Aragon, Spain, August 29th 2023 - The summer break was over for the European Le Mans Series this weekend with round three held on the Motorland Aragon circuit in Spain (5,344 metres and 18 corners), the year’s only race held at night with the start scheduled for 6pm on Saturday.
Featuring a forty-two strong field, cars from Panis Racing and COOL Racing, the two French outfits supported by the ELF brand, were once again well placed to be press for glory. From seventh on the starting grid, Panis Racing’s Van Uitert, Maldonado and Van Der Helm produced an aggressive race to finish fourth overall, despite having lost time with a spin near the end and being held up by a backmarker. As regards COOL Racing, the no. 37 Oreca 07 driven by Alexandre Coigny, Nicolas Lapierre and Malthe Jakobsen entered in the LMP2 Pro/Am class unfortunately suffered an electrical issue and ended up having to retire. Meanwhile, the no. 47 Oreca 07 of Pechito Lopez, Reshad de Gerus and Vlad Lomko was in contention for a podium place for much of the race, but damage caused to their car prevented them from doing any better than seventh overall and sixth in the LMP2 class.
Alex Garcia, Marcos Siebert and Adrien Chila, COOL Racing’s trio of drivers competing in LMP3 in the no.17 Ligier JS P320, produced a pleasing result as they claimed their second class win of the season to consolidate their position at the top of the championship standings! The series now moves on to the iconic Spa-Francorchamps track in Belgium on 24 September, for another high-quality contest on the famous “roller-coaster of the Ardennes”.
Following first round after the summer break, Panis Racing and COOL Racing, and their LMP2 crews, now live fifth and sixth in the drivers’ and teams’ championships. COOL Racing also holds fourth place in the LMP2 Pro/Am standings, whilst the team’s drivers are currently fifth. Finally, in LMP3, COOL Racing and its drivers Adrien Chila, Alejandro Garcia and Marcos Siebert are now the clear leaders in the standings.
In parallel, the semi-final and final of the inaugural ELMS Pit Stop Challenge by TotalEnergies took place at MotorLand Aragon. The winning teams in the LMP2, LMP3, and LMGTE categories were determined after battles against the clock. IDEC Sport emerged victorious in the LMP2 final with a tire change in 16.265 seconds, surpassing Racing Team Turkey. The LMP3 final was secured by Ultimate, completing a tire change in 18.195 seconds, just 0.085 seconds faster than COOL Racing. In the LMGTE category, GMB Motorsport executed a tire change in a mere 14.915 seconds, claiming victory.
The winning teams were congratulated in a dedicated podium ceremony, where each mechanic received a 100 euros fuel voucher from TotalEnergies, the event partner.
