ELMS: Jota Sport fastest at Le Castellet but penalized after the race

Jota Sport’s Gibson-Nissan, driven by Harry Tincknell, Filipe Albuquerque and Simon Dolan, was the fastest car on Paul Ricard Circuit at Le Castellet during the fourth round of European Le Mans Series, but the winning team is Greaves Motorsport. Jota Sport crossed the finish line first, but was penalized with 45 seconds penalty because Albuquerque exceeded the permitted 90 minute driving time by 1m 57s.

This demoted Jota Sport down to third place behind the #41 Greaves Motorsport’s Gibson-Nissan and #21 AF Racing’s BR01. Greaves Motorsport’s drivers were Gary Hirsch, Bjorn Wirdheim and Jon Lancaster, while AF Racing’s team were Mikhail Aleshin, Kirill Ladygin and Victor Shaytar.

Classification from Le Castellet complicated championship standings before the last race in Estoril in October 17-18. Jota Sport have just one point lead over Greaves Motorsport and 10 points ahead #46 Thiriet by TDS Racing, who finished sixth today.

In LMP3 class fight for championship title is over. Winner at Le Castellet are #3 Team LNT’s Charlie Robertson and Chris Hoy, after controlling the race from the front.  The task was made a little easier when the #2 Team LNT Ginetta pulled off the track with a suspected drivetrain issue.  Robertson took the chequered flag 110 seconds ahead of the #5 Vilorba Corse Ginetta. With three victories Hoy and Robertson secured 2015 championship title.

In LMGTE Formula Racing took their second win in a row when Andrea Rizzoli crossed the finish line in the #60 Ferrari 458 ahead of #52 BMW Z4 of Team Marc VDS. Third was #66 Ferrari of JMW Motorsport. Rizzoli’s team-mates were Mikkel Mac and Johnny Laursen. Team MarcVDS drivers were Andy Priaulx, Jesse Krohn and Henry Hassid. JMW Motorsport trio were Robert Smith, Rory Butcher and Jonny Cocker.

The GTC podium saw a BMW, Ferrari and Aston Martin in the top three places with the #59 TDS Racing BMW Z4 scoring their second win of 2015 after Franck Perera crossed the line for a home win for the all-French team. Other two drivers were Dino Lunardi and Eric Dermont. On second was #62 AF Corse Ferrari of Francesco Castellacci, Thomas Flohr and Stuart Hall, ahead of #68 Massive Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage with Casper Elgaard, Kristian Poulsen and Simon Moller behind its wheel

Complete results are here.

Photos: europeanlemansseries.com