It’s one of the world’s best racetracks and this weekend the European Le Mans Series returns to the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps,Round 5 of the 2017 series.
35 cars across the three classes, promises great racing and with just two races of the season remaining, the race in Belgium could decide the destination of some of the six European titles.
G-Drive Racing extended their lead to 12 points over United Autosports after finishing second in Le Castellet in France last month. Leo Roussel and Memo Rojas are ahead of Filipe Albuquerque, Hugo De Sadeleer and Will Owen in the Drivers’ Championship also by 12 points, with Roussel and Rojas being rejoined by Japan’s Ryo Hirakawa in the no26 G-Drive Racing Oreca.
SMP Racing’s Egor Orudzhev and Matevos Isaakyan scored the Russian team’s first victory in the LMP2 category in Le Castellet and also the first win for the Dallara P217 chassis and they will be looking to follow this up with another podium in Spa.
With no Belgium teams or drivers, and with many fans travelling from just across the border in the Netherland, local interest will undoubtedly focus on the all Dutch outfit, Racing Team Nederland with former 24 Hours of Le Mans champion and F1 driver Jan Lammers and his compatriot Frits van Eerd. The Dutch duo are currently in 16th place overall and will be hoping to gather more championship points in the Ardennes.
The no39 Graff Oreca-Gibson features an all French crew of Eric Trouillet, Paul Petit and Enzo Guibbert. They scored their second podium finish of the season in Le Castellet and currently lie in third place 31 points behind G-Drive Racing.
Also racing for Graff is young Aussie James Allen who joins Richard Bradley and Gustavo Yacaman.
The 17 car LMP3 grid is made up of 13 Ligier JS P3s and 4 Norma M30s, which are all powered by the same Nissan engine. There are five teams who are still in with a chance of securing the 2017 titles, with the no2 United Autosports Ligier Nissan of John Falb and Sean Rayhall currently leading the championship.
The American duo secured their second victory of the season in Le Castellet to open up a 12 point advantage over the no18 M.Racing YMR crew of Alexandre Cougnaud, Antoine Jung and Romano Ricci and another three points ahead of the no17 Ultimate Ligier of Jean-Baptiste Lahaye, Mathieu Lahaye and Francois Heriau.
The no11 Eurointernational Ligier is on 47 points in 4th place while the no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier is in 5th on 44 points, 26 points adrift of the leaders with a maximum of 52 points still on offer in the final two races in Belgium and Portugal.
Melbourne driver Ricky Capo is in the second Eurointernational Ligier JS P3 along with Andrea Dromedari and Maxwell Hanratty.
Former Australian Radical Cup standout Neale Muston wil join M.RACING in the Norma M 30 along with Yann Ehrlacher.
In GTE Another victory at Le Castellet for the no55 Spirit of Race Ferrari of Duncan Cameron, Matt Griffin and Aaron Scott has meant the team have moved up to third in the championship, just 13 points behind the no90 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage of Salih Yoluc, Euan Hankey and Nicki Thiim.
The TF Sport trio is currently on 77 points, just nine points ahead of the no66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari crew of Jody Fannin and Rob Smith on 68 points. The no55 Ferrari crew is on 64 points, just 6 points ahead of JMW Motorsport driver Johnny Cocker, who missed the opening round at Silverstone.
Reigning LMGTE champions Andrew Howard and Darren Turner are on 48 points in the no99 Beechdean AMR Aston Martin with fellow British driver Ross Gunn.
The 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps will take place on Sunday 24 September and is round 5 of the six race 2017 European Le Mans Series.
