Malthe Jakobsen will be on a new route in the upcoming 2022 European Le Mans Series season.
The young Dane has raced for RLR MSport in the LMP3 category so far, with the collaboration starting in the ELMS in 2020, and a single guest appearance in Road To Le Mans at Le Mans 2020, via the Asian Le Mans Series, and back to ELMS and Le Mans again in 2021.
He will move to the COOL Racing team for 2022, but will continue in the ELMS in the LMP3 category. But he will also be racing in the team’s LMP3 car in the Michelin Le Mans Cup for the full season, including the round at Le Mans. That will give the young Silver-ranked driver plenty of miles in a car that he already knows so well.
The team has been good at spotting young talents, that has been snapped up by other teams. The team started in ACO racing in 2018, and shortly thereafter, was able to pick up Nicolas Lapierre, who has turned into a team co-owner now.
There is no doubt, that this is a huge chance for the 18-year-old Dane, who heads towards a very exciting and important season. He has already tested an LMP2 car for Algarve Pro Racing. If he is doing well in 2022 for COOL Racing, there is a chance for him to move into LMP2 in 2023 with the outfit.
Photo: JJ Media
Jakobsen will be racing alongside British driver Michael Benham, with who he shared the car at RLR MSport as well. The third driver of the car will be the colourful Maurice Smith, who has a beard that even ZZ Top would be jealous about. While Jakobsen, Benham and Smith will share the car in ELMS, it will be Malthe and Maurice only for the shorter Michelin Le Mans Cup races, where only two drivers are needed.
Benham and Jakobsen were on the Road To Le Mans podium in 2021 – two days after Smith was on the very same podium with his 2021 teammate, Matt Bell. Bell and Smith have been on the high step of the Michelin Le Mans Cup podium, and the new pairings will try to replicate that in 2022.
While the ELMS races are still four hours like, the Michelin Le Mans Cup races have been reduced to one hour and 50 minutes, so the LMP3 cars no longer will have to do two fuel stops.
While the two drivers in LMC will share the race more or less 50/50, due to fuel capacity, there is a sneaky, yet legal trick being caught by the bosses at COOL Racing, by the choice of Jakobsen, Benham and Smith for the ELMS. With Benham and Smith, both being Bronze rated drivers, and Jakobsen being Silver, the two Bronze drivers can do with a single stint each (50 minutes per driver), while Malthe would be able to do just short of two hours and 20 minutes in the car – which is more than half the race. That will make him a very important part of the team and their strategy, in their aim for victory.
It’s going to be super interesting to follow the three drivers and COOL Racing in 2022.
