance race before the 24 Hours of Le Mans next month.

CLICK HERE for the entry list for the 4 Hours of Monza, Round 2 of the 2018 European Le Mans Series.