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Photo: Laurent Cartalade/MPS Agency ***Four Hours of Barcelona polesitter Reshad de Gerus believes having a two-driver lineup will be a benefit in tomorrow’s European Le Mans Series season opener. The No. 34 Inter Europol Competition Oreca 07 Gibson is the only car in the record 47-car field with a driving duo. “We had more track time in the Prologue and also in the practice sessions,” de Gerus told Sportscar365. “For sure, the race is going to be a bit tough driving only with two, but we have a great collaboration with Bijoy [Garg], my teammate, so we are hoping to be at the front and so far, so good.” ***Unlike other championships, the ELMS does not impose a maximum drive time, only mandating each driver complete at least 40 minutes in the race in order to be eligible to score points. ***It wasn’t all clear sailing for the Polish squad in qualifying, however, as the No. 13 Inter Europol Ligier JS P25 Toyota, which initially set the second quickest time in LMP3, has been disquali...

Photo: Laurent Cartalade/MPS Agency Reshad de Gerus beat reigning champion Esteban Masson to take the overall pole position for the 4 Hours of Barcelona in a qualifying session which came down to the final lap. The No. 34 Inter Europol Competition Oreca 07 Gibson sat at the top of the times for much of the LMP2 qualifying session until last year’s European Le Mans Series champion Esteban Masson set a faster lap in the final moments of the 15-minute session. De Gerus responded with a 1:28.368 lap on his final run, clinching pole by just 0.189 seconds. The No. 34 Inter Europol car is the only car on the grid to have just two drivers, as Frenchman De Gerus shares his car with Bijoy Garg. Masson and the No. 29 Forrestier Racing by Panis car will line up second for Sunday’s race, 0.077 seconds ahead of Tom Dillmann in the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca. Laurents Hörr finished the session in fourth in the No. 18 IDEC Sport entry, with former Formula E driver Jake Hughes lining...

Photo: Laurent Cartalade/MPS Agency Reshad De Gerus led an Inter Europol Competition 1-2 in the second and final Free Practice prior to qualifying for Sunday’s European Le Mans Series season opener in Barcelona. The Frenchman, in the only two-driver LMP2 lineup this weekend, was the only drive to break the 1:30 barrier in the stop-start session, having reeled off a 1:29.622 in the No. 34 Oreca 07 Gibson he shares with Bijoy Garg. It was 0.450 seconds quicker than teammate Tom Dillmann in the No. 43 machine. The chart-topping times were set in quick succession in between two red flag periods, both for oil cleanup, that led to an interrupted first part of the 90-minute session. The first red came out at the five-minute mark for oil in Turns 2 and 3, while a Full Course Yellow turned into a second stoppage for oil on the start/finish straight. The session restarted with 59 minutes to go and ran largely uninterrupted, other than a pair of additional FCYs in the final 30 minutes. T...

Photo: SUPER GT Toshiki Oyu grabbed pole position for this weekend’s SUPER GT opener at Okayama for the Cerumo team, leading an all-Toyota top three. The No. 39 Toyota GR Supra was third-fastest in Q1 in the hands of GT500 debutant Rikuto Kobayashi, before Oyu paced Q2 with a best time of 1:17.352. That was enough to beat Sho Tsuboi in the No. 36 TOM’S Toyota, which had topped Q1 in the hands of Kenta Yamashita, by a scant 0.065 seconds, while Nirei Fukuzumi put the No. 14 Rookie Racing car third-fastest less than a tenth further behind. Honda’s new HRC Prelude-GT will start fourth on the grid as Koudai Tsukakoshi led the brand’s charge in fourth, 0.512 seconds off the pace. Sacha Fenestraz was quickest in free practice aboard the SARD Toyota, but come Q2 he could only set the fifth-fastest time ahead of Ren Sato’s No. 16 ARTA Prelude. All three Nissan Z NISMOs made it through to Q2, but the quickest of the three, the Team Impul car, was only seventh in the hands of Kazuki Hira...

Photo: Laurent Cartalade/MPS Agency ***Friday’s one-and-only Free Practice session for this weekend’s European Le Mans Series season-opening 4 Hours of Barcelona saw drama from the start when Alex Quinn was forced to pull his No. 27 Nielsen Racing Oreca 07 Gibson off-course after encountering an oil leak, resulting in a lengthy red flag period and an extended session. The car, however, is expected to be back in action on Satuday. ***The afternoon’s Bronze Driver Collective Test, meanwhile, also saw a red, but in the closing minutes when the No. 63 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Ameerh Naran stopped just past pit-out with a suspected mechanical issue. ***ELMS cars and drivers assembled for a group photo on Thursday evening (pictured above), with the front row led by the respective defending class champions in LMP2 (Panis Racing), LMP2 Pro-Am (AO by TF), LMP3 (CLX Motorsport) and LMGT3 (TF Sport). ***A total of ten drivers competing this weekend will be heading directly to Imola...

Photo: Javier Jimenez/DPPI Cadillac FIA World Endurance Championship driver Alex Lynn will miss the first two rounds of this season after undergoing an operation on his neck. The 32-year-old has had the planned procedure amid what has been described as an “ongoing neck injury” that he has been battling with since 2024. The Briton has contested every WEC race in a Cadillac since the V-Series.R was first introduced in 2023, including taking victory at Interlagos last year, but will miss the Imola opener later this month as well as the Spa event in May. The Cadillac Hertz Team Jota squad has said that its No. 12 machine will be driven by just Will Stevens and Norman Nato in Lynn’s absence at the opening round, meaning both Cadillacs will be raced by only two drivers at Imola as No. 38 pilot Jack Aitken is away on IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship duty at Long Beach. Regarding Lynn’s neck injury, a team statement read: “The decision has now been taken to address the i...

Photo: Drew Gibson McLaren Motorsport has confirmed the return of multiple UK domestic championship-winning driver Adam Smalley as a GT3 Junior driver for this year. Smalley will be joined by new additions Alessio Deledda, Baptiste Moulin, Lorens Lecertua, Riccardo Cazzaniga, Alejandro Geppert and McKenzy Cresswell. They will be joined by four more drivers who complete the new Talent Pathway initiative with Elite Motorsport. Smalleu was a race winner in GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS last year, sharing the Garage 59 Gold Cup entry with fellow GT3 Junior driver Louis Prette and factory driver Dean MacDonald, where they claimed victory in the season finale at Barcelona. This follows his British GT Silver Cup championship success in 2024. Belgian racer Lecertua is the first of our six new members. The 19-year-old has already been a Silver Cup class winner in GTWC Europe and will be looking to emulate that success as he moves to McLaren customer team CSA this year. He wi...