ELMS – Graff Racing snatches victory at the 4h of Spa

Graff Racing signs its first victory of the year in LM P2 at the end of the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium), the outcome of which was uncertain until the last minute.

While the No. 07 Oreca 40 of Richard Bradley was in the lead, the Briton received a drive through two laps from the finish for overtaking outside the limits of the track on the Dallara P217 of SMP Racing of Isaakyan-Orudzhev. The Graff Racing driver came out just ahead of the No. 22 G-Drive Racing of Ryo Hirakawa who had also received an identical sanction for non-compliance with safety car procedures and offered the first victory of the season for the French stable.

The crew of the Dragonspeed team still achieved a good performance in the Championship as it increased its lead over the crew of the United Autosports Ligier JS P217 to 18 points, the Owen-De Sadeleer-Albuquerque trio failing at the foot of the podium behind the Dallara of the Russian team.

The race was marked by the impressive off-track crash of Andrea Roda, whose #25 Algarve Pro Racing Ligier ended up on its roof at Pouhon.

AT Racing takes its first victory of the season in LM P3 with Talkanitsa-Jensen-Talkanitsa at the wheel of the No. 3 Ligier JS P9 which avoided multiple racing incidents affecting the category. Duqueine Engineering takes its first podium of the season with the No. 30 Norma M7 from Droux-Borga-Schatz which ranks second.

The crew of the No. 2 United Autosports Ligier made up of Falb-Rayhall at the head of the Championship maintains its leading position by completing the top three and taking advantage of the poor races of their rivals. The No. 3 Ultimate Ligier JS P17 from Lahaye-Heriau-Lahaye only ranked eighth while the No. 30 M-Racing YMR Norma M18 finished sixth.

Ferrari achieves the double in GTE. The No. 488 Spirit of Race F51 of Mastronardi-Bertolini-Roda dominated the category by winning a lap ahead of the No. 66 JMW Motorsport of Smith-Fannin-Stevens. L'Aston Martin Vantage No. 99 Beechdean AMR of Howard-Gunn-Turner completed the podium.

The gaps are closing in the Championship, in particular due to a missed race of the No. 90 TF Sport Vantage entrusted to Thiim-Yoluc-Hankey, victim of contact and several mechanical problems which condemned him to penultimate place classified cars.