The 2024 edition of the 4 Hours of Le Castellet certainly provided plenty of entertainment for the thousands of spectators that travelled to the Circuit Paul Ricard. They witnessed a dramatic race that saw the no43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca-Gibson take the chequered flag for the Polish team’s first ever LMP2 victory in the ELMS.
The reigning 24 Hours of Le Mans LMP2 championship winning team started 12thon the grid, with Sebastien Alvarez making his way up the field to hand over to Vlad Lomko, who led for most of his stint before handing over to Tom Dillmann to secure the victory at his home race.
Dillmann took the chequered flag, with the no28 IDEC Sport Oreca finishing second on the road but a penalty for excessive weaving during the race dropped the car down to 4th.The no47 COOL Racing and the no14 AO by TF Orecas took second and third respectively.
The LMP2 Pro/Am victory went to the no29 Richard Mille by TDS Racing Oreca after a race long fight back after a collision at the start put Rodrigo Sales down the order on lap 1.The American pushed hard to get back in contention, handing over to Gregoire Saucy in a good position, with Mathias Beche able to bring the car home to claim the class victory.
It was another superb fight back from the crew of the no15 RLR MSport Ligier, which had started on pole but ended up down the order.Michael Jensen, Nick Adcock fought their way back to hand the car to Gael Julien, with the French driver getting out in front to take the win ahead of the no4 DKR Engineering Duqueine and the no35 Ultimate Ligier.
The LMGT3 victory went to the no55 Spirit of Race Ferrari 296, with Duncan Cameron starting on the front row and briefly holding the lead.Contact with another car spun the British driver around, delaying the car.
Matt Griffin took over the second stint to move the car up the field, before handing back to Cameron to finish his driving time, the British driver holding his own against the silver and gold drivers that were now out on track. David Perel brought the car home to score the team’s first victory since 2021.The no63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini was second, 4.9 seconds behind Perel at the chequered flag, with the no59 racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage in third.
Round 3 of the 2024 European Le Mans Series is the 4 Hours of Imola will take place on Sunday 7 July but before that some of the teams and drivers will be heading to Le Mans for the 92nd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans on the 15/16 June.
Blue Skies and Sunshine for Race Day
After the rain and cold winds earlier in the week it was to the relief of the paddock that the weather on race day was warm and dry. The 43-grid formed up behind the pole sitting no28 IDEC Sport Oreca of Paul Lafargue, the French driver leading the field into the first corner to begin the 4 Hours of Le Castellet.
There was some contact between the cars, with the no83 AF Corse of Francois Perrodo and the no29 Richard Mille by TDS Oreca of Rodrigo Sales both dropping back down the order on lap 1. The two cars soon began to fight their way through the LMGT3 and LMP3 cars to get back on terms with their LMP2 Pro/Am rivals.
Another loser at the start was the pole sitting LMP3 car with Michael Jensen losing ground as the Dane struggle with an issue with the gear shift, this allowed the no12 WTM by Rinaldi Racing Duqueine to take the class lead with Matt Bell in the no11 Eurointernational Ligier in close contact.
The no85 Iron Dames Porsche also lost a place to the no55 Spirit of Race Ferrari when Sarah Bovy had to avoid some spinning cars.However, she got back alongside Duncan Cameron’s Ferrari on the Mistral Straight and was back into the LMGT3 lead before the opening lap was completed.
On lap 5 the no14 AO by TF Oreca of Jonny Edgar took the lead from Lafargue, with the no28 IDEC Sport Oreca losing another place to the no37 COOL Racing Oreca, which Lafargue regained a lap later.
In LMP2 Pro/Am Cem Bolukbasi overtook the no24 Nielsen Racing Oreca of John Falb to take the lead, with the Turkish driver opening up a gap in the no3 DKR Engineering Oreca over the chasing pack, which was soon led by the no77 Proton Competition Oreca driven by the pole position holder Giorgio Roda as Falb lost more ground.
As the first round of pitstops approached Edgar’s lead in the no14 Oreca was around 3 seconds, with the no22 United Autosports Oreca of Filip Ugran now up to second ahead of Paul Lafargue.
Sarah Bovy had opened up a 21 second lead in LMGT3, with the chasing pack squabbling over the minor podium places, led by the no63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini of Hiroshi Hamaguchi.
There was also a change of lead in LMP3 as Torsten Kratz was passed by Matt Bell on Lap 20, with the Eurointernational Ligier pulling out a two second gap.
There was also a change in the lead at the front of the field after the pitstops, with the no34 Inter Europol Competition Oreca getting ahead of the no14 AO by TF, with Luca Giotto powering ahead of Jonny Edgar on the Mistral Straight.
In the second hour the racing was just as intense.The no85 Iron Dames Porsche continued to pull away from the rest of the LMGT3 field. In LMP2 Pro/Am Rodrigo Sales was given a 10 second penalty for causing a collision on the opening lap, which the no29 Richard Mille by TDS would serve on the next pitstop.
