Posted on 28 April 2019

Pole position and third place for the Ligier JS P3 in the second round of the Ultimate Cup Series at Dijon

The second round of the Ultimate Cup Series took place on the Dijon-Prenois circuit in France on 26-27 April 2019. It turned out to be a challenging weekend due to unstable weather conditions. The Ligier JS P3s were quickest in free practice, set pole position and the fastest lap in the race. The #94 Ligier JS P3 run by Team Virage took the chequered flag in third place and six Ligier JS P3s finished in the top 10.

Second pole position in a row for the Ligier JS P3 #26

On Friday, the #26 Wimmer Werk Motorsport Ligier JS P3, which had scored a clean sweep at the first round in Estoril (pole position, victory and fastest lap in the race), topped the time sheets again by posting the best time in free practice in 1m 11.991s. The team repeated this performance in qualifying as the two drivers in the car, Vincent Capillaire and Matthias Kaiser, set the fastest times in the first two qualifying sessions. The #26 Ligier JS P3's quickest average lap in 1m18.361s was good enough to give the French-built LM P3 its second pole position on the bounce!

A complicated race under changing track conditions

On Saturday morning the drivers were faced with changeable weather conditions. The track was cold and wet, but not everywhere, which made the choice of tyres a real head-scratcher for the teams – slicks or intermediates, which tyre pressures, etc. It looked like it was going to be a very tricky race and this turned out to be the case with several neutralisations, safety car deployments and changing track conditions.

In fact, the first lap wasn't even finished when the safety car made its first appearance due to the #7 Norma's accident after contact before the Sablières Esses. Several teams took advantage of this to bring in their cars for a stop reshuffling the positions in the leading group. The #5 Speed Factory Racing Ligier JS P3 also went off on the first lap. The car was immobilised at its pit for two hours before restarting to take the chequered flag. As it managed to cover only 56 laps, it was an unclassified finisher.

The #94 Team Virage Ligier JS P3 driven by Thomas Padovani, Philippe Valenza and Julien Falchero started the race in fourth place and put on a good performance as it finished in third place.

The #26 Ligier JS P3 run by Wimmer Werk Motorsport had a difficult start to the race. After taking the lead when the cars were unleashed it lost several precious places. With almost an hour's racing gone it was four laps behind the leaders, but there was still a long way to go and it made a great comeback to finish just shy of the podium in fourth spot.

The #14 Ligier JS P3 entered by Inter Europol Competition in the hands of Paul Scheuschner, Edward Jonasson and Simon Phillips was sixth on the grid and after three hour's racing it was in second place hassling the #72 Norma in the lead. A minor off dashed its chances of a podium finish. The car hit a tyre barrier and damaged the rear end so it had no choice but to pit where it lost precious time and came home in sixth position.

The #4 Speed Factory Racing Ligier JS P3 driven by Rodriguez Rogelio and Danil Pronenko put on a stunning display. In the first two hours of the race it was the quickest LM P3 car on the track and set the fastest lap of the race in 1m 14.352sec. It fought its way up to second place before falling victim to the pitfalls posed by the weather in the third hour. It came home in eighth place.

The team of gentlemen drivers in the #95 Ligier JS P3 run by Team Virage also had a good race and Philippe Cimadomo and Alain Costa were rewarded with 10th spot.