Red Bull Ring 4 Hours: the Ligier JS P320 sweeps the top 7 and victory for the #19 COOL Racing
12 - 16 May – The second meeting of the season for the European Le Mans Series took place at the Red Bull Ring in Austria. It was another successful weekend for the Ligier JS P320, which finished first through seventh and set the fastest time during the race on Sunday 16 May. The #19 COOL Racing Ligier JS P320 scores its second win of the season. The #11 Eurointernational and #8 Graff complete the podium.
Sunday 16 May, the 14 Ligier JS P320s were ready to start the Red Bull Ring 4 Hours. The European Championship last visited the Austrian track in 2018. And the wait was worth it because it was intense affair!
At eleven o'clock on Sunday 16 May, the race started under bright blue skies. The #2 United Autosports Ligier JS P320 with Wayne Boyd, Rob Wheldon and Edouard Cauhaupé took the lead. Entering turn three, the #20 Team Virage Ligier JS P320 driven by the trio of Rob Hodes/Garett Grist/Charles Crews spun and hit the #18 1 AIM Villorba Corse Ligier JS P320 driven by Alessandro Bressan, Andreas Laskaratos and Damiano Fiovaranti. The damage was too great, and both teams retired without completing the opening lap. The #8 Graff Ligier JS P320 with Eric Trouillet, Sébastien Page and David Droux aboard was also caught up in the confusion caused by this first incident but emerged unscathed.
The Safety Car was sent to allow for the removal of the damaged cars and debris left by the two cars. At the restart, the #2 United Autosports was in the lead, followed by the #19 COOL Racing with Nicolas Maulini, Matt Bell and Nikklas Kruetten, and the #3 United Autosports car of James McGuire, Duncan Tappy and Andrew Bentley.
From 13th on the grid in the LMP3 category, the #7 Nielsen Racing Ligier, driven by Colin Noble and Tony Wells, marched through the field. Twenty minutes into the race it was up to third place, just 1.9 seconds behind the #19. Colin Noble continued his stint and took the lead of the race at the 36-minute mark.
The #19 COOL Racing car lost third place to the #13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier JS P320 (Martin Hippe, Ugo de Wilde and Ulysse de Pauw), which started shotgun on the field. The #13 was demoted to sixth position, following a drive-through penalty for track limits, allowing the #19 Ligier JS P320 to regain third place.
The #2 United Autosports Ligier JS P320 regained command of the race and built a 30 second lead from the #19 at the mid-way point of the race.
While the race started under mild conditions, clouds gradually became part of the story. The weather was threatening and turned into a downpour with just over an hour left in the race. This was enough to cause confusion in the general classification. The Safety Car came out again and several competitors started to slide. The race resumed after a 35- minute full course yellow. The #2 United Autosports still led, followed by the #11 Eurointernational driven by Andrea Dromedari, Cem Bolukbasi and Joey Alders and the #19 COOL Racing.
However, the #2's hopes of victory were dashed after it exited the pits with the red lights on and was given a penalty that dropped it to the back of the field. The #11 took the lead of the race but was soon overtaken by the #19 COOL Racing.
The #8 Graff Ligier JS P320, which was hit at the start of the race, worked its way back up the order, making up ground to the leaders. It was up to third place then overtook the #11 for second place. The race-leading #19 COOL Racing was under threat. Still on rain tyres as the track dried, it was caught by the #8 Graff. With eight minutes remaining, the #8 of Graff took the lead. But there was more drama to come when the #8 was given a stop and go penalty in the last few minutes, which resulted in an extra 43-second to its race time for not respecting the minimum pit stop time reference.
The #19 COOL Racing was now in the lead. But the #11 was right behind. COOL Racing held on to take the win, just 0.117s ahead of the #11 Eurointernational. The #8 Graff entry completed the podium ahead of the Inter Europol Competition cars, #13 and #14 of par Gustas Grinbergas, Mateusz Kaprzyk and Mattia Pasini. They were followed by the #2 United Autosports and #5 MV2S Racing (Christophe Cresp, Fabien Lavergne and Adrien Chila).
The #3 United Autosports car driven by James McGuire, Duncan Tappy and Andrew Bentley and the #6 of Nick Adcock, Austin McCusker and Max Koebolt and the #7 Nielsen cars finished respectively ninth, tenth and eleventh in the category. The #7 set the fastest lap in 1:26.826s, one second faster than the rival chassis.
The #15 RLR Msport Ligier JS P320 of Mikael Benham, Alex Kapadia and Malthe Jakobsen didn't make it to the finish. After hour one of the race, and a fast first stint propelling it from tenth to fourth place, it was hit by the #9 Graff. After half an hour of repairs in the pits, the team had no choice but to retire from the race. The damage was too extensive. The #9 car entered for Matthias Kaiser and Rory Penttinen managed to get out of the pits. It crossed the finish line last in the category.
The #19 COOL Racing wins for the second time of the season, and confirms its position at the top of the provisional general classification with a 50-point lead from four other Ligier JS P320s, the #13 Inter Europol Competition (27 points), the #11 Eurointernational (18.5 points), the #15 RLR MSport (18 points) and the #8 Graff (15.5 points).
The European Le Mans Series field will meet again for the 4 Hours of Castellet from 2-6 June 6 at Circuit Paul Ricard circuit in France.
For full results, CLICK HERE.
Photo Credit: DPPI Images