Victory for United Autosports in Austria

TThe no2 Ligier-Nissan of Sean Rayhall and John Falb took the chequered flag in Austria at the head of the LMP3 class.  There was drama in the last five minutes when Falb was given a drive through penalty for exceeding track limits but the American rejoined ahead of the no11 Eurointernational Ligier to take the win.  

However after the race the no2 United Autosports Ligier JS P3 Nissan was given a 25 second penalty (Stewards Decision no31) because John Falb did not reduce speed to 80kph under Full Course Yellow procedure within the required time. The no11 Eurointernational Ligier of Giorgio Mondini and Davide Uboldi were awarded first place with the no2 United Autosports crew classified in second.

The no55 Spirit of Race Ferrari F488 of Aaron Scott, Duncan Cameron and Matt Griffin came through to take their first win of 2017 on the back of the second place finish at the 24 Hours of Le Mans last month.  Their victory is the fifth ELMS win in five years for Ferrari at the Red Bull Ring.

4 HOURS OF RED BULL RING

• The no22 G-Drive Racing Oreca-Gibson of Léo Roussel led the 36 strong field into the first corner at the start of the race.
• The no32 United Autosports Ligier-Gibson of Hugo De Sadeleer moved up to second place ahead of the no21 DragonSpeed Oreca of Nicolas Lapierre which had dropped back to 4^th behind the no23 Panis Barthez Competition Ligier of Timothé Buret.
• Wayne Boyd in the no3 United Autosports Ligier-Nissan becomes the first casualty of the race after a spin at T1 after the drive shaft failed.  The LMP3 car stopped at T3 and the British driver retired from the race.
• The no9 AT Racing Ligier of Mikkel Jensen gets ahead of the no7 Duqueine Engineering Norma to head the LMP3 class with Sean Rayhall also moving up to second in the no2 United Autosports Ligier at the expense of pole man David Droux.
• The battle for the lead of GTE at the start of the race was won by Aaron Scott in the no55 Spirit of Race Ferrari, who moved ahead of the no51 Ferrari of Giorgio Roda.  The no77 Proton Competition Porsche also passed Roda to push the Italian down to 3^rd.
• The no66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari of Jody Fannin also challenged the top 3 GTE cars  and moves up to second by the end of the first hour with the no55 Ferrari out in front.
• The no6 360 Racing Ligier of Ross Kaiser loses a rear wheel at T3 and the car is retired.
• After the pitstops the no32 United Autosports Ligier of Hugo De Sadeleer emerged in the lead.
• The no19 M Racing –YMR Norma of Yann Ehrlacher returns to the pits and is pushed back into the garage with a starter motor issue.  The car is eventually retired.
• The no55 Ferrari of Duncan Cameron is leading GTE after 75 minutes of racing but is caught and passed by the no66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari of Rob Smith.
• The no11 Eurointernational Ligier-Nissan of Giorgio Mondini is leading the LMP3 class by 4 seconds from Sean Rayhall no2 United Autosports Ligier after 90-minutes of racing.
• The no32 Ligier is taken over by Will Owen and the no22 G-Drive Racing Oreca is now in the hands of Nicolas Minassian.  The French driver catches and passes Owen with 90-minutes left on the clock.
• Aaron Scott jumps back into the no55 Spirit of Race F488 and starts to catch the leading no66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari of Rob Smith. Scott retakes the lead with 1 hour and 28 minutes remaining.
• The no7 Duqueine Engineering of Nicolas Schatz goes off track from the lead of LMP3 at T4 and stops. The car is retired after being craned off the track.
• The no11 Eurointernational Ligier retakes the lead of LMP3 with Davide Uboldi at the wheel.
• Jonny Cocker, now at the wheel of the no66 Ferrari retakes the lead of the LMGTE class from Aaron Scott in the no55 Ferrari.
• With 68 minutes of the race remaining the no21 DragonSpeed Oreca of Henrik Hedman slows and stops on track with no fuel.
• A Full Course Yellow period is called to recover the stranded no 21 Oreca and the no25 Algarve Pro Racing Ligier that had spun off into the gravel trap at T5.
• The battle for the lead of GTE rages between the no66 and no55 Ferraris with the no55 Spirit of Race Ferrari of Matt Griffin goes into the lead when Jonny Cocker’s JMW Ferrari is clipped by an LMP3 car and is pushed wide.
• With 30-minutes remaining rain is reported to be falling at T1 and T3.  The race is declared wet but the heavy rain that was expected never materialised.
• The no22 G-Drive Oreca of Léo Roussel heads to the pits for fuel only with Filipe Albuquerque doing the same 10 minutes later.  The run to the flag is a straight fight between the two cars with a gap of around 10 seconds being maintained by Albuquerque.
• John Falb in the no2 United Autosports Ligier-Nissan is now at the head of the LMP3 category with the no11 Ligier of Davide Uboldi 25 seconds behind the American. But the no2 Ligier is given a drive through penalty for constant abuse of track limits. Falb serves the penalty with 4 minutes remaining and rejoins the track 2 seconds ahead of Uboldi’s car.
• The no55 Ferrari now has a comfortable 11 second lead over the no66 Ferrari in second but the battle for third between the no51 AF Corse Ferrari of Giorgio Roda and the no90 TF Sport Aston Martin of Nicki Thiim is providing great entertainment.  Thiim gets alongside the Ferrari on several occasions and eventually takes the position.  Roda fights back and the battle goes all the way to the chequered flag, with Thiim taking the final podium spot by 0.3 seconds at the end of the four hour race.
• At the chequered flag the no32 Ligier crossed the line 4.554 seconds ahead of the no22 Oreca.  The no39 Graff Oreca was third, 1 lap behind the winner, with the no40 Graff Oreca in 4^th 23 seconds behind the sister car.
• The no2 Ligier won the LMP3 class by just 1.7 seconds ahead of the no11 Ligier.  The no18 M Racing YMR Ligier was third, 59 seconds behind the winning United Autosport Ligier. However the no2 received a post race penalty of 25 seconds and was classified as second with the no11 Ligier in first place.
• The no55 Spirit of Race Ferrari took an exciting GTE encounter, finishing 17.5 second ahead of the no66 JMW Motorsport F488.  The no90 TF Sport Aston Martin was third, 26 seconds behind the winner and just 0.3 seconds ahead of the no51 Ferrari.
• The no22 G-Drive Racing Oreca-Gibson is now on 62 points at mid-season, just 4 points ahead of the no32 United Autosport Ligier-Gibson.
• The no2 United Autosports Ligier-Nissan is now leading the LMP3 class with 45 points level with the no17 Ultimate but is classified in first place due to their win in round 1 at Silverstone.
• The no90 TF Sport Aston Martin heads to the next race still in the lead of the LMGTE category with 59 points, 6 points ahead of the no66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari.

Round 4 of the 2017 European Le Mans Series will take place in France at Le Castellet on Sunday 27 August 2017.

CLICK HERE for the result from the 4 Hours of Red Bull Ring

CLICK HERE for the classification following Round 3 of the 2017 European Le Mans Series (TO FOLLOW SHORTLY)