Michelin Le Mans Cup

New, old layout in Barcelona

Wednesday March 15th, 2023Thursday March 16th, 2023 Jens Jensen

When the opening race of the European Le Mans Series and Michelin Le Mans Cup 2023 will be held at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, it will be on a new-old layout. The Spanish track has chosen to revert to the original configuration, so the final two turns will be two very fast right-handers, instead of the ultra-slow chicane, which has been utilized for the last 15 years. The chicane was made due to safety concerns regarding the speed of the Formula 1 cars, in case of an accident. But the track…

Very few spots left for Le Mans

Monday January 16th, 2023Monday January 16th, 2023 Jens Jensen

Despite it still being more than a month until the closing date entry submissions, it’s already clear that there are only very few spots left for the 2023 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. That is of course depending on all the new Hypercar competitors being ready to compete, when we get to June. But if we look at the entry list for the FIA World Endurance Championship, which was announced last week, as the basis, we might end up with less than a dozen of available spots,…

Lequien – Enviromental challenges

Friday October 7th, 2022 Jens Jensen

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…

ELMS and LMC update 2023 schedules

Wednesday October 5th, 2022Wednesday October 5th, 2022 Jens Jensen

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…

Lequien – the future of GT3 in ACO racing

Wednesday October 5th, 2022Tuesday October 4th, 2022 Jens Jensen

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…

New track on the 2023 ELMS schedule

Thursday September 22nd, 2022 Jens Jensen

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…

Magnussen new driver at GMB

Tuesday August 16th, 2022Tuesday August 16th, 2022 Jens Jensen

Jan Magnussen has been signed as a new driver for GMB Motorsport, for the final two rounds of the Michelin Le Mans Cup. The experienced Dane will share the Honda NSX GT3 Evo #88 with Lars Engelbrekt Pedersen, during the races at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium, and the season finale in Portugal at the Portimao circuit. Lars has teamed up with Mikkel Overgaard Pedersen so far this year, and that pairing won the most recent round at Monza in July. The team doesn’t reveal the exact reason of why they are…

GMB Motorsport aiming high for 2022

Friday April 15th, 2022Friday April 15th, 2022 Jens Jensen

There is a brand new name in the motorsport world – GMB Motorsport. The team is only a few months old, but has big ambitions regarding the upcoming 2022 season, with an all-Danish driver line-up. They have a total of six cars entered in various Danish championships this year, as well as three cars in the Michelin Le Mans Cup. Their first outing will be this week at the opening round of the Michelin Le Mans Cup, which is being held at Circuit Paul Ricard, in the south of France.…

Monza replaces Hungaroring

Monday February 28th, 2022 Jens Jensen

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…

Iron Lynx colors 2022

Monday February 7th, 2022 Jens Jensen

The Iron Lynx team has updated the design of their cars, ahead of the 2022 season. It is still the yellow and pink colours, which are the base colours of the cars. While car #60 once again will be yellow, it will be another pink season for the Iron Dames #85. The team will once again run in both the FIA World Endurance Championship, and the European Le Mans Series, with both cars entered. The team has run an “extra” white car in both the ELMS and Michelin Le Mans…

Jakobsen moves to COOL Racing

Wednesday January 26th, 2022 Jens Jensen

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.…

Ferrari and ORECA in a new collaboration

Monday November 29th, 2021 Jens Jensen

Ferrari has signed a new deal with ORECA, regarding the manufacturing of their upcoming GT3 car. The Italian car manufacturer has utilized the 488 model for quite a few years now, with Michelotto as the workshop assembling the cars. That will move to the French ORECA factory, based very close to Circuit Paul Ricard. The car will be designed in Maranello, but assembled in France, where they will handle spare parts and after-sales customer service. There is no news regarding all the single-make racing, that Ferrari runs with various Challenge…

New ambitious project in ACO racing

Friday October 22nd, 2021Friday October 22nd, 2021 Jens Jensen

There is a new ambitious project in ACO racing coming up. Bullitt Racing, located in the Spanish city of Marbella, has a 5-year plan, where they will enter the Asian Le Mans Series, and Michelin Le Mans Cup and more throughout the upcoming years. The team has become an official part team with Aston Martin racing, and will be running the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 model in all the championships. The team with the big plans has raced in various GT4 series throughout the past years, so it’s a big…

