IDEC Sport Take The Win After Epic 4 Hours Of Monza (Updated)
2019 ELMS Champions IDEC Sport returned to the top step of the podium for the first time since their Championship season after an excellent four hours of racing was topped by a dominant late race run from Paul Loup Chatin.
The French IDEC Sport stalwart had pace to spare, taking the lead and gapping the field to offset a looming 20 second penalty imposed for an on-track infringement.
That was no mean feat with pack racing in all four classes seeing every position hard fought and traffic a major matter as the leading cars overall regularly encountered groups racing for their own significant positions with the field compressed and neutralised multiple times across the race distance with four Safety Car periods and a Full Course Yellow responding to a series of incidents.
Chatin’s run was set up by a strong starting stint from Paul :Lafarge and an excellent follow-up from Patrick Pilet whose controlled aggression put the #28 into real contention, Pilet scoring his first ELMS win and his first in a prototype.
The #65 Panis Racing trio of Julien Canal, Nico Jamin and Job van Uitert would come home second after being in podium contention almost throughout with a late recovery drive from Louis Delétraz salvaging a podium finish for the 39 Prema Racing squad after they too were dealt a penalty, this time 10 seconds, for a pit stop infringement.
The #21 Muehlner Motorsport crew would finish a fighting fourth, just ahead of the #22 United Autosports Oreca
If anything LMP2 Pro/ Am was even closer with the top three cars nose to tail almost to the flag, the battle won by the #24 Nielsen Racing crew of Ben Hanley, Matt bell and Rodrigo Sales prevailing, Hanley fending off a huge challenge from Jack Aitken in the #34 Racing Team Turkey car.
A last gasp pass from another penalised car, the #37 Cool Racing car of Yifei Ye salvaged eighth from one of the most impressive runs in the race, Niklas Kruetten had led early on and fended off Ferdinand Habsburg for lap after lap. Into the final hour Yifei Ye pulled off a string of fearless passes to bring the car back into contention. The final step on the podium in Pro/ AM went to the #47 Algarve Pro Racing car, the car stoping after passing the finish line, apparently out of fuel.
The LMP3 battle was won by the #13 Euro Interpol Competition Ligier, with Guilherme Oliveira finishing nine seconds ahead of the #6 360 Racing Ligier of Ross Kaiser.
The win for the Polish team, with Oliveira teamed with Charles Crews and Nico Pino, was their first since Portimao in 2021.
Max Koebelt and Jerome de Sadeleer initially completed the podium in the #11 Eurointernational Ligier but are understood to have been excluded post race for a technical infringement. If confirmed that will elevate the #5 RLR MSport Ligier to the podium,.
The post-race dramas came after a race that saw several cars fall by the wayside or substantially delayed including the #17 Cool Racing Ligier, eliminated in a clash into T1 midway through the race with the #7 Nielsen car, the #14 Inter Europol Ligier as out at more o less the same spot after James Dayson hit the barrier, the RLR MSport #15 was out very early on with a report blown head gasket, the #3 United Ligier suffered a heavy shunt on the exit of the Ascari chicane with Jim McGuire losing control over the exit kerbs and fired across the track into the barrier. The final elimination of the race came for the #10 Eurointernational car, the car penalised for a clash with the then-leading #2 United Autosports Ligier that saw the #2 finish an eventual 4th (if the exclusion of the #11 stands). The #10 served its subsequent drive-through penalty at the very end of the race but was unable to exit due to the red light being on for the end of the race – having not taken the flag the car was excluded.
Reigning Champions Iron Lynx were the first of the 12 LMGTE cars to cross the finish line with Davide Rigon in the #60 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO fighting his way up the order to take the chequered flag at the home race for the all Italian team. That result though is in significant doubt after the car was assisted back to the pit lane and Parc Ferme by being pushed by the ‘sister’ #83 Iron Lynx Ferrari.
Across the line the #77 Proton Competition Porsche finished in second place with Lorenzo Ferrari taking the finish just 0.9 seconds behind the lead car and just ahead of the #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Frederik Schandorff after a brilliant race long battle for class honours.
The #18 Absolute Racing Porsche was always in contention in the race and may well yet be confirmed as a podium finisher if the somewhat likely exclusion of the #60 is confirmed.
UPDATE – Now confirmed with a Stewards Decision – the #60 Iron Lynx Ferrari has been disqualified – #77 Proton Porsche takes the win fro Gimmi Bruni, Lorenzo Ferrari and Christian Ried
The GTE race was scarred by a significant incident affecting the #93 Proton Porsche of Michael Fassbender, the Porsche racing through Ascari early in the race alongside Duncan Cameron in the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari, there was contact, Fassbendr running wide over the exit kerb and losing control before more contact with the Ferrari, then the #30 Duqueine Team ORECA (which was eliminated as a result) and finally the #32 Rinaldi Ferrari.
#93 was out on the spot, Fassbender mercifully OK with the #55 and #32 both requiring pit crew intervention more than once to deal with bodywork damage.
More to follow
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