Traffic played a decisive role in
proceedings as the European Le Mans Series got underway at Silverstone, with Thiriet
by TDS Racing marking their switch to Morgan with a victory first time
out. After a late-race safety car set up
a 20 minute sprint to the finish, Thiriet man Tristan Gommendy was able to use
the slower GT cars to his advantage and pass erstwhile leader Michel Frey,
going on to win by 4 seconds as the Race Performance driver defended from Morand
Racing’s Gary Hirsch.
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| The sun shone on TDS Racing as Tristan Gommendy opened their account for the season with a win. (Credit: ELMS Media) |
“We did a pretty good job; it’s a new
car for us, so we’ve worked really hard for this,” an elated Gommendy said. “On
the restart we knew Frey had new tyres, so we pushed really hard, I couldn’t have
done any more. I’m really happy, it’s a great team victory.”
Jota Sport looked to have the race
in the bag entering the final hour, having qualified on pole courtesy of a
stunning lap from Formula 3 convert Harry Tincknell and a strong first stint
from Filipe Albuquerque, before the race was abruptly turned on its head. Simon Dolan was forced wide by the GTE Ferrari
of Michele Rugolo at Chapel corner, lost traction on the grass and spun head-on
into the inside wall, collecting the blameless Labre Competition Morgan of
Gustavo Yacaman along the way. Thankfully Dolan emerged unscathed, although it
was nonetheless a bitter pill for the team to swallow, with victory seemingly
imminent.
“Unfortunately
things like Simon's accident can happen in racing,” said Albuquerque.
“Thankfully he's okay. He'd driven a fantastic stint – strong and consistent.
He did a great job and will come back stronger.”
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| Jota were electric in qualifying with Tincknell at the wheel, but the young Briton didn't get a chance to drive in the race. (Credit: ELMS Media) |
The enthralling three-way battle
for the win could well have been four, had it not been for an untimely
left-front puncture for Murphy Prototypes at Copse, requiring Rodolfo Gonzalez
to complete a full-lap with the flailing tyre ripping the bodywork to shreds.
It was particularly galling for Greg Murphy’s men considering Gonzalez’s
recovery drive to within touching distance of the lead battle, after it was adjudged the Venezuelan had jumped the start and had to serve a penalty. By the time Alex Kapadia, and
later Karun Chandhok got behind the wheel, the latter setting the race’s
fastest lap, the green machine was already six laps down and out of contention.
“Gonzo was a bit unlucky at the start;
if the guy on the left slows down, you can’t do much about it,” Kapadia said.
“Then he was even unluckier with the puncture at Copse, he had to do a whole
lap which resulted in bodywork damage, and we lost around 6 laps as a result. After that there was nothing to lose, so
I just gave it everything.”
This left the Greaves team to pick
up the pieces and finish best of the rest in fourth, with 16 year-old youngster
Matt McMurry impressing on his category debut and a stellar final stint from
Tom Kimber-Smith to leapfrog ahead of Paul-Loup Chatin in the Signatech-Alpine;
suffice to say, it was not the start to their title defence the French team had
in mind, although the ten points scored could yet prove crucial in the long
run.
GTE was another close affair decided
only in the closing stages in favour of AF Corse trio Matt Griffin, Duncan
Cameron and Michele Rugolo, this after a mistake from Andrea Bertolini, who had
qualified the SMP Racing Ferrari on pole a full six tenths faster than his
nearest rival. Reigning ELMS champion Griffin,
pulling double duty this weekend, had battled past SMP’s Viktor Shaitair in robust
fashion at the Loop at the end of the third hour, only to surrender the lead again
at the final driver change when an awkward pit entry forced the Irishman to
overshoot his stall. However, when the field was released by the safety car, Bertolini
tripped over the lapped car of Marco Cioci and the pendulum swung back the
other way, allowing Rugolo to capitalise and inherit a lead he would never
lose.
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| AF Corse trio Rugolo, Cameron and Griffin take to the top step of the podium after a hard-fought win. (Own photo) |
Raymond Narac, Nicolas Armindo and
David Hallyday completed the podium in the Imsa Performance Matmut Porsche,
spoiling what had threatened to be a Ferrari 1-2-3, with JMW Motorsport running
strongly in the early stages before a jump-start penalty and an
unfortunately-timed safety car dropped them to fifth.
“It’s not bad for the first race,
but we all had very high expectations coming in – it’s a home race for all of
us, so ultimately we wanted silverware,” said Dan McKenzie. “It was in our
grasp, but today just wasn’t one of our days. The safety car put us out of
position and let the cars through that we were battling with, and that was it.
It’s not ideal but at the same time it’s really encouraging and we’re looking
pretty good for the rest of the season.”
Meanwhile in GTC, Daytona 24 hero
Alessandro Pier Guidi showed his class to deliver Team Ukraine, Sergii Chukanov
and Andriy Kruglyk category honours with a late pass on Formula Racing’s Mikkel
Mac. The SMP Racing Ferrari of Olivier Beretta, David Markozov and Anton Ladygin finished second, with Mac, Johnny Laursen and
Corvette superstar Jan Magnussen rounding out the podium for the all-Danish Ferrari
crew.
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