COOL Racing made a perfect start to the new European Le Mans Series (ELMS) season with victory at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
In bright sunshine and hot temperatures, Peugeot reserve driver Malthe Jakobsen, Toyota talent Ritomo Miyata and the 19-year-old Spaniard Lorenzo Fluxá put together an excellent drive in a hard-fought LMP2 race.
The team’s #37 Oreca finished just 16 seconds ahead of the #25 Algarve Pro machine piloted by Matthias Kaiser, Oliver Caldwell and reigning ELMS drivers’ champion Alex Lynn.
Third was the #22 United Autosports car of Filip Ugran, Marino Sato and Ben Hanley.
The reigning champions in the LMP2 Pro/Am category picked up where they left off in 2023. The #83 AF Corse Oreca driven by Francois Perrodo, Mathieu Vaxiviere and Alessio Rovera came home 18 seconds ahead of the #29 Richard Mille by TDS car in fifth overall.
The win in the LMP3 category went to the #8 Team Virage squad of Julien Gerbi, Gillian Henrion and Bernado Pinheiro, who were making their debut in the series.
Setback for Iron Dames in the LMGT3
The all-Danish Formula Racing Ferrari of Johnny Laursen, Conrad Laursen and Nicklas Nielsen were victorious in LMGT3. The class was making its first appearance in the series, replacing the GTE machinery that was phased out at the end of 2023.
Formula Racing benefited from misfortune for the #85 Iron Dames Porsche, which led long stretches of the four hours. As the race drew to a conclusion, the pink-liveried Porsche pitted as normal but came to a standstill at pit out with a technical issue.
GR Racing (Ferrari) and Iron Lynx (Lamborghini) rounded out the podium at the opening round of the 2024 season.
The next round of the championship is just around the corner with the 4 Hours of Le Castellet on the 5 May. Some ELMS teams will also feature in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in mid-June.
If you missed the race, you can catch the whole four hours here. The full list of results and statistics are available here.
Images © Maksym Lobachov