ELMS Barcelona Prologue: Wednesday Paddock Notes
DSC has already taken a look at some of the news in the LMP2 and LMP2 Pro-Am fields for the opening round of the European Le Mans Series this weekend.
Next up is the line-up for the final year of GTE in the ELMS, where a 12-car line-up that features four Porsche, five Ferraris and a trio of Aston Martins, includes plenty of new names and new looks. Aston Martin first, and GTE first timers, reigning Michelin Le Mans Cup GT3 Champion GMB Motorsport, fields a brand-new #44 Aston Martin, seen here in the paddock for the first time yesterday.
The car will be driven by an all-Danish driver-crew and a patriotic livery. Jens Moller, Gustav Birth and Nicki Thiim, signed by the team late in the off-season, will combine for the full ELMS campaign and at Le Mans.
TF Sport fields the other pair of Vantages, with the #95 adding GTE debutant and newly-announced AMR driver academy candidate Ben Tuck to the #95 crew, John Hartshorne and Jonny Adam, whilst the #72’s line-up fields an all-Sarthoise crew with Arnold and Maxime Robin joining Aston Martin driver Valentin Hasse-Clot.
The car is presented in a very smart new livery.
All four Porsche are run out of the Proton Competition stable, together with its newly-added LMP2, including a single Iron Lynx car, which is running in bright yellow. There is no Iron Dames effort in the ELMS in 2023, the only GTE programme for the all-female crew is its full-season FIA WEC effort.
There was no sign yesterday of the #16 Porsche for Proton, but the FIA WEC #88 car was off-loaded into the garage to allow the team to unload its pit equipment, the team having driven straight from Portimao yesterday, and arriving mid-afternoon. The team is likely to have to work through the night to get its garage set up in time for the Prologue.
Alongside the #88 in the garage was a new look for the #93 911 RSR, with Michael Fassbender on-site. He will again be joined by Richard Lietz, with Martin Rump completing the trio for 2023.
Finally, there are five Ferrari 488s split across three operating teams. Kessel Racing’s #57 has an identical number and crew to the FIA WEC, using a different Ferrari for the ELMS. JMW Motorsport meanwhile, has an all-new look both inside and outside the venerable #66 Ferrari. The car can be seen this season running a new livery for ex-ELMS champion Jon Lancaster, Martin Berry and Lorcan Hanafin.
In AF Corse’s garage are four 488 GTE EVOs, under three different team names. The #55 Spirit of Race example is unchanged from last year. The #50 Formula Racing car is a second all-Danish crew on the entry, with Johnnny and Conrad Laursen, joined by Mikkel Mac.
Laursen Snr and Mac return to the series for a title tilt, following a triumph in 2015, in a car finished in an unusual but very lovely dark burgundy livery.
Last but not least is the #51 AF Corse entry, with Kriton Lentoudis, Ulysse De Pauw and 2016 GTE Am title winner Rui Aguas behind the wheel. The car features prominently the Greek national flag for Lemtoudis.
Aguas told DSC ahead of the season that he expects his crew to be in the mix this season and was encouraged by the team’s performance in a recent two-day test at Barcelona ahead of this meeting.
In LMP3, RLR Msport is sporting a new-look livery on its #5 Ligier, which features the return to competition for Jack Manchester, who last competed in the ELMS pre-Covid. Look out for a feature focused on his return to racing later this week on DSC.
Its ELMS livery is matched by the double entry in the Ligier European Series, with both of the JS 2R and JS P4s in matching colours.
Inter Europol is another new addition to the Ligier European Series, a solo Ligier JS P4 for the racing bakers.
Finally, it’s welcome back to the ELMS and to LMP3, to Ultimate, back in the ELMS after a season on the world stage in the WEC. Brothers Matthieu and Jean-Baptiste Lahaye will race with Eric Trouillet in the #35 Ligier, fielded in conjunction with GRAFF Racing.
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