United Autosports Survives Contact for Dramatic Win

United Autosports drivers Griffin Peebles, Gregoire Saucy and Ben Hanley took a dramatic victory in the 4 Hours of Le Castellet despite spinning in an eventful final hour.

Hanley’s No. 22 Oreca 07 Gibson crossed the line at the Circuit Paul Ricard 3.569 seconds ahead of the No. 34 Inter Europol Competition example driven by Reshad De Gerus and Bijoy Garg, after contact with De Gerus caused both to simultaneously rotate.

United’s first European Le Mans Series victory since 2023 had for most of the race looked a formality, as Peebles showed the field a clean pair of heels after passing Louis Rosset’s polesitting Forestier Racing by Panis Oreca on the opening lap.

Saucy comfortably kept Oliver Gray (in for Rousset) at arm’s reach during his stint but the order was condensed by a safety car, caused by Kessel Racing’s Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo losing its right-rear wheel, that led to a 57-minute sprint to the flag and the race’s main flash point.

De Gerus had moved into second after Adrien Closmenil spun his No. 37 CLX Motorsport Oreca out of third at Turn 3, then Esteban Masson (relaying Gray) suddenly slowed and pitted out of sequence.

With 25 minutes to go, De Gerus was pressuring Hanley for the win and attempted a move down the inside at the Mistral Chicane. But, as Hanley attempted to hold on around the outside, contact was made and both lost ground – although Hanley recovered faster and kept his lead.

De Gerus briefly dropped to fourth, but jumped back ahead of Laurents Horr through the final sequence of pitstops, then fought back to second by passing Paul-Loup Chatin. He had enough in hand over Chatin that a five-second penalty for an unsafe release made no difference to the result.

Third still represented a strong finish for the No. 28 IDEC Sport Oreca which Chatin shared with Job van Uitert and Paul Lafargue, who celebrated his first ELMS podium since Aragon 2023 after a clean run.

Fourth capped a solid recovery by IDEC’s sister No. 18 car, which Horr shared with Jamie Chadwick and Valerio Rinicella, the crew forced to start from the back of the grid after running underweight in qualifying.

Ryan Cullen, Vlad Lomko and Pietro Fittipaldi’s Vector Sport Oreca enjoyed a similarly smooth race to collect fifth ahead of Closmenil, who together with Ian Aguilera and Theodor Jensen might have inherited victory without the spin.

The Pro-Am class was claimed by Nielsen Racing’s Kriton Lentoudis, James Allen and Alex Quinn after a late penalty denied AF Corse.

Francois Perrodo, Antonio Fuoco and Matthieu Vaxiviere had been set for the maximum points until a drive-through penalty was issued to the last-named with eight minutes remaining for a yellow flag infringement. Vaxiviere elected not to serve the penalty on the track and crossed the line first, but was demoted to sixth after 35 seconds were added to his race time.

That promoted Quinn, who had only just moved up into second after Charles Milesi (CLX Motorsport) was forced to pit for fuel with three minutes on the clock. The win was just reward after Quinn had charged up from sixth at the safety car restart, overtaking Milesi and Dane Cameron’s AO by TF Oreca, then gaining third when Manuel Espirito Santo spun his Rossa Racing by Virage machine.

Cameron, joining PJ Hyett and Jonny Edgar, took second while Giogio Roda, Richard Verschoor and Doriane Pin collected third for Duqueine ahead of long-time class leaders Steven Thomas, Sami Megetounif and Scott Huffaker (TDS Racing).

Megetounif had risen to third overall at one stage, but their buffer to Vaxiviere disappeared because the VSC appeared shortly after Huffaker had been inserted under green, before a 10s penalty for Megetounif punting Michael Wainwright’s Ferrari into a spin delayed them further.

Inter Europol’s LMP3 Joy as Kessel Racing Claims LMGT3

Inter Europol emerged from a typically eventful LMP3 contest with victory for Alexander Bukhantsov, Chun-Ting Chou and Henry Cubides Olarte after trouble struck their rivals late on.

Their No. 13 Ligier JS P325 Toyota had entered the final hour in fourth with Cubides Olarte at the wheel, but was a net third as Bruno Ribeiro had still yet to drive the leading CLX Motorsport Ligier which starting driver Paul Lanchere had only vacated midway through the third hour.

When Alexander Jacoby handed over to Ribeiro, Inter Europol duly took third, which then became second when Romain Favre’s leading DKR Engineering Ligier was ordered into the pits to shut his left-hand door.

That appeared to hand victory to the R-ace GP Duqueine D09 Toyota of Fabien Michal, Pierre-Alexandre Provost and Hugo Schwarze, which had earlier been delayed by belatedly fixing its rear cheese wedge, until Schwarze was slapped with a 30-second stop-go penalty for earlier disrespecting the black and orange flag.

Inter Europol therefore took the flag 15.4 seconds ahead of Nick Adcock, Thomas Imbourg and Quentin Antonel (M Racing Ligier), who just held off the recovering DKR machine Favre shared with Antti Rammo and Wyatt Brichacek.

In the LMGT3 class, Mathys Jaubert secured victory in the second Kessel Racing Ferrari he shared with Takeshi Kimura and Daniel Serra after passing Charlie Eastwood with 47 minutes to go.

The TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.R Eastwood shared with Blake McDonald and Alec Udell had led for much of the race, McDonald controlling the opening stages before Udell held off the attentions of Anders Fjordbach’s High Class Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R during a close four-car battle that included Proton’s Richard Lietz and Romain Leroux (Kessel).

Serra had been peripheral to the lead battle after Kimura was spun out by the Team Qatar by Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO of Abdulla Ali Al-Khelafi (also penalised for hitting the Porsche Fjordbach shared with Max Moritz and Thomas Preining), but the safety car triggered by team-mate Fran Rueda (in for Leroux) losing his wheel brought Jaubert into play.

He quickly passed Tom Sargent (in for Lietz) before latching onto Eastwood, who with steering damage caused by an LMP2 car in Udell’s stint was unable to defend. Jaubert overtook decisively into the final corner before pulling away to a 17.6 second victory, leaving Eastwood to settle for second.

The podium was completed by Wainwright, Mex Jansen and Lorcan Hanafin’s GR Racing Ferrari after penalties hit the No. 51 AF Corse and No. 55 Spirit of Race machines that both finished ahead on the road.

Conrad Laursen in the No. 51 Ferrari was docked 10 seconds for contact with Sargent at the final corner, but an identical penalty for speeding under a FCY meant that Duncan Cameron, Matt Griffin and David Perel’s No. 55 entry was unable to capitalize.

The Spirit of Race crew were promoted to fourth in the official results after the No. 51 car was excluded due to Laursen stopping on the slow down lap, requiring a tow back to parc ferme by a recovery vehicle.

Preining’s anticipated challenge was also stymied by penalties, having to serve a drive-through for track limits offenses accumulated by Fjordbach, and an additional 10 second hold in the pits for a FCY infringement that cost any hope of a podium.

RESULTS: Race