LMP2 winner excluded for refuelling modification

LE MANS 24 HOURS

The G-drive Racing team has lost its LMP2 class victory in last weekend’s Le Mans 24 Hours for a technical infringement. The Russian entrant’s ORECA-GIBSON 07 – run in conjunction with TDS Racing – and the French team’s own car were found in post-race scrutineering on Monday to have modifications to their refuelling systems designed to gain time in the pits. This allowed the G-drive car shared by Jean-eric Vergne, Roman Rusinov and Andrea Pizzitola and the fourth-placed TDS ORECA of Loic Duval, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Francois Perrodo to refuel “significantly faster” than their class rivals, according to World Endurance Championship technical delegates in a stewards’ report. The technical delegates identified an additional part in the two cars’ refuelling systems extending from the ‘dead-man’ cut-off value into the restrictor, which limits the rate at which the fuel goes into the car. G-drive and TDS argued that their refuelling restrictors were fully compliant and that the rules do not prohibit additional parts. But the technical delegates successfully argued in a stewards’ hearing that the modification was designed “to defeat, in part, the flow restrictor”. An LMP2 rule states that “What is not expressly permitted by the present regulations is prohibited”. The decisions, which G-drive and TDS can appeal, means that the Signatech Alpine ORECA shared by Nicolas Lapierre, Andre Negrao and Pierre Thiriet has been provisionally awarded the P2 class victory. The United Autosports Ligier JSP217 that finished fifth in class in the hands of Juan Pablo Montoya, Hugo de Sadeleer and Will Owen moves up to the final podium behind the Graff-so24 team’s ORECA.