For the second time this year the European Le Mans Series goes green, with just over six weeks until Le Mans as Inter Europol will start for the first time ever on pole. After a dramatic finish last time out in Barcelona, are we headed for another frantic final few laps? There’s only one way to find out…

Iron Lynx’s #9, having lost a wheel earlier now suffered more damage on the mistral, and had to run half a lap without its front left tyre as up front IDEC Sport’s #18 led from the Pro/Am #29 TDS Racing LMP2 and then the #27 Nielsen prototype. And then the #34 Inter Europol also had issues with its final pit stop. It’s sister #43 car also received a ten second stop and go penalty for earlier contact with the #12 LMP3 of WTM, and a penalty point added to Nick Yelloly’s license. Meanwhile the AF Corse #51 of Conrad Laursen had a huge off in sector three, but the large amounts of runoff at Paul Ricard meant it continued without anything more than some worse off tyres.

Then the final pit stops occurred for the frontrunners in LMP2, with IDEC Sport’s #18 managed to stay ahead. Behind it the order was Nielsen’s #24 just four seconds back, then the #27 also of Nielsen but in the Pro/Am class, and the #21 Pro/Am of United Autosports. CLX Motorsport now led in LMP3 with their #17 car and Lilou Wadoux in the #50 Richard Mille AF Corse was up front in LMGT3 with just 35 minutes to go. Iron Lynx/Proton’s #9 LMP2 then also received another drive through penalty for a pit stop infringement.

Meanwhile in LMP3, the WTM #12 came in slowly with Griffin Peebles but eventually was confirmed as a retirement following a broken drive shaft. 

VDS Panis Racing’s #48 then received a drive through penalty and a penalty point added to Esteban Masson’s license, the car dropped down to tenth place.

As the race entered its last 20 minutes, the Iron Lynx #63 emerged from its last pit stop eight seconds behind the AF Corse/Richard Mille #50, so the fight was on for the LMGT3 category, while the #24 Nielsen LMP2 leader was forced to make its final stop, dropping the team to eleventh overall. Meanwhile the final place on the LMP2 Pro/Am podium was still up for grabs and eventually went the way of Spike, AO Racing’s #99 LMP2 that had been rather quiet thus far, but now it took the final podium place in its category from the #21 of United Autosports.

Another penalty came for the #28 IDEC Sport car, in the form of a three minute stop and go following a safety car procedure breach, the car dropping from 17th overall. And up front, the gap was barely two seconds between the #18 race leading IDEC Sport car and the LMP2 Pro/Am leading #27 Nielsen as James Allen hunted down Matheys Jaubert. For IDEC it must’ve been hard, as the flashbacks to just four weeks ago when they lost the win late on came right back. With 5 minutes to go, the gap was barely a second. This was truly nail biting stuff. 

In LMGT3, with just four minutes to go the #82 Corvette of TF Sport went into the garage and retired with just minutes left, as the lead battle was cut to almost half a second. 

And with even less time to spare LMGT3 was up for grabs as Lilou Wadoux did her utmost to defend her class lead in the #50 against Fabian Schiller’s #63 Iron Lynx to decide the class win, going down to the final corners of the race.

Up front though it was redemption for IDEC Sport’s #18 as this time they did take victory, banishing their Barcelona demons to win at Paul Ricard in the four hours. Dani Jundacella, Matheys Jaubert and Jamie Chadwick were the winning trio. Chadwick in the process makes ELMS history to become the first ever overall victory for a female driver, and what a well deserved piece of history it is to make. It’s only her second prototype race ever. 

And even better, Lilou Wadoux took victory in the LMGT3 category to complete an incredible advertisement for women in motorsport, taking victory alongside Custodio Toledo and Ricciardo Agostini for Richard Mille AF Corse. It takes the total of class wins for female drivers up to five, with the Iron Dames trio’s LMGT3 victory at Barcelona. F1 it seems has a hell of a lot to learn from sportscar racing…  

To complete the results, LMP2 Pro/Am was won by Nielsen’s #27 trio of James Allen, Sergio Sette Camara and Anthony Wells, with LMP3 going the way of CLX’s #17 of Theodor Jensen, Adrien Closmenil and Paul Lanchere. 

Overall then, an enticing race from the get go with tricky conditions throughout and no shortage of drama, I’ll unfortunately miss the 6 Hours of Spa (and boy do I want to see that live) but with Le Mans just weeks away the sportscar racing season is really hotting up as we prepare for the 72 hours of June…

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