Three different manufacturers on ELMS LMP2 podium at Red Bull Ring
Ferrari teams take LMGTE and GTC.
Following great qualifying sessions this morning, the European Le Mans Series this afternoon put on an exciting and powerful display of racing for spectators either in situ in Austria or in front of their TV or computer screens.
Thirty one of the 33 competitors entered in the 4 Hours of Red Bull Ring finished after four hours of relentless battling, and it was Signatech Alpine (No. 36 of Paul-Loup Chatin, Nelson Panciatici, Oliver Webb), which claimed its first victory of the 2014 season and the lead of the LMP2 category. Following some really great battles throughout the race, Imola winners JOTA Sport (No. 38 of Filipe Albuquerque, Simon Dolan, Harry Tincknell), finished in second place, a scant 15 seconds behind the winners. In third was the No. 34 Race Performance ORECA 03 (Franck Mailleux, Michel Frey), less than 20 seconds from the leaders.
Greaves Motorsport can be happy to have got both its cars through to the end of the race, the No. 28 of Luciano Bacheta and Mark Shulzhitskiy in fourth, 1m10 behind, while the No. 41 of Matt McMurry, Tom Kimber-Smith and Mark Patterson was sixth. Despite very good performances, but due to being given several penalties, the No. 43 Morgan Judd of NewBlood by Morand Racing (Gary Hirsch, Christian Klien, Pierre Ragues) was fifth. The No. 29 Pegasus Racing Morgan Nissan finished in seventh place in LMP2.
Unlucky, after falling victim to first a brake problem as had been the case in Imola, followed by a broken rear axle, was Thiriet by TDS Racing which had to retire during the second hour of the race.
100 percent Ferrari Podiums in LMGTE and GTC
The No.55 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia of Duncan Cameron, Matt Griffin and Michele Rugolo claimed its second victory of the 2014 season at the Red Bull Ring and thus takes the lead of the LMGTE Championship standings. It finished ahead of the No.81 Kessel Racing and No.66 JMW Motorsport Ferraris.
In GTC, SMP Racing stamped its authority on the first two steps of the class podium – the No.71 of Kirill Ladygin and Aleksey Basov ahead of the No.73 of Olivier Beretta, David Markosov and Anton Ladygin which took its third second place of the year. The No.95 AF Corse Ferrari of Cedric Sbirrazzuoli and Adrien Leener was third.
ELMS
The ACO presents the new LM P3
Jota Sport remains second in European Le Mans Series
Farfus says BMW could have reliability edge over LMDh rivals
Augusto Farfus has dismissed concerns about BMW's apparent lack of pace in the build-up to the Rolex 24 at Daytona, and feels the German manufacturer could have an edge when it comes reliability.
How Formula E's new emergency braking system will work
Formula E has introduced an emergency braking kit for the Diriyah E-Prix as a failsafe should the rear powertrain stop working over the course of a race weekend.
Maserati MSG not yet "consistently fast" with Gen3 FE car – Mortara
Edoardo Mortara says the Maserati MSG outfit still has to understand how to be "consistently fast" with the Gen3 Formula E car following a difficult Mexico City E-Prix.
Ford: F1’s boom means it "requires consideration"
Ford’s motorsport boss says it would be remiss of the American car giant not to be considering a Formula 1 return amid the sport’s rapid growth in the United States.
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.