2020 ELMS Spa Preview
2020 ELMS Spa Preview
The second round of the 2020 European Le Mans Series, the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, will feature a bumper grid of forty cars across the three classes.
Credit: United Autosports/David Lord Photography
LMP2: United Autosports look sharp as they head to Spa.
After their dominant performance in Round 1 at Le Castellet, United Autosports head to Belgium as championship leaders. However, the British team will not be resting on their laurels, knowing that the other teams will be challenging for the win once again.
The race-winning #32 United Autosports Oreca features an unchanged crew of Will Owen, Alex Brundle and Job Van Uitert. At the same time, the second-placed #26 G-Drive Racing Aurus will be a two-man crew in Belgium with Roman Rusinov and Mikkel Jensen sharing the driving duties.
The #22 United Autosports Oreca of Phil Hanson and Filipe Albuquerque will be looking to the top step of the podium after suffering a puncture late in the race in France while leading.
The LMP2 grid will also include an additional car with the #38 JOTA Oreca 07, FIA-WEC entry of Jake Dennis, Roberto Gonzalez and former world champion Anthony Davidson joining the ELMS as a wildcard.
Credit: ELMS
LMP3: A Mouth-Watering Fight for the Podium
As in the LMP2 category, United Autosports head to Spa-Francorchamps as championship leaders after the #2 Ligier-Nissan of Wayne Boyd, Tom Gamble and Rob Wheldon claimed maximum points in France. However, like LMP2, they know the challenge is going to be even stronger in Belgium as the other teams look to knock them off the top spot.
2019 LMP3 Vice Champions Martin Hippe and Nigel Moore finished second in France last month, and the #13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier will almost certainly be a factor in the podium standings on Sunday.
In France, the #15 RLR MSport Ligier of Malthe Jakobsen, James Dayson and Ryan Harper was the best of the rest, with the #7 Nielsen Racing Duqueine of Tony Wells and Colin Noble hoping for a return to the podium. The class grid of 12 cars features several cars that are all capable of winning the four-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps and the fight for the victory in Belgium promises to an interesting one to watch.
Credit: Ferrari s.p.a.
LMGTE: Porsche v Ferrari, with Aston Martin Joining the Party Again
The LM-GTE grid will feature a strong line up of 12 cars for the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. The 4 Hours of Le Castellet winners, #77 Proton Competition Porsche, will be hoping to repeat their performance in Belgium. The driver line up features the only Belgian driver on the grid, with Alessio Picariello hoping that racing on his home circuit will bring the team an advantage in the battle for the top spot of the podium. The #77 Porsche features the regular line up with Christian Ried and Michele Beretta joining Picariello.
Credit: Jakob Ebrey - ELMS
The second Proton Competition Porsche will also feature an unchanged driver line up of Michael Fassbender, Felipe Laser and former FIA-WEC LMGTE Pro World Champion Richard Lietz.
Porsche will face a stiff challenge from the Ferrari teams, with the #74 Kessel Racing 488 GTE EVO of Michael Broniszewski, Nicola Cadei and David Perel, and the #83 Iron Lynx Ferrari of Manuela Gostner, Michelle Gatting and Rahel Frey both looking to repeat their podium winning performances in France last month.
The LMGTE grid has been bolstered once again by the #98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage, which will be joined in Spa by two other FIA-WEC teams. The #62 Red River Sport and the #88 AF Corse Ferraris will be joining the grid for the race in Belgium ahead of Round 6 of the FIA World Endurance Championship race a week later.
CLICK HERE for the provisional entry list for the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.