Connect with us

Road to Le Mans

DKR Norma Beats Lanan to Win Road to Le Mans Race 2

Hoerr and Kirmann claim victory in 55-minute Le Mans support race as Normas finish 1-5…

 

Photo: MPS Agency

Laurents Hoerr and Francois Kirmann took victory in the second Road to Le Mans race of the weekend in their No. 3 DKR Engineering Norma M30 Nissan.

Kirmann started from second behind Michael Benham in the Le Mans Cup points-leading Lanan Racing Norma but took the lead in the opening sequence of corners.

However, both were subsequently caught and passed by Kevin Bole-Besancon in the CD Sport Norma who went on to build an eight-second lead heading into the pit cycle.

The leader’s early leg-up was aided by both Kirmann and Benham running wide and clattering the barriers just before Tertre Rouge side-on before continuing.

Bole-Besancon stayed out when the mid-race pit window opened while the DKR and Lanan cars pitted right away, a move which only increased the lead gap when Jacques Wolff took over.

But Wolff’s 12-second advantage was quickly eroded by Tappy, who had taken over from Benham and had moved ahead of the DKR Norma with Hoerr at the wheel.

Hoerr then moved DKR back up to second with a bold sweep around the outside at the Indianapolis kink before dispatching Wolff’s CD Sport car at Tertre Rouge.

Tappy followed his main rival through later on the same lap, but couldn’t issue a response to the DKR Norma’s pace in the closing stages with the pair crossing the line 4.8 seconds apart.

Race 1 winners Nicolas Schatz and Adrian Chila completed the podium in their Graff-entered Norma, finishing 26 seconds down, while the CD Sport car faded to 33rd overall.

Norma machinery occupied the top five, with Yann Ehrlacher bringing the No. 19 M Racing car home ahead of Colin Noble in the No. 2 Nielsen Racing machine.

The best of the Ligier JS P3 Nissans were two of the three United Autosports cars entered, while RLR MSport’s Ligier placed seventh after recovering from Freddie Hunt’s wild ride through the gravel and across the front of the field on the opening lap.

Mikkel Mac and Fabien Lavergne won the GT3 class after controlling most of the race in their Luzich Racing Ferrari 488 GT3, but came under increasing pressure from Aston Martin factory driver Ross Gunn at the end.

Mac inherited a comfortable lead from pole-sitter Lavergne, while Gunn made up two positions in the second half of the race after taking over the No. 99 Beechdean Aston Martin Vantage GT3 from Andrew Howard.

Gunn first got past the Kessel Racing Ferrari of Giacomo Piccini, before reeling in and overtaking Tom Onslow-Cole in the SPS Automotive Performance Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Mac held off Gunn by 1.272 seconds at the checkered flag to score Luzich Racing’s third win of the season and extend its lead in the GT3 points standings.

Daniel Lloyd is a UK-based reporter for Sportscar365, covering the FIA World Endurance Championship, Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, among other series.

Click to comment
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

More in Road to Le Mans