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Road to Le Mans

CLX Motorsport Takes Victory in Opening Race

Penalty denies CLX Motorsport 1-2 finish as Adrien Closmenil, Theodor Jensen win opening race…

Photo: CLX Motorsport

CLX Motorsport took victory in Thursday evening’s opening Road to Le Mans race at the Circuit de la Sarthe.

The No. 37 Ligier JS P325 Toyota shared by Adrien Closmenil and Theodor Jensen came through from ninth on the grid to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans support event.

CLX had scored a 1-2 on the road, the sister No. 97 machine of Cedric Oltramare and David Droux crossing the line second, but a 40-second penalty for failing to respect the minimum pit stop time demoted the car to 14th at the finish.

In a relatively straightforward 14-lap race that featured only a single safety car period, the two CLX Ligiers moved into contention after the mandatory pit stops, running second and third behind Hadrien David’s No. 85 R-ace GP Duqueine D09 Toyota.

David, who had taken over the car from polesitter Hugo Schwarze, however found himself under immediate pressure from Closmenil, who was able to sweep past on the approach to the Porsche Curves to take a lead he wouldn’t lose.

Droux then picked off David for second, with the two CLX cars taking the checkered flag in formation, with David 8.461 seconds behind.

Team Virage’s No. 16 Ligier, shared by Sacha Lehmann and Theo Micouris, was promoted to third, while the two Forestier Racing by VPS Ligiers that had led the early part of the race were fourth and fifth, with the No. 92 car ahead of the No. 29.

The sole safety car period of the race came on the opening lap when Mikkel Kristensen got his No. 4 Nielsen Racing Adess AD25 Toyota beached in the gravel, which coincided with Valerio Riniciella running slowly in the No. 12 WTM by Rinaldi Duqueine.

LMP3 Pro/Am honors went to the No. 71 Rinaldi Racing Ligier of Felipe Fernandez Laser and Stefan Aust.

In GT3, the No. 14 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Steve Jans and Anthony Bartone took victory after Bartone passed Nick Halstead’s No. 5 Optimum Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3 Evo for the lead in the closing stages.

The Optimum car was later penalized, which promoted the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Eliseo Donno and Alessandro Cozzi to the runner-up spot, while Anthony McIntosh and Parker Thompson completed the podium in their Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.

The second Road to Le Mans race is slated for Saturday morning at 10:05 a.m. local time (4:05 a.m. EDT).

RESULTS: Race 1

Jamie Klein is Sportscar365's Asian editor. Japan-based Klein, who previously worked for Motorsport Network on the Motorsport.cоm and Autosport titles, covers the FIA World Endurance Championship and SUPER GT, among other series.

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