Michelin extends for three more years

Friday October 22nd, 2021Friday October 22nd, 2021 Jens Jensen

Michelin has extended their contract with ACO, so the official name of the Michelin Le Mans Cup will remain for three more years. The collaboration started in 2016, when the series was formed with GT3 cars only. LMP3 cars were added one year later, and the GT3 mention in the title disappeared. There is an entry for the 24 hours of Le Mans to fight for, for the GT3 category champion. The LMP3 category is more of a stepping stone towards the LMP3 category in the European Le Mans Series,…

Change of circuits on the ELMS and LMC schedules for 2022

Friday September 17th, 2021Saturday September 18th, 2021 Jens Jensen

It’s going to be a different European Le Mans Series and Micheline Le Mans Cup schedule, once the 2022 season gets underway. The season will start at Paul Ricard in France, with both the official tests, and the first race weekend in April. Next round will be Imola, which the series last visited in 2016. That race replaces Monza, as the Italian round of the Championship. There will be Le Mans break for the rest of May and the whole of June for the ELMS cars, while LMC will have…

LMC points after Le Mans

Thursday August 26th, 2021Thursday August 26th, 2021 Jens Jensen

There were quite a few changes to the Michelin Le Mans Cup standings, following the two rounds of Road To Le Mans at Circuit de la Sarthe. Nielsen Racing #7 is back in front of the LMP3 championship, with a victory in the Thursday race, and a DNF in the Saturday race. Rinaldi Racing #66 scored two second-place points finishes, jumping all the way into second in the standings, while United Autosport #22 and #23 has fallen back to third and fourth places receptively. Cool Racing #69 in P5 is…

33 LMC cars at Monza

Friday July 2nd, 2021Friday July 2nd, 2021 Jens Jensen

Michelin Le Mans Cup has 33 cars entered for the third round of the 2021 season, which will run at Monza in Italy. There are quite a few changes with regards to not only competing cars, but also competing drivers, compared to the previous round at Paul Ricard in early June. GT3 Championship leader Rino Mastronardi in Iron Lynx Ferrari #8 won’t be racing at Monza, but will be replaced by Gabriele Lancieri. Lancieri will share the car with Paolo Ruberti, who was replaced by Logan Sargeant in France. The…

Iron Dames version 1.0 back together

Tuesday April 13th, 2021Tuesday April 13th, 2021 Jens Jensen

After a lot of switching forth and back, the original Iron Dames line-up is back together. The team, which will be competing in both the European Le Mans Series and the FIA World Endurance Championship this year, has had a lot of driver swaps over the last couple of weeks. The original plan was for the three drivers, who have raced in the ELMS together, Michelle Gatting, Rahel Frey, and Manuela Gostner, to move into FIA WEC as a pairing. Frey and Gostner would also continue in the European Le…

Reserve list for LM24 2021 revealed

Saturday April 3rd, 2021Saturday April 3rd, 2021 Jens Jensen

Automobile Club de l’Ouest has revealed the reserve list for the 2021 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. There are a total of four teams on that list. The first one is AF Corse with an extra Ferrari 488 GTE Evo for the GTE Am category. The car is already fully crewed by Christophe Ulrich, Simon Mann and Sergei Sirotkin, with car number 62. The second reserve is an extra Algarve Pro Racing car for the LMP2 category. Mark Patterson and Naveen Rao are the named drivers for…

More colours and more drivers presented

Thursday April 1st, 2021 Jens Jensen

With only one and a half weeks until the start of the pre-season testing, there are more and more announcements coming from the European Le Mans Series and Michelin Le Mans Cup teams. Inter Europol Competition has announced Belgian driver Ugo de Wilde for the ELMS. The 18-year-old racing driver has a single-seater background, having run in French F4 amongst other series. His big goal is to participate in the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2023, and he is hoping to find the budget to do the Road To Le…