Two for the road as spoils are shared
Four teams shared the wins across two classes in the pair of two-driver Le Mans Cup races supporting the 24 Hours.
In a Thursday race dominated by several incidents leading to slow zones in the first sector, Tom Dillmann had to fight off his Racing Spirit of Leman team-mate Josh Skelton in the latter stages to win LMP3 and overall. Nielsen Racing’s Colin Noble added further pressure all the way to the flag.
In GT3, Lars Pedersen spun the GMB Motorsport Honda out of a big lead following the driver changes, leaving a five-car dogfight led by Fabio Babini (Ebimotors Porsche) and Arnold Robin (Team WRT Audi). After some intense swapping between the two, the Italian forced Robin wide at Mulsanne on the final tour, completing the move at Indianapolis. Kristian Poulsen (GMB) and Andrea Montermini (AF Corse Ferrari) were close behind at the flag.
In one of the weekend’s finest moments, Montermini had earlier managed to pick up a Rolex hoarding next to the startline after slamming on the brakes for the ensuing slow zone and briefly losing control. The former grand prix driver shovelled the advert much of the way to the first corner in sponsor-pleasing fashion, before finally shaking off his untimely accessory.
The Saturday race saw a tidier start, but then degenerated into so many slow zones that the safety car was deployed. When action resumed, there was only time for a two-lap sprint to the finish.
It was a day for redemption, with Cool Racing’s Duncan Tappy winning after he and Michael Benham were sixth in race one. Having struggled in a similar situation on Thursday, Mads Siljehaug (Reiter Engineering) did well to hold on to the second place Freddie Hunt (now the spitting image of father James) had left him. And where Torsten Kratz/leonard Weiss (WTM Racing) had been in an early accident first time around, they now finished fourth.
Robin had to settle for second once again in a more sedate GT3 finish, this time to Poulsen. Babini was only fourth, while Montermini retired.