Round 3 of the 2023 European Le Mans Series will be a night race on Saturday 26 August at Motorland Aragón in Spain, the first visit to the venue by European’s premier endurance series. On the grid will be 123 drivers and 26 teams representing 32 different nations from all corners of the globe.
LMP2
The LMP2 grid will once again see a seven-car entry, with round 1 winners Neel Jani, Nico Pino and René Binder heading to Spain with a 8-point advantage in the no30 Duqueine Team Oreca over the winners of the 4 Hours of Le Castellet James Allen, Kyffin Simpson and Alex Lynn in the no25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca 07-Gibson.
However, with 26 points to be won in Spain, the identity of the championship leaders after the 4 Hours of Aragón could be any of the top five cars, with the no65 Panis Racing (Job Van Uitert, Manuel Maldonado, Tijmen Van Der Helm) and no47 COOL Racing (Vladislav Lomko, Reshad de Gerus, José María López) Orecas tied on 26 points and the no28 IDEC Sport Oreca (Paul Lafargue, Paul Loup Chatin, Laurents Hörr) just one point behind on 25.
LMP2 Pro/Am
The no34 Racing Team Turkey Oreca of Salih Yoluç, Charlie Eastwood and Louis Delétraz has taken a maximum 52-points so far in the opening two races with class wins from pole position in Barcelona and Le Castellet. The Turkish flagged team also holds a 4-point advantage of the Duqueine Team in the overall championship standings.
The other ten teams in the LMP2 Pro/Am category will be looking to close the gap to Racing Team Turkey in Spain, with no83 AF Corse (François Perrodo, Matthieu Vaxiviere, Alessio Rovera) and no37 COOL Racing (Nicolas Lapierre, Alexandre Coigny, Malthe Jakobsen) Orecas leading the chasing pack on 33-points, 19-points behind the leaders, thanks to second and third place finishes for each car.
The no24 Nielsen Racing Oreca of Rodrigo Sales, Ben Hanley and Mathias Beche is 4th on 24 points thanks to two 4th place finishes in the opening two rounds.
Former ELMS Champion Filipe Albuquerque returns to the series, replacing Nelson Piquet Jr in the no21 United Autosports USA Oreca for one round as the Brazilian has a clashing commitment, while Dutch driver Bent Viscaal also makes a return to the ELMS in the no20 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca.
LMP3
Another full grid of 12 LMP3 entries will provide some exciting mid grid action on Saturday 26thAugust as the ELMS races into the night.
4 Hours of Barcelona winners Adrien Chila, Marcos Siebert and Alejandro Garcia head back to Spain leading the championship in the no17 COOL Racing Ligier by the slimmest of margins on 41-points.
Round 2 winners Jacques Wolff, Antoine Doquin and Jean-Ludovic Foubert will be behind the wheel of the 4 Hours of Le Castellet winning car, the no31 Racing Spirit of Léman Ligier-Nissan, which is on 40 points following the success in France last month.
The no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier of Kai Askey, Miguel Cristóvão and Wyatt Brichacek is leading the chasing pack of ten cars on 26 points, with the no12 WTM by Rinaldi Racing Duqueine and the no11 Eurointernational Ligier on 19 and 18 points respectively.
Jacek Zielonka from Poland will make his ELMS debut in Spain, joining Glenn Van Berlo in the no10 Eurointernational Ligier-Nissan.
LMGTE
Another 12-car grid for the highly competitive LMGTE class will compete in the 4 Hours of Aragón, with just 13 points splitting the top eight cars after two rounds.
The no60 Iron Lynx Porsche of Claudio Schiavoni, Matteo Cressoni and Matteo Cairoli heads the championship standings on 30 points, just 3 points ahead of 4 Hours of Barcelona winners Ryan Hardwick, Zacharie Robichon and Alessio Picariello in the no16 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19.
After being an innocent participant in the multi car pile-up on the opening lap of the race in Barcelona, the no77 Proton Competition Porsche of Christian Ried, Giammarco Levorato and Julien Andlauer bounced back in France with victory from pole position and heads to Spain in third place on 26-points.
The next four places are filled by Ferrari teams, with the no66 JMW Motorsport 488 in 4th on 24 points, the no50 Formula Racing on 22 points, the no55 Spirit of Race on 20 points and the no57 Kessel Racing Ferrari on 18 points in 7th. The top 8 is round out by the no95 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage on 17 points.
The 4 Hours of Aragón will take place on Saturday 26th August with qualifying at 10h15 in the morning and the race getting underway at 18h00 in the evening.