{"id":879,"date":"2025-05-04T11:00:17","date_gmt":"2025-05-04T11:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themotornerd.blog\/?p=879"},"modified":"2025-06-30T09:39:41","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T09:39:41","slug":"2025-4-hours-of-paul-ricard-race-diaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themotornerd.blog\/index.php\/2025\/05\/04\/2025-4-hours-of-paul-ricard-race-diaries\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 4 Hours of Paul Ricard Race Diaries &#8211; Hour 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>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\u2019s only one way to find out\u2026<\/strong><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Before the race rain threatened, forcing a tyre strategy debate. At the start it was Tom Dillman who\u2019d opted for wets in the #43 Inter Europol LMP2 alongside Ollie Gray for the #48 VDS Panis car. The first corners were incredibly tentative with rain beginning to fall again and everyone avoiding the standing water. Meanwhile the #22 United Autosports and #28 IDEC Sport LMP2s both spun in the opening corners as LMGT3 cars overtook the slower P2s with the advantage of mechanical grip. But it was Matthias Kaiser who was already in second and seven seconds up in LMP2 ahead of Ollie Gray. Further back, the #83 AF Corse LMP2 of Francois Perodo had a huge collision with the #8 Team Virage LMP3, bringing out an immediate safety car with others trying to avoid the debris littered across the track.<\/strong><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>After the safety car it was still the #43 Inter Europol still in the lead Jakub Smiechowski ahead of Mattias Kaiser\u2019s #25 APR LMP2 on wet tyres. CLX\/Pure Racing\u2019s #37 was now up to third with Tristan Vautier, while LMP3\u2019s lead change hands. Now it was the M Racing #68 ahead of Wochenspiegel Team Monschau\u2019s #12 LMP3 as Jakub Smiechowski set the fastest lap of the race. Despite this effort, Kaiser took the lead on his wet tyres, the rain only increasing.<\/strong><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Then, the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari spun as virtually the entire field pit to wet tyres. The order then became more than jumbled, with only the top two remaining unchanged. A gaggle of LMP3 frontrunners split the majority of the LMP2 field with Spirit of Race out front by a country mile in LMGT3<\/strong><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>And after all that carnage, the race finally began to find a consistent rhythm, as the #27 Nielsen Racing LMP2 of Anthony Wells moved up to second ahead of the #25 APR car, and now also led the Pro\/Am category as the track began to dry out, with many many personal bests coming through.&nbsp;<\/strong><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Then the #88 Inter Europol LMP3 of Tim Cresswick thumped its front nose and pitted, as then the #37 CLX\/Pure Racing LMP2 then hit the wall, bringing out a safety car.<\/strong><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>As we approach the second hour, it\u2019s still the #43 Inter Europol LMP2 that had led for pretty much the entire race, with Matthias Kaiser\u2019s #25 APR LMP2 back in second overall. The two Nielsen cars come next, with the #24 Pro class car ahead of #27 in the Pro\/Am class.<\/strong><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>LMP3 is still headed by M Racing\u2019s #68 with the WTM #12 in second and Ultimate\u2019s #35 in third. LMGT3 is still in the hands of Spirit of Race\u2019s #55 Ferrari with Iron Lynx\u2019s #63 Mercedes and TF Sport\u2019s lone #82 Corvette.&nbsp;<\/strong><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>There\u2019s certainly a whole lot more to come\u2026<\/strong><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">thumbnail credit &#8211; United Autosports, CC BY-SA 2.0 <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/2.0\">https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/2.0<\/a>, via Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For the second time this year the European Le Mans Series goes green, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[13,40,39,30,35,38],"class_list":["post-879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prototype-racing","tag-13","tag-2025-elms","tag-elms","tag-lmgt3","tag-lmp2","tag-lmp3"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>2025 4 Hours of Paul Ricard Race Diaries - Hour 1 - The Motornerd<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/themotornerd.blog\/index.php\/2025\/05\/04\/2025-4-hours-of-paul-ricard-race-diaries\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2025 4 Hours of Paul Ricard Race Diaries - Hour 1 - The Motornerd\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For the second time this year the European Le Mans Series goes green, [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/themotornerd.blog\/index.php\/2025\/05\/04\/2025-4-hours-of-paul-ricard-race-diaries\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Motornerd\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-04T11:00:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-30T09:39:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/themotornerd.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/UA-ELMS-2020-Paul-Ricard-2-109.jpg?wsr\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Thomas Groves\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Thomas Groves\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themotornerd.blog\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/04\\\/2025-4-hours-of-paul-ricard-race-diaries\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themotornerd.blog\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/04\\\/2025-4-hours-of-paul-ricard-race-diaries\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Thomas Groves\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themotornerd.blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8722946b50d3aa7a5e47b117755caa63\"},\"headline\":\"2025 4 Hours of Paul Ricard Race Diaries &#8211; 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