After many wins and titles with Ferrari in the various GT classes and series, Beppe Lucchini’s team switched to a Porsche at the Le Mans 24 Hours this year

Iron Lynx-Proton took their first ever LMP2 victory in the ELMS, with Jonas Ried, Macéo Capietto and Matteo Cairoli standing on the top step of the podium after a dramatic debut ELMS race at the Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello.

The 4-Hours race saw five Safety Car periods and one Red Flag to clear the circuit after the no60 Proton Competition Porsche hit the barrier on the start finish straight after being clipped from behind by the Iron Dames Porsche. The driver of the no60 Porsche, Claudio Schiavoni walked away from the badly damaged car, and after a long clean-up process the race resumed.

The LMP2 Pro/Am victory went to the no29 Richard Mille by TDS Oreca trio of Rodrigo Sales, Gr&eacute;goire Saucy and Mathias Beche and with the no83 AF Corse Oreca finishing 7th&nbsp;in class, the championship is now wide open going into the final race of the season in Portugal.

The LMP3 win was claimed by the no8 Team Virage Ligier crew of Julien Gerbi, Bernado Pinheiro and Gillian Henrion from 8th&nbsp;on the grid, which means the championship battle will also go to the final race with just two points splitting the top three cars, Eurointernational, Team Virage and RLR MSport.

The LMGT3 title race is also still wide open going into the final round at Portim&atilde;o next month after the no57 Kessel Racing Ferrari crew of Takeshi Kimura, Esteban Masson and Daniel Serra took their second win in a row to take the championship lead. 
 
CLICK <a href="https://www.europeanlemansseries.com/race/4810?session=7526" target="_blank">HERE</a>&nbsp;for the result from the 4 Hours of Mugello.

Extended Race Highlights | 4 Hours of Mugello 2024 | ELMS

ELMS : les faits marquants des 4 Heures du Mugello 2024

ELMS : Iron Lynx-Proton win 2024 4 Hours of Mugello

The Mugello circuit in Italy will host the penultimate race of the 2024 European Le Mans Series this weekend. The intense round will see a staggering 43 contenders fight for the top spot on the podium.

European Le Mans Series fans are gearing up for an electrifying&nbsp;2024&nbsp;4 Hours of&nbsp;Mugello with titles still up for grabs. In LMP2, the championship&#39;s head&nbsp;category, the&nbsp;competition is tighter than ever. Robert Kubica, Louis Del&eacute;traz and&nbsp;Jonny Edgar sharing AO by TF&#39;s #14 ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson currently lead the standings with&nbsp;65 points, a narrow two-point&nbsp;lead on Inter Europol Competition&#39;s #43 ORECA, paving the way for a cutthroat duel to the chequered flag.

In&nbsp;LMP2 Pro/Am, Italian team&nbsp;AF Corse dominates the&nbsp;classification with&nbsp;80 points, well on its way to a second consecutive trophy. Alessio Rovera, Fran&ccedil;ois Perrodo and&nbsp;Matthieu Vaxivi&egrave;re are determined&nbsp;to secure the crown again on their home turf, but&nbsp;Algarve Pro Racing is still in the running with&nbsp;Alex Quinn, Richard Bradley and&nbsp;Kriton Lentoudis looking to take advantage of the slightest error and make up the&nbsp;20 points separating them&nbsp;from first place.

In the LMP3 category, Italian outfit&nbsp;Eurointernational could very well&nbsp;clinch the title after a second win in a row at&nbsp;Spa. Matt Richard Bell and&nbsp;Adam Ali have a 14-point advantage on RLR MSport and a victory at&nbsp;Mugello could see them cap off the season even before the final round.

<h2>Anticipation running high&nbsp;in&nbsp;LMGT3</h2>

The fight for the LMGT3 trophy&nbsp;boils down to one point between&nbsp;the top two cars. Thanks to a solid result at&nbsp;Spa, Swiss team Racing Spirit of L&eacute;man and the #59 Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 lead&nbsp;with&nbsp;53 points, ahead of GR Racing&#39;s #86 Ferrari 296 LMGT3 driven by Italian fan favourites&nbsp;Davide Rigon and&nbsp;Riccardo Pera.

