The European Le Mans Series season officially kicks off with the 4 Hours of Le Castellet. The prologue to the series, held as usual on the French track, was a two-day test. Five Ferrari crews will start the endurance race on the circuit that last year hosted a round of the Formula 1 world championship, with a real hope of victory in the LMGTE class.
Kessel double. The Ferrari 488 GTE of Kessel Racing, the fastest in the recent pre-season tests, will be crewed by Claudio Schiavoni, Sergio Pianezzola and Andrea Piccini. The Swiss team will also field an all-female crew with Manuela Gostner, from the Ferrari Challenge, Rahel Frey and Michelle Gatting.
Luzich on the attack. The 488 GTE of Luzich Racing, which won the International GT Cup with Mikkel Mac in 2018, will be driven by official Competizioni GT driver Alessandro Pier Guidi, Nicklas Nielsen and Fabien Lavergne. The Swiss team did well during the pre-season test with the second fastest time behind the Ferrari of Kessel Racing.
Likely challengers. The established trio of Duncan Cameron, Matthew Griffin and Aaron Scott will once again don the colours of Spirit of Race, while Jeffrey Segal, Matteo Cressoni and Wei Lu will drive for JMW Motorsport. Jeffrey Segal and Wei Lu won the first round of the Blancpain GT World Challenge America, held at Austin, behind the wheel of the 488 GT3 of TR3 Racing.
Programme. The weekend kicks off on Friday with a free practice session, while Saturday sees the qualifying session to decide the starting grid. The race itself sets off on Sunday at 12:30 pm.