A look back at the 4 Hours of Estoril in the GT categories

After having started from the back of the grid because of an inaccurate tire choice during the qualifying session, the N°52 BMW Z4 of BMW Team MarcVDS achieved little by little to come back to the front to finally win the ultimate rendez-vous of 2015. This victory was a great present from the team to its owner Marc van der Straten, who decided a few weeks ago to definitely stop the four wheel races to get more involved into Moto GP and Moto 2. Andy Priaulx was a happy driver : “It’s a fairytale story, isn’t it? We take a win, from the back of the grid, in the team’s last race… That’s just fantastic. The guys did a mega job today – the strategy was perfect. Those calls are always risky, and Sebastien and Ed (Turner, race engineer) got them absolutely right. The whole team deserve this win, because they’ve been superb all year. It’s such a professional environment. Again, Henry and Jesse were both mega today – Henry’s start was unbelievable! I’m just glad we took this win today. This one’s for the team, for Marc van der Straten and for the fans. Thank you!”

For its very first participation in the ELMS 2015, the n°99 Aston Martin Vantage climbed on the second step of the LMGTE podium. The newly British GT crowned drivers Andrew Howard and Jonathan Adam (with Alexander MacDowall) showed the true potential of the British make and the team.

N°86 Gulf Racing UK Porsche 911 RSR, who can count on a race win at Silverstone at the beginning of the season, made it back to the front in Estoril with the third step, which gives the team the opportunity to finish the season 4th overall. Matt Beers, team manager said: We had a tough weekend. Like for all the teams, the weather was a huge challenge to work around and we struggled to find the best from the car in practice and particularly qualifying. However, come the race, the drivers all did a fantastic job and the strategy worked out for us in the end. The season has been a step in the right direction for the team, we know we are competitive and can ultimately fight for the championship in GTE-AM. Plans for 2016 are evolving, our ambition is still to cement ourselves as the best private GTE endurance team in the world and to do that we need to push for the big results. 2016 will be focused on achieving that goal.’

The Ferrari teams come then between 4th and 7th place in the race, that is both AF Corse (4th and 7th) and AT Racing 6th. N°60 Formula Racing finishes 5th in Portugal, this was enough for the team and the drivers (Mikkel Mac, Johnny Laursen and Andrea Rizzoli) to receive the drivers and team GTE ELMS title for the 2015 season.

“Now we have a great amount of information and we know what we have to do for tomorrow...”  these are the words of Richard Lietz after the Saturday free practice sessions. In fact, Austrian driver did take GTE pole position on Sunday morning, but the race did not quite happen as the team would have liked to. The n°88 Proton Competiton Porsche 911 RSR of  Richard Lietz, Christian Reid and Sebastian Asch, finished the final race of the season in 8th position.

Only one car of the GTE category did not finish the race in Estoril, that is n°66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari Italia 458, whose driver line up was also made of James Calado, one of the well known AF Corse drivers of the WEC paddock.

The GTC category was won in Estoril by n°63 AF Corse Ferrari F458 of Giorgio Roda (whose father races in the WEC Larbre Competition Corvette C7R), Ilya Melnikov and Marco Cioci. On the second step, the n°59 BMW Z4 GT3 of TDS Racing, which thanks to this result and the two race victories in Silverstone and Le Castellet, win the 2015 GTC ELMS Team and Drivers crowns. Franck Perera said: «It was tough this morning to get the pole position but I managed to do it. Eric did a great first stint because he had so much pressure on his shoulders and the track conditions were not easy. Dino also did a great job even if it was not easy under the rain and then I tried to increase the gap for Eric. We did not want to take any risk but I stinted earlier than usual because the conditions were too tough. This title is a big victory for us. We took a risk in changing of car, changing of team, starting from scratch and doing GT3 again. The championship was tough; it is a real satisfaction to win it. We knew that we would suffer on some tracks; we did all what we could to get to this title. With what I experienced during my career, to compete in Le Mans next year is just a dream coming true. Now, there will be a lot of work with the new car in GTE but it is what we wanted! »

Both AF Corse Ferrari Italia GT3 are third and fourth, ahead of n°77 Aston Martin Vantage of new team TF Sport. For its first race in the ELMS, the team had a good result, also thanks to the great support of WEC driver Richie Stanaway, who has also been selected as one of the Rookie drivers for the coming test session in Bahrain with an Audi R18 e-tron quattro. He was sharing his car with Salih Yoluc and Euan Hankey who was very happy with this first ELMS race: “It was our first time in the European Le Mans Series and we didn’t really know what to expect, but, on the whole, it has been a very positive experience. Circuito do Estoril was completely new to me and Salih (Yoluc) and a few unfortunate mistakes cost us time and track position, but that’s how you learn.

“We saw how quick the TF Sport Aston Martin, Salih, Richie (Stanaway) and I were in the dry, but we have to perform in the sort of changeable conditions we experienced this weekend. It was very tough with the weather and we were carrying splitter damage at the end, so the front wheels and windscreen were vibrating terribly and it was quite difficult to control the front end. It’s important that we take this experience and learn from it – I certainly have.”

The 2015 European Le Mans Series season is now over, teams have gone back to their work base and start to prepare 2016, a season which already promises to be very challenging!

David Bristol / ELMS