Meanwhile the lead car was also given a drive through penalty for overtaking beyond track limits at the start, forcing Giotto to bring the no34 Oreca down the pitlane and promoting Edgar back into the lead.
After the next round of pitstops the order at the front of the field was shaken up with the no43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca of Vlad Lomko now leading from the no37 COOL Racing of Ritomo Miyata and Reshad de Gerus in the no28 IDEC Sport.
Laurents Horr was now behind the wheel of the LMP2 Pro/Am leading no3 DKR Engineering Oreca, with Rene Binder in the no77 Proton Competition Oreca, which had served a drive through penalty for overtaking beyond track limits. The no83 AF Corse Oreca had fought it’s was back up the field with Alessio Rovera in the car and the Italian was challenging for the class lead.
For over two hours the race had been running under Green Flag conditions but that changed when the no88 Inter Europol Competition Ligier of Kai Askey pulled off the track at T14 and a Virtual Safety Car was deployed to recover the car, bunching up the field as the real Safety Car was sent after two laps.
The biggest losers in this situation was the no85 Iron Dames Porsche, with Rahel Frey holding a 57 second lead in LMGT3 thanks to the earlier efforts of Sarah Bovy.
The no37 COOL Racing Oreca of Malthe Jakobsen was leading from Job Van Uitert in the no28 IDEC Sport, with Tom Dillmann in the no43 Oreca right behind in the queue behind the Safety Car.
The no12 WTM by Rinaldi Racing Duqueine stopped during the Safety Car period, with Leo Weiss visibly angry with his machine while lying in a podium position.
The race resumed after the second car was recovered and the three leading LMP2 cars were nose-to-tail on the Mistral Straight.Mathias Beche was now in the no29 Richard Mille by TDS and was leading Bent Viscaal in the no77 Proton Competition by 2.1 seconds. The no11 Eurointernational Ligier of Adam Ali held a four second advantage over the no35 Ultimate of Jean-Baptiste Lahaye, while Rahel Frey was five seconds ahead of the Axcil Jefferies in the no63 Lamborghini.
A Full Course Yellow period was declared just after the clock had passed three hours of racing due to a bollard in the middle of the track at T1. This was quickly cleared and racing resumed.
Another FCY period was declared 15 minutes later when the no37 COOL Racing Oreca slowed and stopped while leading the race.The car was quickly recovered behind the barriers with the no28 IDEC Sport and no43 Inter Europol Competition Orecas now fighting for the lead. On the Mistral Straight Dillmann got a good run on Van Uitert as the Dutch driver weaved to warm his tyres.The no43 Oreca swept into the lead at Signes Corner.
The order in LMP3 had also been mixed up due to changes in strategy, with the no4 DKR Engineering Duqueine of Wyatt Brichacek now leading from the no17 COOL Racing Ligier, with Gael Julien in the no15 RLR M Sport on a charge.
The LMGT3 order also changed as the no85 Iron Dames Porsche lost time to their rivals at the pitstops, with Michelle Gatting emerging in 5th after taking tyres while her rivals just took fuel.David Perel was now leading in the no55 Ferrari ahead of Davide Rigon in the no86 GR Racing Ferrari 296 and Andrea Calderelli in the no63 Lamborghini. Calderelli passed Rigon for second at Signes.
The no34 Inter Europol Competition Oreca of Clement Novalak was leading overall but the French driver’s race came to an end suddenly as he lost power on the start finish straight, in almost the same position as the team’s LMP3 car had stopped earlier.
A final FCY was declared to recover the stranded car with the no43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca of Tom Dillmann taking the lead from Ben Hanley in the no22 United Autosports Oreca and Job van Uitert in the no28 IDEC Sport. Mathias Beche was still holding a 15 second lead in LMP2 Pro/Am while David Perel was holding a 10 second lead in LMGT3.
In LMP3 the final stops had mixed up the pack with Gael Julien now leading from Wyatt Brichacek but having completed one less stop than his rivals. Julien kept circulating and not attempting to pit for a final splash of fuel.The French driver brought the car home to take the LMP3 win.
Dillmann was holding a sizable lead as Van Uitert got ahead of Hanley to take second place, the British driver clearly struggling for grip from his Goodyear tyres. Hanley lost further ground to Paul Loup Chatin in the no47 COOL Racing and Louis Deletraz in the no14 AO by TF.
However, the drama was not quite over as the no28 was issued a 10 second penalty for the earlier excessive weaving on the Mistral Straight, which was converted into a post-race penalty that dropped the car from second to fourth.
The no86 GR Racing Ferrari was also given a drive through penalty in the final few minutes of the race for anticipating the end of the FCY period, dropping the Ferrari from the final podium position with the no59 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin of Valentin Hasse Clot taking the place, just 1 second ahead of the no85 Iron Dames Porsche.
Round 3 of the 2024 European Le Mans Series is the 4 Hours of Imola will take place on Sunday 7 July but before that some of the teams and drivers will be heading to Le Mans for the 92ndedition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans on the 15/16 June.