ELMS: Greaves take victory at sensational 4 Hours of Silverstone

After some frenetic racing throughout the four hour race, the Gibson Technologies designed and built LMP2 car crossed the finishing line just 0.370s ahead of the similar Jota Sport Gibson-Nissan. The pulsating climax of the 4 Hours of Silverstone came after a second safety car period with 90-minutes remaining, when the Massive Motorsport Aston Martin crashed on the pit straight. This incident bunched the field up and ensured that a three-way battle for the win played out in a sensational final thirty minutes of racing.

With both the Greaves entries catching the leading Thiriet by TDS ORECA 05 driven by Tristan Gommendy, Harry Tincknell in the Jota Sport Gibson caught and passed the pole sitter, Jon Lancaster. The Greaves driver immediately fought back and regained the position despite contact between the two British racers at the Becketts complex. Lancaster then charged after Tristan Gommendy in the lead and with just a few laps remaining made a move at the Aintree lefthander. Again there was contact and Gommendy spun down to third place and Lancaster continued to what appeared to be, at that stage, a clear victory. But there was a final twist in the epic contest, as a fired-up Tincknell fought all the way to the chequered flag, to finish right on Lancaster’s tail. It was the closest margin of victory in the history of the ELMS. A frustrated Gommendy, who shares the Thiriet by TDS ORECA along with team mates Ludovic Badey and Pierre Thiriet, eventually finished on the bottom step of the podium to claim 15 points.

Hoy and Robertson claim first ever LMP3 win The all-new LMP3 class, which gives another step on the ladder for aspiring Le Mans racers of the future, was a great success at Silverstone today. Some incredible racing in the early stages saw the two Team LNT Ginetta-Nissan entries fight wheel to wheel with the Lanan Racing and SVK By Speed Factory cars. The final result though will make headlines around the world as multiple Olympic gold winning cyclist Sir Chris Hoy and his talented young team mate Charlie Robertson ensured they will go down in history as the first ever winners of the LMP3 class. Hoy scored a debut win in his first ever International event and despite two quick spins showed impressive pace in the LNT Ginetta-Nissan. With Robertson starting and finishing the four hour race the team celebrated wildly as he crossed the line to score maximum points.

The LMGTE class saw a popular home victory by the Gulf Racing UK squad who are based just a few miles from Silverstone at Milton Keynes. The iconic colours of Gulf claimed the spoils with Phil Keen setting up the victory with a very impressive double stint. Mike Wainwright enjoyed perhaps his best race to date and Adam Carroll completed the victory after making an incisive move on the JMW Ferrari of George Richardson in to the Becketts complex. JMW finished second to make it a British 1-2 in the ultra-competitive LMGTE class.

The GTC category as won by the TDS Racing crew of Dino Lunardi/Eric Dermont and Franck Perera. They clinched a clear victory in their BMW Z4 GT3 two laps ahead of the AF Corse Ferrari driven by Mads Rasmussen/Felipe Barreiros and Francisco Guedes. TDS Racing had earlier fought with the #63 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia but when they were involved in the safety car triggering incident with the Massive Motorsport Aston Martin, the BMW Z4 took a comparatively straightforward victory. Gérard Neveu, CEO of ELMS : “The first round of the 2015 European Le Mans Series followed on from the last race of the 2014 season, with an incredibly high level of performance and fantastic racing. This year promises to be full of just as much passion and enthusiasm as last, with drivers and teams ready to take the fight to each other in every one of the four classes.  We would like to take this opportunity to recognise and welcome the new LMP3 category to the ELMS, and to congratulate the manufacturer for the huge amount of work completed to get five cars on the starting grid at Silverstone.  See you at Imola on 16/17 May for the second round of the 2015 European Le Mans Series.” The second round of the ELMS takes place at Imola on May 16/17.