Monza Wednesday Notebook

Photo: Vision Sport Agency

***The European Le Mans Series Prologue has come to a close following a further six hours of testing on Wednesday, which saw Olivier Pla set the pace in the IDEC Sport Racing Ligier JS P217 Gibson. 

***Gwenael Delomier has been released from the medical center following his crash during Tuesday’s running, having sustained an injury to his vertebrae, which has ruled him out for next month’s season-opener. The M.Racing – YMR crew, meanwhile, has a race against the clock to get its Norma M30 Nissan prepared in time for Silverstone as well.

***Cool Racing by CPC, which was announced as a late addition to the ELMS full-season entry, has left Monza to head to a test at Vallelunga. Alexandre Coigny was absent from Monza and so he will be able to test the Ligier JS P3 Nissan over a two-day test at the circuit located near Rome. 

***Graff is yet to announce its driver lineup for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but the French squad has confirmed it will run four of its six ELMS drivers at the race in June. Eric Trouillet, Paul Petit, Enzo Guibbert, Richard Bradley, Franck Matelli and James Allen make up the team’s ELMS roster.

***While Murphy Prototypes isn’t in the ELMS paddock this season, the Irish team could still race its Oreca 03R Nissan in the 24H Proto Series, with Greg Murphy’s team looking to put together a crew for an entry into the new Creventic championship. Series rules permit 2016 or older LMP2 cars in the championship.

***Having topped the GTE time sheets on Tuesday, TF Sport had a much more unfortunate second day of the Prologue, with contact in the morning session bringing a premature end to the test for Tom Ferrier’s team.

***There has been an ongoing problem with driver IDs on the live timing over the course of the test which has affected many cars, including frontrunners. While the results sheets show the correct lap times, these have often been attributed to the wrong drivers. 

**The ELMS field will reconvene in two weeks’ time for the first round of the season, the Four Hours of Silverstone. As has become the norm, the series will share the weekend with the FIA World Endurance Championship, with the ELMS race scheduled for Saturday, April 15. 

Laurent Mercier contributed to this report

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.