European Le Mans Series

ELMS At Imola Promises More Close Racing

Round two of the 2016 European Le Mans Series tales place at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari at Imola on Sunday May 15. 42 cars will take to the grid in a race that last year was won by the Thiriet by TDS Nissan-powered ORECA 05, the maiden international victory for the car.

In 2016, however, G-Drive Racing will be looking for its second win of the European Le Mans Series season after a frustrating weekend at Spa-Francorchamps eight days previously with its two-car entry in the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

In the LMP2 class the #40 Krohn Racing Ligier JS P2 – Nissan will see OlivierPla alongside the existing driver line-up of Tracy Krohn and Nic Jönsson. Pla replaces Björn Wirdheim for this round. SMP Racing will have a sole entry for Imola, the #44 not being entered for this round.

As announced this week, Murphy Prototypes will have new additions to its driver line-up for the #48 ORECA 03R when Garry Findlay and Patrick McClughan join Seán Doyle, in line with the team’s policy of nurturing young driving talent.

In LMP3 Jens Petersen replaces Thomas Dagoneau in the #13 Inter Europol Ligier JS P3. In the #15 RLR Msport Nissan-powered Ligier JS P3 Ross Warburton is not driving at this round.

In LMGTE Davide Rigon replaces Alessandro Pier Guidi in the #56 AT Racing Ferrari 456 Italia. There is also a driver change in the #77 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR 991 where Robert Renauer replaces Marco Seefried. There is also a further change for Proton Competition in the #88 car where Klaus Bachier will join Gianluca Roda and Christian Reid in place of Richard Lietz.

Aston Martin Racing has a single entrant for Imola – the #99 Aston Martin V8 Vantage, driven by Andrew Howard, Alex MacDowall and, for the second time this season, Darren Turner.

Track action starts at 14:00 on Friday May 13 with FP1. FP2 takes place on Saturday May 14 at 09:35 with qualifying sessions starting at 13:50. The 4 Hours of Imola starts at 14:00 on Sunday May 15.

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