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?

On the restart CLX defended their lead into turn one, as the top three running as they had prior to the safety car and Duqueine also chasing them down. Things were looking even better for CLX, their #17 LMP3 crew were in the lead of that category as the final hour began, all while Luca Ghiotto set the fastest lap of the race in the #34 Inter Europol LMP2. LMGT3 begun its final round of pit stops as Iron Lynx’s #63 Mercedes pitted early in what’s so far been a brilliant debut for their Mercedes programme in the ELMS.

But it then transpired that there was no scheduled pit stop, instead the car was hauled back into the garage with huge implications for the category. Kessel Racing’s #37 Ferrari then was promoted to second on the road as Iron Lynx’s hope of a podium on debut was over after what turned out to be a stuck throttle. They still had a hand in things though with the #85 Iron Dames car still leading the category.

Then – even more drama. Following the restart three cars, the #11 of Eurointernational, the #88 Inter Europol LMP3 and the #50 of Richard Mille AF Corse’s LMGT3 Ferrari were all handed lengthy stop and go penalties following breaches of safety car procedure. DKR also dropped out of contention thanks to another drive through penalty. 

IDEC Sport had been pressuring CLX for the lead, and with Mathys Jaubert now in the car he moved past for the lead. Ian Aguilera then pulled over on the front straight after his Eurointernational LMP3 began belching smoke from the rear and eventually stopped on track, bringing out the FCY.

When the track was cleared, Mathieu Vaxivierre immediately seized his opportunity to take second place overall and increased his sizable advantage in the LMP2 Pro/Am category, as then the #77 LMP2 of AO Racing nearly brought out the FCY after stopping on track but successfully got back running again and so the FCY was cancelled.

Meanwhile the #57 Kessel racing began to put some real pressure on the #85 Iron Dames for the lead of LMGT3, cutting the gap to half a second. Meanwhile the overall lead gap was brought down to a scrap between the #18 IDEC Sport machine and AF Corse’s #83 in a battle between Mathieu Vaxivierre in the latter and debutant Mathys Jaubert in the former. 

The battle went into the final pit stops, while Pipo Derani pulled over to a stop in the #47 CLX Motorsport LMP2. Jaubert took fuel only and gained time while his rival took a fresh set of tyres for the last twenty minutes. 

And then, after a great run on its debut the Ginetta LMP3 of DKR finally gave up the ghost bringing out the FCY which eventually became a Safety Car.

Eventually the whole thing became a two lap shootout between the three classes, with IDEC Sport’s #18 leading them onto the front straight.

Having taken fresh tyres on its last pitstop, Mathieu Vaxivierre carved his way through the field and was up to second on the final lap and caught the race leading #18 of IDEC Sport and made the overtake with half a lap to go, causing heartbreak for the 18 year old Jaubert and the IDEC Sport crew. LMP3 was taken by CLX Motorsport in a brilliant result for them, and Iron Dames pulled off an amazing victory having led comfortably practically all the way through. 

Overall then an immensely fun race with AF Corse’s tyre strategy proving decisive in one of the most dramatic finishes in recent years. Mathys Jaubert may not have the overall win on debut but he’s still announced himself to the prototype racing scene in a big way.  

It’s been a brilliant way to open the campaign and kick the ELMS back into life for 2025. And the good news is we only have to wait two weeks to see the World Endurance Championship back in action. I’ll see you then for all that will entail.

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