WEC and IMSA have already kicked off their seasons, and now it’s the turn of the European Le Mans Series to open its account for 2025. New machinery is here in the form of the third generation LMP3 cars, and there’s also new LMGT3 representation thanks to TF Sport with their Corvette. But who will take the honours in Barcelona?

Iron Lynx and Duqeine fought for first off the line as the race got underway in LMP2, with the latter taking the advantage ahead of an opportunist move up the inside by Inter Europol’s #43. Laurents Horr was on a flyer in the Pro/Am class, up to fourth overall while DKR’s #3 pursued off the start ahead of Proton Competition’s #77 and Spike, AO Racing’s #99 Dragon liveried car. 

There was trouble in LMP3 though, on debut for Virage’s #8 Jack Zielonka pulled in with damage to the right rear, while Celia Martin took the lead for Iron Dames’ #85 Porsche in LMGT3.

At the front, Francesco Simonazzi consolidated his lead quickly, opening up a gap of nearly three seconds in the opening ten minutes. An impressive feat, considering he’s making not only his European Le Mans Series debut today but also his LMP2 debut after a couple of LMP3 outings in the Le Mans Cup last year.

Laurents Horr, still charging, then moved up to second and began to cut into Simonazzi’s lead, before eventually taking it just 15 minutes into the race. 

IDEC Sport were the first team to see trouble in LMP2, with Paul Lafarge going off into the gravel trap at La Caixa.

Heading into the pitstops, Laurents Horr held a 10 second gap in LMP2 and Pro/Am ahead of Francesco Simonazzi and Jonas Reid in the Iron Lynx/Proton car. LMP3 was headed by Tortsten Kratz in the WTM by Rinaldi Ligier, while CLX’s #17 and Eurointerntional gave chase. On debut, Ginetta’s best team were DKR in fourth. LMGT3 was still an Iron Dames/Lynx lockout, the #85 of Celia Martin up front with Martin Berry holding the fort.

Penalties were not far from the horizon, as the #27 of Nielsen Racing was given a drive through penalty for grid misalignment and Laurents Horr was given two in the span of a couple laps for firstly a jump start and then overtaking beyond track limits. The resulting time loss dropped the team to fifth overall before their pitstop, but they still held a comfortable lead in the Pro/Am category. 

In the pit stops it was Iron Lynx’s #9 LMP2 machine that had a very slow stop and ultimately would not return to the track, instead all chance of a victory melted away thanks to suspected electronic issues. On track meanwhile, VDS Panis Racing’s #48 now led with Ollie Gray ahead of APR’s #25 as Duqiene’s #30 fell to third. 

Both CLX cars jumped many places and now ran fourth and fifth overall, while the other classes were yet to pit. A lead battle briefly sparked in LMP3, as Torsten Kratz was reeled in by Paul Lanchere in the CLX Motorsport #17.

So the opening hour is done, but who will come out on top as the pitstops hit for the other classes?

thumbnail credit – United Autosports, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons