The European Le Mans Series is back on track for the third round of the season after the Ferrari podium lockout in round two in Austria where AF Corse won ahead of Spirit of Race and Iron Lynx. Nine cars will compete in the 4 Hours of Le Castellet, six of which will sport Prancing Horse insignia on the bonnet.
At home. The winners of the last race, Francois Perrodo, Emmanuel Collard and Alessio Rovera will aim to continue their form, with the French pairing – the only Frenchmen on the LMGTE grid – relying on their knowledge of the circuit and on the excellent form of the young Italian, will have to deal with 15 kg of success ballast after the result at Spielberg. Further Balance of Performance decisions will mean that all the 488 GTEs will start with three litres less fuel tank capacity and a lowered maximum power ratio for all engine revs of 0.05.
Ballast. The championship leaders and winners of the opening round, featuring official Competizioni GT driver Miguel Molina, Rino Mastronardi and Matteo Cressoni, will start with a burden of 35 kg of ballast, ten more than their closest rivals, Duncan Cameron, Matt Griffin and David Perel in the 488 GTE who trail seven points behind in the general standings. For the leading Iron Lynx crew, there will be plenty of internal rivalry as they line up against the italian team’s sister cars, the #60 crewed by Claudio Schiavoni, Giorgio Sernagiotto and Paolo Ruberti and the #83 with Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting and Manuela Gostner, on the hunt for top results but without the ballast handicap. The JMW Motorsport-run Ferrari with Jody Fannin, Andrea Fontana and Rodrigo Sales, has similar chances, having performed well in Austria to finish in fifth place.
Schedule. The first free practice sessions on Friday will allow the series protagonists to get familiar with the French circuit, while the starting grid will be determined on Saturday at 13:40 local time, with the race itself getting underway on Sunday with the green light at 11:00 and the chequered flag at 15:00.