ELMS: A second consecutive win for Inter Europol Competition in Barcelona
24 - 28 August 2022 - The Barcelona-Catalunya circuit hosted round four of the European Le Mans Series. After leading both free practice sessions, the Ligier JS P320 took its fourth consecutive pole position with the #17 of COOL Racing. The weekend concluded with a fantastic victory for Inter Europol Competition's #13, which led the whole race. The #17 of COOL Racing finished third and posted the fastest lap in the race.
Free practice 1 under the Catalan sun on Friday, 26 August ended with a Ligier JS P320 sweep of the top four, led by the #13 Inter Europol Competition car (Nicolas Pino, Charles Crews and Guilherme Oliveira). The Polish team set the fastest lap of 1:41.527s in the LMP3 category. The following day, the #5 of RLR MSport (Michael Jensen, Nick Adcock and Alex Kapadia) finished ahead of two other Ligier JS P320s with its fastest lap of 1:43.333s in free practice 2.
In the four rounds of the ELMS, the #17 COOL Racing Ligier JS P320 with Malthe Jakobsen, Maurice Smith and Michael Benham has dominated LMP3 qualifying. As always, it was the young Dane, Malthe Jakobsen, securing pole position for his team with the best time of 1:40.112s.
The #13 of Inter Europol Competition jumps into the lead
The four-hour race began shortly before noon on Sunday. The #13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier JS P320 got a lightning start to take the category lead from the #17 of COOL Racing. The safety car intervened after two accidents. One involved the #3 United Autosports car (James Mc Guire, Kay Von Berlo and Andrew Bentley) and the #27 COOL Racing car (Nicolas Maulini, Jean-Ludovic Foubert and Antoine Doquin), both of which retired.
At the restart, Inter Europol Competition remained in the lead ahead of the #2 United Autosports Ligier JS P320 (Bailey Voisin, Joshua Caygill and Finn Gehrsitz) and the #17 COOL Racing. The second Polish team car, the #14 (James Dayson, Noam Abramczyk and Mateusz Kaprzyk), was fourth, followed by the #11 of Eurointernational with Max Koebolt, Louis Rousset and Jérôme De Sadeleer.
The yellow flag came out in the middle of the second hour after an LMP2 car went off the circuit. The #13 Ligier JS P320 now had a six-second lead from the #6 of 360 Racing (Terrence Woodward, Ross Kaiser and Mark Richards). However, fate was not so kind to the leader's sister car, the #14, which spun early in hour three.
The comeback of the #17 COOL Racing
Eurointernational's pair of sports prototypes, the #10 (Xavier Lloveras, Glenn Van Berlo and Freddie Hunt) and the #11, were respectively fourth and fifth. The #15 of RLR MSport (Horst Felbermayr Jr, Valentino Catalano and Austin McCusker) was sixth ahead of the #17 COOL Racing car. Driven by Malthe Jakobsen, the #17 moved up two positions to slot in behind the #10.
With less than an hour remaining in the race, the #13 Ligier JS P320 had an almost 15-second lead in the category. The #6 of 360 Racing lost a place and was now third, under threat from the #10 and #17. This danger was confirmed, as #17 passed #10 for third place. A Full Course Yellow period was needed, with 30 minutes left on the clock, to remove debris from the track.
The #13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier JS P320 was the first to see the chequered flag. Despite a ten-second penalty at the end of the race for repeatedly cutting the chicane at Turn 15, it secured its second consecutive win of the season; after Monza last month. The #17 of COOL Racing was third on the podium and posted the fastest lap of the race, set by Malthe Jakobsen in 1:43.319s. The #6 360 Racing Ligier JS P320 finished fourth ahead of the #5 of RLR MSport.
Although still leading the provisional LMP3 category classification with 59 points, the noose is tightening for the #17 of COOL Racing. With 54 points, the shadow of Inter Europol Competition's #13 is looming large. In third place with 47 points, the #5 of RLR MSport is also still in contention for the LMP3 title. The die is still far from being cast.
Spa-Francorchamps will be the venue for the penultimate round of the ELMS season on 25 September.
For the full results, CLICK HERE.
For the general classification, CLICK HERE.
For more information about the Ligier JS P320, CLICK HERE.