ELMS – The field is expanding for Imola

From 23 to 28. While the first meeting of the European season Le Mans Series at Silverstone was run with 23 cars, the discipline displays a larger field for the second race of the season at Imola, in San Marino. There are 28 cars entered in four categories which will liven up the debates this time. The premier category of the LMP2 series will this time include ten prototypes and ten teams. The winner of Silverstone, Jota Sport (Zytek Z11SN-Nissan n°38 – Simon Dolan & Oliver Turvey) will be keen to repeat its performances from the opening round, while the ORECA 03 Nissans of reigning champion Thiriet by TDS Racing (Pierre Thiriet, Jonathan Hirschi), of Boutsen Ginion Racing (Bastien Brière, Thomas Dagoneau, John Hartshorne), of Murphy Prototypes (Brendon Hartley, Mark Patterson) and Race Performance (Michel Frey, Patric Niederhauser) will try for their part to win the second round on Italian soil. Greaves Motorsport (Chris Dyson, Michael Marsal) will field the second Zytek Z11SN-Nissan in the field with an unchanged line-up, as will Signatech Alpine (Alpine-Nissan n°36 – Pierre Ragues, Nelson Panciatici) and Morand Racing (Morgan Judd n°43 – Natacha Gaschnang, Franck Mailleux). In the Lolas clan, DKR Engineering (Lola B11/40 n°39 – Olivier Porta, Romain Brandela, Stéphane Raffin) will have to face a new opponent, HVM Status with its Lola B12/80 Coupé – Judd n°30, which will be piloted in particular by the Englishman Jonathan Kennard.

In LMPC, the early teams will field the three Formula Le Mans Oreca 09s from Silverstone, under the watchful eye of their sponsor and advisor Nicolas Minassian. Soheil Ayari and Anthony Pons at the wheel of the No. 48 will undoubtedly want to keep control, but the young Paul Loup Chatin and Gary Hirsch (No. 49) arrive more motivated than ever to claim victory. Andorran Alex Loan will share the No. 47 with his French teammate Matthieu Lecuyer.

Among the LMGTEs and GTCs

Eight cars and six teams make up the list of participants in the LMGTE category. While the only German team on the track, Proton Competition (Porsche 911 GT3 RSR – Christian Reid, Gianluca Roda, Nick Tandy) leads the standings, the Ram Racing team, with both Ferrari F458 Italia No. 52 and No. 53 respectively driven by Johnny Mowlem / Matt Griffin and the Americans Gunnar Jeannette and Frank Montecalvo, intends to catch up in Italy. A third Ferrari F458 Italia will be entered by the English from JMW Motorsport (Andrea Bertolini, Joël Camathias). Prospeed Competition maintains an unchanged crew on its No. 911 Porsche 3 GT75 RSR with François Perrodo, Emmanuel Collard and Sébastien Crubilé while IMSA Performance Matmut places its No. 911 Porsche 3 GT67 RSR in the hands of the American Patrick Long who accompanies Patrice Milesi for the trans roundalpine. For its home race, the only Italian team on the AF Corse field, renews its confidence in its drivers Yannick Mallegol, Jean-Marc Bachelier and Howard Blank on the No. 458 Ferrari F54 Italia and in the 100% local trio Piergiuseppe Perazzini, Marco Cioci and Federico Leo on the No. 55.

In GTC, the field in Italy will include seven cars, five teams and four different manufacturers, compared to only three teams at Silverstone. Ecurie Scotland which fields the only BMW Z4 (Ollie Millroy, Andrew Smith, Joe Twyman) will want to keep the lead in the standings, but the four newcomers have every intention of marking their arrival in the European Le Mans Series. Kox Racing will run the only #600 Lamborghini Gallardo LP3 GT60 driven by Peter Kox himself and Nico Pronk. The Russian team SPM Racing is not coming to make up the numbers and will field three Ferrari F458 Italia GT3s: the No. 68 driven by Devi Markozov, Yury Evstigneev and Alexander Frolov, the No. 69 in the hands of Fabio Babini, Viktor Shaitar and Kirrill Ladygin and No. 72 by Maurizio Mediani, Serguey Zlobin and Boris Rotenberg. The Audi R8 LMS of Momo Megatron DF1 (Raffi Bader, Dylan Derdaele, Kuba Giermaziak) which started in pole position at Silverstone, is determined to start again in Italy, and try to take the lead in the general classification. However, the fight will be tight with AF Corse which is also entering a Ferrari F458 Italia GT3 in GTC and is currently in second position in the category standings.