Weekly Racing Roundup (6.13.22)

Racing Spirit of Leman and Cool Racing were the victors in last weekend’s Road to Le Mans races that formed rounds five and six of the Michelin Le Mans Cup season.

Tom Dillmann and Alexander Mattschull claimed victory in Thursday’s opening 50-minute race sharing the Racing Spirit of Leman Ligier JS P320 Nissan, before Duncan Tappy and Mike Benham prevailed on Saturday morning in their No. 25 Ligier.

Dillmann’s overtake on Reiter Engineering’s Mads Siljehaug into Mulsanne was the pivotal moment in the first contest.

Mattschull climbed to second in the opening stint behind Nicholas Schatz, who established a lead of around 10 seconds in his ANS Motorsport Ligier.

The mid-race pit stops took place with a slow zone initiated on the approach to Tertre Rouge, caused by Charles-Henri Samani crashing into the right-side barriers after his Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo touched the grass with its left-side tires.

A slightly slower stop from ANS Motorsport resulted in Siljehaug emerging as the leader after taking over from Freddie Hunt, while Dillmann continued in second before closing down the Norwegian.

Josh Skelton made it a Racing Spirit of Leman 1-2 in a Ligier started by Jacques Wolff.

The second race boiled down to a safety car that bunched the LMP3 field with 20 minutes to go, for the recovery of two stranded cars and barrier repairs at Mulsanne.

Siljehaug led away as Tappy advanced the No. 25 Cool Racing Ligier to second ahead of WTM Duqueine driver Leonard Weiss.

Tappy then used his momentum to get a run on Siljehaug along the Mulsanne straight and out-braked the Reiter driver into the second chicane to seize the lead.

Siljehaug and Hunt settled for second as Dillmann and Mattschull took third, with Weiss slipping to fourth ahead of Cool Racing’s Malthe Jakobsen and Maurice Smith.

Fabio Babini and Emanuele Bisnelli won the GT3 class in the first race for Porsche squad Ebimotors, before GMB Motorsport’s Kasper Jensen and two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner Kristian Poulsen claimed Race 2 honors in a Honda NSX GT3 Evo22.

Stephane Richelmi gave the hydrogen-powered Mission H24 prototype its Le Mans race debut, completing refueling stops in each race.

RESULTS: Race 1 / Race 2 / LMP3 standings

Other Racing & News

***Gillian Henrion swept the Ligier European Series races at the Circuit de la Sarthe in the top JS P4 category, while Jean-René De Fournoux and Hugo Rosati achieved the same feat in the JS 2R class. Race 1 / Race 2

***Bashar Mardini and Jean Glorieux shared out the spoils in the Porsche Sprint Challenge races at Le Mans. Mardini beat fellow Porsche 911 GT3 Cup competitor Glorieux to win the first race. Glorieux, who also contested the 24 Hours of Le Mans with DKR Engineering, then reached the top step of the podium in Race 2 with a 4.4-second victory over Kim Andre Hauschild. Race 1 / Race 2

***Garage 59 is planning to take a McLaren 720S GT3 to some NLS races this year, Sportscar365 has learned. Team principal Andrew Kirkaldy indicated the British squad could “potentially” set itself up for a run at next year’s Nürburgring 24 with long-time partner and driver Alexander West.

***Winward Racing and ST Racing are on the entry list for this weekend’s Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS fixture at VIR after both teams missed the previous round at NOLA Motorsports Park. A 20-car entry has been posted for the third event of the season.

***Pirelli GT4 America will have 41 cars on the grid for its pair of VIR races, while a 26-car entry is registered for the GT America powered by AWS. CJ Moses returns to the GT America grid with his Audi R8 LMS GT2 after missing round two at Sonoma.

On this weekend: Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup (Zandvoort), DTM (Imola), Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS (Virginia International Raceway), International GT Open (Spa-Francorchamps)