Lequien – Enviromental challenges

Racing24-7.net had the pleasure to spend half an hour with the head of LMEM, Frederic Lequien, who is running the FIA World Endurance Championship, European Le Mans Series and the Asian Le Mans Series. We chose to split the interview into several pieces, which contain different subjects. Everybody is looking into the environmental challenges for the future. What is the plan for LMEM regarding the future? “The decision we took about the renewable fuel in the FIA WEC and ELMS – this is something really concrete that we do. But…

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ELMS and LMC update 2023 schedules

European Le Mans Series and Michelin Le Mans Cup have updated their 2023 race schedules. The change is to do with the season finale in Portimao, since there was a date clash with the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the GT World Challenge finals. The ELMS and LMC race weekend will be pushed back one week, so it’s run from 20 to 22 October 2023. During the interview with Frederic Lequien, there was a very different sound, with no changes possible, since there had been so much date juggling, due…

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Lequien – the future of GT3 in ACO racing

Racing24-7.net had the pleasure to spend half an hour with the head of LMEM, Frederic Lequien, who is running the FIA World Endurance Championship, European Le Mans Series and the Asian Le Mans Series. We chose to split the interview into several pieces, which contain different subjects. GT3 racing has been part of the ACO ladder for many years. The ELMS contained GT3 for several seasons. GT3 then moved into the GT3 Le Mans Cup for 2016, and when the LMP3 cars joined in 2017, it has been the Michelin…

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Lequien: “We can go everywhere”

Racing24-7.net had the pleasure to spend half an hour with the head of LMEM, Frederic Lequien, who is running the FIA World Endurance Championship, European Le Mans Series and the Asian Le Mans Series. We chose to split the interview into several parts, which contain different subjects. The first part is about the race schedules. The 2023 schedules haven’t been well received by all teams, fans and especially drivers, since there is a total of four date clashes with the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, cross the FIA WEC and ELMS. Is…

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Iron Lynx does win afterall

Iron Lynx is the winner of the 4 Hours of Monza in European Le Mans Series 2022. The team was disqualified shortly after the race finished, since the Ferrari #60 didn’t drive back to Parc Ferme under it’s own power, but was pushed by the team car #83. The car was low on fuel, so they chose to cut the engine, and get help from the sister car, so there still would be enough fuel left for a fuel sample in Parc Ferme. The stewards saw that as a breach…

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New track on the 2023 ELMS schedule

The European Le Mans Series and the Michelin Le Mans Cup have released their racing schedules for 2023, and that has resulted in some different circuits for the two series. The season starts with two days of testing at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in April, followed by the races at the very same track at the weekend of 22-23 April. The series will return to Imola in Italy on 6-7 May. The ELMS teams will go on summer holiday/Le Mans break, while the LMC teams will participate in the Road To…

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Fjordbach subs in Barcelona

There will be another Dane on the entry list for this weekend’s European Le Mans Series race at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Duqueine Team #30 has had to change to their driver line-up. Anders Fjordbach has been called up on a very late notice, since Reshad de Gerus can’t participate this weekend. Fjordbach resides in the Barcelona area, so it didn’t take him long to grab his helmet, and drive to the track. The team doesn’t give the exact reason for why de Gerus isn’t able to race this weekend, but…

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A lot of penalties post Monza

The stewards was super busy evening, after the 4 hour European Le Mans Series race had been run at Autodromo Nazionale Monza. Several of the decisions got quite a bit impact on the race result – which actually isn’t official yet. Let’s take them bit by bit. Prema Racing #9 got a 10 second time penalty post race, since Ferdinand Habsburg had driven extremely slow at the pit entry. He was only doing 30 kph, which was seen as being dangerous. So their 10 seconds penalty pushes them away from…

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Absolute Racing returns to Le Mans

Absolute Racing returns to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in a new collaboration with Hardpoint Motorsport and Proton Competition. The team will run in the GTE Am category, in Hardpoint Motorsport Porsche 911 RSR-19 #99 with Andrew Haryanto, Alessio Picariello, and Martin Rump behind the wheel. Rump is a rookie in the classic 24 hours race, while the other two were paired up in the 2021 edition. Last year, Absolute Racing came to Le Mans with a Porsche 911 RSR-19 and finished in P7. They have been on the…

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United Autosports ready with their first LMP2 car for 2023

United Autosports are fast out of the gate with their 2023 announcements. The serial winning team will enter the European Le Mans Series with an LMP2 Pro/Am car, with two very strong drivers in the line-up. Brazilian racer Daniel Schneider and brit Andy Meyrick will continue their collaboration from the Michelin Le Mans Cup, where they have been paired up since 2020. They will be joined by none other than Nelson Piquet Jr. in the car. The Brazilian has previously raced in the LMP2 category for Rebellion racing, where he…

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Plenty of SC and FCY at Imola – updated

Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari was the host of the second round of the European Le Mans Series 2022, and it was an action-packed race with almost thirty degrees air temperature and plenty of Italian sunlight. AF Corse #88 with Alessio Rovera, Francois Perrodo and Nicklas Nielsen started the race from Pole Position not only in overall LMP2, but also the best LMP2 Pro/Am team, ahead of the second LMP2 Pro/Am team TDS Racing x Vaillante #31 with Mathias Beche, Philippe Cimadomo and Tijmen Van der Helm, while Prema…

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Paul Ricard result not official – yet (updated)

The official result of the first 2022 European Le Mans Series race of the year, which was run at Circuit Paul Ricard in France, hasn’t been released yet. The reason is due to the incompliance of some parts during the post-race scrutineering. The case revolved around the LMP3 car, that crossed the chequered flag in second, Inter Europol Competition #13. One of the things that were checked on the car, was the differential, where the Belleville Washer wasn’t the same, as the one that the car is homologated with. Alle…

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Safety Car filled opening race

The opening race in the European Le Mans Series 2022 was run in 18 degrees temperature and bright sunshine at Circuit Paul Ricard in the south of France. TDS Racing x Vaillante #31 with Mathias Beche, Philippe Cimadomo and Tijmen Van der Helm had taken Pole Position, which was also the LMP2 Pro/Am Pole. United Autosports #22 with Tom Gamble, Phil Hanson and Duncan Tappy would start second, while Prema Racing #9 with Louis Deletraz, Lorenzo Colombo and Ferdinand Habsburg would start in P3. Malthe Jakobsen, Maurice Smith and Michael…

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More occupied cars in ELMS

There are a lot of driver’s announcements from the European Le Mans Series teams lately. Algarve Pro Racing has announced that they’ll continue the plan with two cars, even though their former Russian sponsor isn’t a part of the team anymore. In the LMP2 car #19, Sophia Flörsch will share it with Bent Viscaal. Flörsch has slowly but surely developed to be a sportscar expert, after driving for Richard Mille Racing Team in 2020 and 2021 in ELMS and FIA WEC respectively. The German had also a single start for…

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Prema with powerteam in ELMS

Prema Racing are definitely not doing things half-heartedly in sportscar racing. The team made its FIA World Endurance Championship debut two weeks ago, where they were fighting for victory for several hours, until they were unlucky with their strategy, and the unpredictable Red-flag periods. The pairing for that outing was Lorenzo Colombo, Robert Kubica and Louis Deletraz. They do, however, also run in the European Le Mans Series 2022, where they have collected three equally impressive drivers. Juan Manuel Correa was the first to be announced, so he has been…

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UA hires another young talent

United Autosports has managed to sign another young talent into their sportscar programme. Finn Gehrsitz will be the third driver of their LMP3 car #2 in the European Le Mans Series. The 17-year-old German got a call only a few weeks ago, when the team needed a driver for their ELMS programme. He will be joined by Josh Caygill and Bailey Voisin. Gehrsitz made his race car debut in 2021, after many years in karting. He raced in the Michelin Le Mans Cup for Phoenix Racing. He was super close…

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LMDh from 2022, new LMP2 from 2025

World Motorsport Council held a meeting last weekend, and there were two important subjects on the agenda regarding the FIA World Endurance Championship, European Le Mans Series, Asian Le Mans Series, plus the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The first decision was only regarding the FIA WEC in 2022, where LMDh cars will be allowed in this year’s World Championship rounds. The original introduction of LMDh was scheduled for 2022, but due to the COVID-19 situation, it was all postponed for a year, so all the suppliers were able to get…

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G-Drive pulls out – Le Mans entry re-opens

G-Drive Racing has chosen to pull out from the FIA World Endurance Championship and the European Le Mans Series for the 2022 season. The reasoning behind this is the sanctions against Russia, following their invasion of Ukraine, which has resulted in the parent company of G-Drive, Gazprom no longer being able to make deals with the western countries. Roman Rusinov, the face of G-Drive Racing during all their many different collaborations, with many different teams for the past many seasons, announced the decision in a social media post, that there…

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Monza replaces Hungaroring

Autodromo Nazionale Monza will replace Hungaroring on the European Le Mans Series and Michelin Le Mans Cup schedules. The race will be held on the original weekend, which is on 2 and 3 July 2022. The ELMS was meant to return to the Hungarian track, but that didn’t quite work out as previously planned. That makes Monza to a double round in the ELMS and the FIA World Endurance Championship on two consecutive weekends, just like in 2021. But that will also result in two rounds in Italy, with Imola…

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Iron Lynx with big 2022 programme

Iron Lynx has announced more details regarding all their racing programmes for the 2022 season. They will run two cars in both the FIA World Endurance Championship and the European Le Mans Series. Claudio Schiavoni and Matteo Cressoni will be joined by Giancarlo Fisichella in car #60 for the full FIA WEC season. Davide Rigon will pair up with Schiavoni and Cressoni for the ELMS season. That will give more time for Andrea Piccini to run the team, rather than being in a racing car himself. Fisichella has been a…

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