The 2014 European Le Mans Series GTC Season

In the GTC category, cars featuring the technical and regulatory requirements of the FIA GT3 classification are brought together and operated by teams with relevant experience.

The many GTC competitors from the 2014 European Le Mans Series offered a spectacle worthy of GT3 in a series that cheerfully combines sports prototypes and GT cars. At the season's five races, run in five different countries (England, Italy, Austria, France, Portugal), 12 teams lined up for their own race in the GTC category.  Representing six different nationalities, 18 cars and 58 drivers went head to head at the wheel of products from five manufacturers (Ferrari, Porsche, Audi, McLaren, and BMW).

The 2013 GTC title holders, SMP Racing, approached their second season with three cars and big ambitions as they not only wanted to keep the trophy, but also go for a 1-2 in their second season. They manage to hold onto the trophy!

Silverstone - Great Britain, April

Two newcomers to the GTC class finished either side of 2013 champions SMP Racing. Team Ukraine won the race with the No.96 Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 which was smoothly driven by Andriy Kruglyk, Sergil Chukanov and Italian Alessandro Pier Guidi.  They finished ahead of the No.73 Ferrari 458 of Russian team SMP Racing (Olivier Beretta, David Markozov, Anton Ladygin), while Jan Magnussen, Johnny Laursen and Mikkel Mac finished on the third step of the podium and claimed their first points in the Ferrari 458 GT3 of the Danish Formula Racing team.

Imola – Italy, May

While Ferrari led the way in GTE, the Italian manufacturer was no less successful in GTC as, at the close of this round, both GT podiums were 100% Ferrari-filled,  a great performance for Prancing Horse's home race.  The Formula Racing team of Danish drivers Johnny Laursen and Mikkel Mac, alongside Italian Andrea Piccini on this occasion, claimed the highest step of the podium ahead of SMP Racing's No.73 and its sister No.71.  The McLaren MP4 12C GT3 from the ART Grand Prix team (Ricardo Gonzalez, Karim Ajlani and Alex Brundle) finished just off the podium, but not without having mixed it with the Italian cars throughout the race.

Red Bull Ring – Austria, July

SMP Racing consoled themselves for their lack of performance in LMGTE with a 1-2 in GTC, achieved by the Nos.71 and 73 F458 GT3s of Kirill Ladygin, Aleksey Basov, Luca Persiani and Olivier Beretta, David Markosov and Anton Ladygin respectively.  The No.95 AF Corse Ferrari GT3 (Adrien de Leener and Cedric Sbirrazzuoli) took third place, its best performance of the season.

Paul Ricard – France, September

The SMP Racing No.73 (Olivier Beretta, David Markosov, Anton Ladygin) took the 25 points for victory, with a 15-second lead ahead of its biggest rival, the No.60 of Formula Racing which was driven by Jan Magnussen (back from his usual racing duties in the USA), Mikkel Mac and Johnny Laursen.  Ferrari, which until now had got used to completely populating the podium with the colours of the Prancing Horse marque, had to yield third place to the McLaren MP4 of ART Grand Prix.  Grégoire Demoustier, Yann Goudy and Kevin Korjus were at the wheel, the latter having delivered a monster battle with the No.95 AF Corse Ferrari of Cedric Sbirrazzuoli.

Estoril – Portugal, October

The last round of the season was a great opportunity to welcome a newcomer to the series: Marc VDS.  Driving the No.87 BMW Z4 GT3 of Team BMW Sports Trophy, the trio of Bas Leinders, Markus Paltalla and Henry Hassid claimed victory and became the first non-Ferrari class winner this year. The Danish Formula Racing F458 took the points for second place while the Ferrari No.71 (Olivier Beretta, David Markosov, Anton Ladygin) finished third, a result which result in the second consecutive GTC  title for the SMP Racing team.