[ELMS Race] 2015 Four Hours of Imola

[TheMightyM]

The second European Le Mans Series race if 2015 is Sunday, May 17 at Imola.

The provisional entry list features 30 cars (11 P2, 6 P3, 8 GTE-AM, 5 GT3) (pdf)

The schedule (pdf)features two 90-minute practice sessions on Saturday the 16th with qualifying and the race on Sunday. (Key times are also available here.)

ELMS website

[TheMightyM]

Practice 1 news story is over. The highlights:

The wet but drying conditions, the #46 Thiriet by TDS Racing Oreca 05 Nissan was fastest, followed by the #43 Greaves Motorsports car and the #29 Pegasus Racing machine. (Yes, really.)

The new SMP Racing BR01 cars were seventh and eighth. And then there’s this per Sportscar 365.

The No. 63 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 of Giorgio Roda, Ilya Melnikov and Marco Cioci beat the GTE cars in the first session. The GTC car was almost two seconds quicker than the fastest GTE car, the No. 56 AT Racing Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi and father and son Talkanitsa.

That AF Corse GT3 Ferrari was also faster than all of the LP3 cars, which were spread in among the GT cars.

PDF of practice 1 times are here.

[TheMightyM]

SMP Racing 4th fastest with 20 minutes to go in FP2. Not quite in the same league as Jota, Thiriet by TDS, and Greaves but not bad at all for the first time out with the new car.

[Damian Baldi]

Originally Posted by TheMightyM

SMP Racing 4th fastest with 20 minutes to go in FP2. Not quite in the same league as Jota, Thiriet by TDS, and Greaves but not bad at all for the first time out with the new car.

Don't forget the Michelin tires could make them slow for a single lap. Same for Krohn.

[TheMightyM]

Originally Posted by Damian Baldi

Don't forget the Michelin tires could make them slow for a single lap. Same for Krohn.

Krohn has some issues besides the tires. Now down in 10th in FP2, the slowest of the four cars on Michelins.

[Damian Baldi]

Thanks for the data.

SMP improved their times, now both in 1.37

woow. 1.35 for the Oreca 05

[TheMightyM]

And right after I say something about how poorly they are doing, the Krohn car lays down a 1:36.8, good for 4th fastest of the session…

[Damian Baldi]

Yeah, good performance of all coupes, great work from Murphy and Krohn to put Greaves behind. The new BR-01 looks fast, but it's a new car. The new Oreca put an entire second over the rest of the field !

It was just a practice, let's see tomorrow on the qualy.

[TheMightyM]

LMP3 performance so far is all over the place: The top two LMP3s (the Team LNT cars) were buried in the middle of the GTE-Am field, behind three Ferraris, a Porsche, and the BMW Z4 but ahead of two other Ferraris and a Porsche. From a performance balancing/raceability standpoint, that’s probably not what the ACO is after. I’d say that the LMP3 will get faster over time as the teams get more experience with them, but GTE cars are also suppose to get faster.

It’s also clear that many of the LMP3 teams haven't come to grips with the car yet, as three of the five slowest cars that went out were LMP3.

[Damian Baldi]

I don't know what's going on with those LMP3 cars, they get stuck into the GTs and can't pass. I think this class is an error.

[Starfish Primer]

We still don´t have a second P3 manufacturer so we still don´t know if is a Ginetta problem or a class problem.

[pablocomics]

Totally agree, I'm totally sure than the category will speed up a lot as soon as Ligier will enter their car.

...and you are forgeting about the other side of the equation, the drivers. All of them are glentemen drivers, the level on GTE is much, much, much better, the best p3 drivers are silver (and most of them bronze), the best in GTE are platinum. Probably most of the p3 drivers will be slower than a GTE even on a P2.

[TheMightyM]

Originally Posted by pablocomics

...and you are forgeting about the other side of the equation, the drivers. All of them are glentemen drivers, the level on GTE is much, much, much better, the best p3 drivers are silver (and most of them bronze), the best in GTE are platinum. Probably most of the p3 drivers will be slower than a GTE even on a P2.

Very overstated. Four of the 11 P2 cars at Imola only have silver and bronze-rated drivers yet all four of those cars managed to be ahead of the fastest GTE in FP2 by at least 1.8 seconds.

The best P3 driver is Joey Foster, a gold. There are also six silver and five bronze drivers in P3 plus the drivers in the Villorba Corse car for which the provisional entry list doesn't give a driver rating. GTE-Am cars require a bronze plus another am driver (silver or bronze). So the only advantage that most of the GTE-Am cars will have is their single pro driver.

[Ephaeton]

Just a couple of minutes to go until we head into qualifying.
Feels weird (as spectator) to start the day outright with qualifying in unknown conditions.
So the guys who go out to qualify during 20 minutes of time have to pack in their reconnaissance lap into their out lap, I suppose.
Guess we won't be seeing the bronzes out first.

[Ephaeton]

fun to see the onboard camera of the #46 Thiriet.. doesn't absorb shocks very well, reminds you a little of how busy such a LMP2 cockpit actually is...

[Ephaeton]

Speaking of the LMP3 speeds:

Qualifying result brackets

11x LMP2 - 1:34.5 - 1:39.1
5 x GTE - 1:41.7 - 1:42.3
1 x P3 - 1:42.5
3 x GTE - 1:42.5 - 1:42.6
4 x P3 - 1:43.0 - 1:43.6
1 x GTC - 1:43.7
1 x P3 - 1:43.8
4 x GTC - 1:44.0 - 1:47.8

So in theory the P3 could just - right now - follow the trail of GTEs and remain in front of the GTCs.
Looking forward to seeing more P3 models, and curious to see where the P3s then will be BoPped to.
I assume ACO wants the P3s to not disturb the GTEs and speed them up to, say, a 1:39.0 - 1:41.0 bracket on imola.

[tux]

Orecas P2 is FAST

Although LMP3 is new, its abit of a mess they are running against GTE, GTE are faster in the straights, LMP3 in the corners, its madness

[Ephaeton]

Giammaria, the local in the 51, is just driving in another class than the rest of the GTE field...

[Pontlieue]

That's the first time I've seen a safety car for "gravel on track".

[J Jay]

That was a strange SC. I've been flicking in and out so I didn't get a good look at how much gravel there was.

Meanwhile Tincknell has taken off. Again.

[J Jay]

What's up with the Massive Motorsport GTC? It's been pinged twice now for the same regulation breach (apparently for tyres?) but the first one was rescinded?

[tux]

Originally Posted by J Jay

What's up with the Massive Motorsport GTC? It's been pinged twice now for the same regulation breach (apparently for tyres?) but the first one was rescinded?

Dont know Jay, think the car has been retired anyway, did 6 laps, went to the garage, did 1 more lap and now in the garage.

LMP3 #3 hit the ATracing Ferrari.

[TheMightyM]

Originally Posted by J Jay

What's up with the Massive Motorsport GTC? It's been pinged twice now for the same regulation breach (apparently for tyres?) but the first one was rescinded?

And all that in just seven laps of racing for the car… Did see a message on screen that the original penalty was suspended. Would presume that the race director decided to impose it after all.

[tux]

The Massive car seems to be repaired, did 1 lap then came in and was sat in its pitbox with a mechanic watching the stopwatch so presumably taking its penalty

Edit: Yeah, the Massive car is back out 40 laps down from the next GTC car.

These LMP3s are having a scrappy race, surprising because Silverstone was very drama free.

[TheMightyM]

It would be nice if T&S actually showed the driver currently in the car…