Iron Lynx-Proton Wins Red-Flagged 4H Mugello

Iron Lynx-Proton became the fifth different team from five races to win in the European Le Mans Series this season, coming out on top in a red-flagged and extended 4 Hours of Mugello.

Matteo Cairoli brought the No. 9 Oreca 07 Gibson he shares with Jonas Ried and Maceo Capietto across the line with an advantage of 6.580 seconds over the No. 25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca of Matthias Kaiser, Olli Caldwell and Alex Lynn.

Inter Europol Competition completed the overall podium with its No. 34 machine driven by Oliver Gray, Clement Novalak and Luca Ghiotto.

The Polish squad led much of the early running after it opted to put Gold-rated Novalak in at the start, allowing the No. 34 car to make rapid progress amidst the pack of Silver-rated drivers that traditionally take the race start.

However, the team’s advantage was undone when Algarve Pro, Iron Lynx and Panis Racing did shorter second stints and subsequently leapfrogged Inter Europol during a round of stops under the second safety car.

Capietto fought his way past Caldwell on the restart and remained out front when a significant accident involving Claudio Schiavoni and Rahel Frey caused the race to be stopped in the third hour.

Although not in a battle for position, Frey was positioned behind Schiavoni after a third safety car restart, this time caused by a collision between Alessio Rovera and Hiroshi Hamaguchi that left both stranded in the gravel at Arrabiata 1.

Seemingly in an attempt to pass Schiavoni on the run down to Turn 1, Frey’s No. 85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 GT3 R hit the rear of the No. 60 Proton Competition Porsche.

This pitched the Italian into the wall and triggered a high-speed crash, with multiple drivers having to take avoiding action to prevent further impacts as Schiavoni’s heavily damaged Porsche ricocheted back across the track.

An initial safety car was upgraded to a red flag as Schiavoni walked away from the crash under his own power. The race time was subsequently extended by 20 minutes to compensate for the stoppage.

After the restart, Capietto maintained the lead before handing over to Cairoli, who brought the car home to secure Iron Lynx-Proton’s first race victory in LMP2.

Additionally, the team became the fifth different winner from five races. The series is yet to see a repeat overall winner this season, with previous wins taken by United Autosports, Inter Europol Competition, Panis Racing and AO by TF.

Algarve Pro finished second after successfully completing an undercut on Panis Racing at the final round of stops, with the No. 65 Oreca eventually missing out on a podium after Charles Milesi was overtaken by Ghiotto with 14 minutes to go.

Milesi, Manuel Maldonado and Arthur Leclerc finished fourth, with AO by TF rounding out the overall top five ahead of United Autosports and the No. 43 Inter Europol Oreca.

Richard Mille by TDS finished eighth overall and took Pro-Am honors in the process, with Duqueine Team and the No. 20 Algarve Pro Oreca completing the top ten.

The Pro-Am win for Rodrigo Sales, Gregoire Saucy and Mathias Beche came amidst a race of attrition that saw several class frontrunners hit trouble.

Nielsen Racing, which led on the opening lap with its No. 24 Oreca, saw a potential podium run upended early on with a puncture early on.

AF Corse, meanwhile, finished a lap down and seventh in class after Rovera’s No. 83 car collided with the No. 63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2. The team later also served a penalty for the incident.

Algarve Pro Racing and Proton Competition finished second and third in class, respectively.

Team Virage, Kessel Racing Claim Late LMP3, LMGT3 Wins

Team Virage and Kessel Racing both took their second class wins of the season in LMP3 and LMGT3, with both classes seeing their outcomes decided deep within the final hour.

A fuel-saving run from Gillian Henrion saw the No. 8 Ligier JS P320 Nissan complete a 41-lap final stint and beat RLR M Sport’s Gael Julien across the line by just 0.993 seconds.

Julien, piloting the No. 15 Ligier, appeared on course for victory until he was forced to pit for fuel with nine minutes remaining in the race.

He rejoined in second place and rapidly closed the gap on Henrion, but was unable to regain the lead in the closing laps.

Henrion, who was confirmed to be taking part in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s Bahrain rookie test last week, took his second win of the season alongside Julien Gerbi and Bernardo Pinheiro.

Julien, Nick Adcock and Michael Jensen finished second, while Inter Europol completed the class podium with its No. 88 Ligier driven by Alexander Bukhantsov, Kai Askey and Pedro Perino.

In LMGT3, Kessel Racing secured back-to-back class wins thanks to a late-race pass from Ferrari factory driver Daniel Serra.

Serra wrestled his No. 57 Ferrari 296 GT3 past Lorcan Hanafin’s No. 97 Grid Motorsport by TF Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo out of Turn 1 with six minutes to go.

The Brazilian went on to pull a gap of 3.170 seconds over Hanafin at the flag, who picked up a first podium finish of the season alongside Martin Berry and Jonny Adam.

Formula Racing’s No. 50 Ferrari finished third, in front of the No. 51 AF Corse entry and the No. 59 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin.

The No. 85 Iron Dames Porsche initially crossed the line in fifth, but was dropped to seventh in class after a 30-second post-race penalty for the incident with the No. 60 Proton Competition Porsche.

RESULTS: 4 Hours of Mugello (Updated)