Algarve Pro Wins Incident-Packed 4H Spa

The Algarve Pro Racing lineup of Alex Lynn, James Allen and Kyffin Simpson won an incident-packed 4 Hours of Spa to extend their European Le Mans Series points lead.

The drivers of the No. 25 Oreca 07 Gibson converted Lynn’s pole position into a second win of the season after controlling the race despite five safety car periods and three Full Course Yellows.

With 10 minutes to go, Lynn took the final safety car restart in fourth place but he was the net leader because the three LMP2 cars ahead of him all needed to pit for fuel.

Lynn then controlled the closing stages, including an FCY for an LMP3 going off at Jacky Ickx corner, to cross the line 1.8 seconds ahead of Malthe Jakobsen who shared the Pro-Am winning Cool Racing Oreca with Nicolas Lapierre and Alexandre Coigny.

Third place overall went to AF Corse’s Matthieu Vaxiviere, Alessio Rovera and Francois Perrodo, after Vaxiviere pounced on Louis Deletraz at Blanchimont as the final FCY slow period ended.

LMP2 Pro-Am entries ranked highly in the overall classification due to the frequent safety car interventions and four of the seven open-categorization LMP2s being involved in a first-corner accident.

Manuel Maldonado’s lock-up into La Source created havoc as his Panis Racing Oreca collected the Duqueine Team and IDEC Sport cars. It also tagged the No. 22 United Autosports Oreca which was then hit from behind by an LMP3 that entered the gravel.

Pole-sitter Simpson drew clear of that drama and controlled the opening hour and a half for Algarve Pro.

The recently-announced NTT IndyCar Series driver was half a minute clear of the second-placed Inter Europol Competition Oreca started by Rui Andrade when he swapped out for Allen, however the margin was eradicated by the second safety car phase.

Martin Berry spun JMW Motorsport’s Ferrari 488 GTE Evo into the barriers at the top of Raidillon before parking up later on the lap with vehicle damage.

Allen remained ahead until the next safety car occurred with an hour and a half remaining when LMP3 podium contender Glenn van Berlo crashed between Campus and Courbe Paul Frere. Barrier repairs meant that it took half an hour before racing resumed.

That lengthy safety car triggered a wave of LMP2 stops, but one of the main cars to benefit was the Pro-Am Oreca from Cool Racing which dived in just before the pits closed.

It meant that Jakobsen was at the head of the field at the next restart with 55 minutes left on the clock, with Lynn second and Nielsen Racing’s Ben Hanley third.

Hanley had an entertaining battle with Vaxiviere and Deletraz his race ended in the Paul Frere tire barriers after a solo accident that yielded another safety car.

The intervention came at the perfect time for most of the LMP2s because it saved them a fuel splash at the end.

It also signaled a change of lead as Lynn emerged ahead of Jakobsen, following a six-second pit stop gain from Algarve Pro which made its previous stop later than Cool.

A brief five-minute burst of racing was interrupted by the final safety car, caused by Jonathan Aberdein crashing Inter Europol’s Oreca at the same spot as Hanley’s accident.

Lynn then maintained his track position advantage over Peugeot LMH junior Jakobsen to take a win that provisionally increased Algarve Pro’s lead in the outright ELMS standings to 14 points.

It also moved the Portuguese team’s No. 25 crew above Duqueine Team at the head of the LMP2 leaderboard.

Cool, Iron Lynx Secure Category Honors

Despite missing out on the overall win, Cool Racing sealed LMP3 honors with its No. 17 Ligier JS P320 Nissan driven by Marcos Siebert, Alejandro Garcia and Adrien Chila.

Siebert finished 2.5 seconds ahead of Kai Askey, who shared the Inter Europol Ligier with Adam Ali and Miguel Cristovao. It marked the third win out of four races so far this season for Cool Racing.

LMP3 pole-sitter WTM Rinaldi was disqualified from taking part due to its Bronze-rated driver not turning a lap in Free Practice. Eurointernational made the most of it and led the opening two hours, but dropped back as the safety cars unfolded and ended up third.

In GTE, Iron Lynx were classified the winners after a post-race penalty for Proton Competition.

Alessio Picariello, driving the No. 16 Porsche 911 RSR-19, held off Cairoli’s No. 60 Porsche to initially secure the victory alongside his co-drivers Ryan Hardwick and Zach Robichon.

The two drivers crossed the line six-tenths of a second apart after the final safety car bunched the GTE field, while Formula Racing’s Ferrari was third.

However, Picariello was handed a ten-second penalty as he was deemed to not have respected the Full Course Yellow procedure and accelerated too soon.

Picariello, Hardwick and Robichon dropped to third place as a result, with Cairoli, Matteo Cressoni and Claudio Schiavoni taking victory instead.

RESULTS: 4 Hours of Spa (Amended)