Barcelona Saturday Notebook

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 disqualified from the session due to the car’s front splitter being below the specified height in post-qualifying scrutineering. The car will start from the rear of the ten-car class field as a result.

***Additionally, the No. 47 CLX Motorsport Oreca will face a three-position grid penalty due to an incident involving its driver Georgios Kolovos and the No. 27 Nielsen Racing entry of Kriton Lendoudis in LMP2 Pro-Am qualifying. The two Greek drivers came together in Turn 13 while Lendoudis was on a flying lap, with Kolovos deemed responsible.

***The No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of Charles-Henri Samani, Conrad Laursen and Davide Rigon has been given permission to start the race after missing qualifying after the car sustained damage in Free Practice 2. The LMGT3 entry will start from the rear of the field, with the fastest driver, Ferrari factory ace Rigon, required to start the race, per a stewards’ decision.

***Former IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship LMP2 front-runner Steven Thomas is making his ELMS debut this weekend while remaining with TDS Racing, the team that helped take the FIA Bronze-rated driver to multiple class wins and back-to-back Michelin Le Mans Cup titles. Thomas is joined by fellow American Scott Huffaker and French racer Sami Meguetounif.

***Thomas said: “I am looking forward to my first race in ELMS and first race on this track. TDS is providing great support and a team atmosphere. My mindset is I appreciate my wife Emily supporting us racing in Europe, and I appreciate Scott and Sami helping me get up to speed. We want to have fun and race well.”

***The Xavier Combet-led team has continued its WeatherTech Championship campaign, but with Tobi Lutke this year. It has resulted in a crossover in Lutke’s Shopify brand sponsoring both the ELMS and IMSA programs.

***Harry King took a detour to the Nordschleife on Saturday, taking part in the four-hour Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie race in an effort to gain his ‘A Permit’ for a potential debut in next month’s Nürburgring 24. The Porsche-contracted driver teamed with Lars Harbeck and Aldrin Opran to finish 58th overall and third in class aboard an Adrenalin Motorsport-entered BMW M240i Racing.

***King will share the wheel of the No. 77 Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo on Sunday with Huub van Eijndhoven and Japanese driver ‘Bankcy’ who qualified the car tenth in the 14-car LMGT3 class.

***The 25-year-old Briton revealed to Sportscar365 ambitions of contesting additional races beyond his current ELMS and WeatherTech Championship commitments this year. “These are the only plans officially, but there’ll be a few extra little races here and there,” King told Sportscar365. “Some big ones, some slightly smaller ones. I’m sure you’ll hear about them when the time comes. A few more legendary endurance races coming up for me.”

***Duqueine Team, which has moved to the LMP2 Pro-Am ranks this year with the all-new lineup of Giorgio Roda, Richard Verschoor and Doriane Pin, is now being run by defending Michelin Le Mans Cup LMP3 champions R-ace GP, which has graduated to the ELMS LMP3 ranks with its own entry, the lone Duqueine D09 Toyota in the field for Fabien Michal, Pierre-Alexander Provost and Hugo Schwarze, the latter who qualified on LMP3 pole.

***The French squad’s No. 30 Oreca will move to the top LMP2 class for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, following last week’s confirmation of Porsche Penske Motorsport driver Julien Andlauer to the lineup, joining McLaren development drover Verschoor and newly named Peugeot development driver Pin.

***Dane Cameron said that in addition to this week’s Prologue pre-season test, AO by TF completed extra running in the car to help re-acclimate himself and PJ Hyett to the Goodyear tire, after most recently running on Michelins in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. “We tried a couple of things we felt we had been learning in the U.S.,” Cameron told Sportscar365.

***Genesis Magma Racing driver Mathieu Jaminet was spotted in the AO Racing pit box during Saturday’s qualifying session.

***ELMS debutant Blake McDonald, who has received a late call-up to make his WEC debut in next weekend’s 6 Hours of Imola as well as the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, subbing for the injured Ben Keating, revealed to Sportscar365 that he’s planning to take part in the Ferrari Challenge Europe race at Le Mans in June, in order to get his first laps of Circuit de la Sarthe.

***Fellow ELMS rookie Tom Sargent is associated with the American flag this weekend, due to the ELMS taking each drivers’ nationalities based on their racing license. The 22-year-old U.S.-based Australian told Sportscar365 that he applied for his latest license through ACCUS, the U.S. governing body that represents the FIA in North America.

***Unlike the WEC, which takes the drivers’ passport as its nationality, ELMS and the Asian Le Mans utilize each drivers’ racing license, which has produced several other oddities on the entry list, including German driver Mike Rockenfeller racing under the Swiss flag, and Briton Andrew Gilbert, who is listed as a United Arab Emirates national.

***Sargent said he’s still proudly wearing the Australian flag on his race suit and aside his name on the No. 75 Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo, which is sporting a special tribute livery honoring the first Porsche (356 SL) that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in class in 1951

***This weekend marks the seventh edition of the ELMS race at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya that was first run in 2019. In the six previous races one driver, Louis Deletraz, has won three times, while COOL Racing/CLX Motorsport has won its class four times, three in LMP3 and once in LMP2.

***The 4 Hours of Barcelona gets underway Sunday at 12 p.m. CET (6 a.m. EST) with live and free streaming coverage available on the new FIAWEC+ app featuring the commentary team of Jonny Palmer and Graham Goodwin, with Steph Wentworth in pit lane. For the first time in several years, the stream will be available to U.S. viewers, with no geo-blocks for either this weekend or next weekend’s WEC season opener, the latter which will be a paid service.

Finlay Ringer contributed to this report

Source: Sports Car 365