Despite an incident at Spa, Iron Lynx&#39;s #63 Lamborghini is still in the running with 49 points on the board. The Iron Dames team&#39;s all-female driver line-up composed of Michelle Gatting, Rahel Frey and&nbsp;Sarah Bovy will need to deliver an excellent showing to contend&nbsp;for the trophy.

Click for the 2024&nbsp;4 Hours of&nbsp;Mugello&nbsp;<a href="https://storage.googleapis.com/doc-prod/z5ZxJI_gUocHtw-iaLUlXbPP.pdf" target="_blank">entry list</a>.

Qualifying will kick off on&nbsp;28 September at 14:40 and the start of the round will be given on Sunday the 29th at&nbsp;11:30 (all local times). Follow the race live on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/@EuropeanLeMansSeriesOfficial/streams" target="_blank">official ELMS&nbsp;YouTube channel</a>.

ELMS – Decisive 4 Hours of Mugello coming up

Porsche Penske Motorsport trio André Lotterer, Kévin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor took a significant step closer to title glory in the FIA World Endurance Championship today (15 September), by securing an impressive second victory of the season in the 6 Hours of Fuji.

In front of 68,500 fans around the legendary Japanese circuit, the penultimate round of the campaign was as absorbing as it was unpredictable. From fifth on the grid, the race-winning #6 Porsche 963 Hypercar was a contender from the outset, with Vanthoor displacing both Toyotas in the opening laps before piling the pressure on Marco Wittmann in the second-placed BMW M Hybrid V8.

During the first round of pit visits, the Porsche then leapfrogged the BMW and the Cadillac Racing V-Series.R &ndash; which had led the first 42 laps from pole position &ndash; to seize the initiative. Pit-stop cycles and an inspired Nicklas Nielsen in the #50 Ferrari 499P aside, it was an advantage the #6 car would not subsequently relinquish.

Artfully managing several safety car periods and exploiting an alternative strategy to the majority of the 18-strong Hypercar field, the Porsche crew always looked the most likely to win, with Lotterer getting the better of Nielsen&rsquo;s Ferrari mid-race, and Estre surviving both a lunge from a lapped Ryo Hirakawa and a slippery brake pedal that sent him deep into Turn One in the final hour to stay in front.

The trio&rsquo;s fifth podium of 2024 extended their margin at the summit of the standings to 35 points with only 39 remaining in play. That means just an eighth-place finish in Bahrain &ndash; irrespective of any other result &ndash; will be sufficient to seal the deal.

<h4>The top 5 of the FIA ​​World Endurance Championship for Hypercar Manufacturers:</h4>

1. Porsche &ndash; 161 points 
2. Toyota &ndash; 151 points 
3. Ferrari &ndash; 134 points 
4. Alpine &ndash; 52 points 
5. BMW &ndash; 49 points

<h2>Manthey PureRxcing clinches LMGT3 crown</h2>

Manthey PureRxcing celebrated title glory in the LMGT3 category, as Aliaksandr Malykhin, Joel Sturm and Klaus Bachler produced a determined performance in Japan to put the destiny of the coveted crown beyond reach of any of their rivals.

The Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 crew could manage no better than 14th on the grid in qualifying, but race day would prove to be a different story, as a mixture of strong speed, savvy strategy and fortuitous timing around the safety car interventions carried the title-chasing trio into contention for the race win.

Second place behind the victorious #54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari piloted by Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci and Davide Rigon was ultimately enough to secure the championship.

<h4>The top 5 of the FIA ​​Endurance Trophy for LMGT3 teams:</h4>

1. Manthey PureRxcing &ndash; 136 points 
2. Manthey EMA &ndash; 90 points 
3. Team WRT &ndash; 85 points 
4. Heart Of Racing &ndash; 83 points 
5. Team WRT &ndash; 61 points

Full results can be found <a href="https://www.fiawec.com/en/race/result/4868" target="_blank">HERE</a>. 
 
The 2024 WEC campaign will conclude with the Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain on 31 October &ndash; 2 November.

Extended Highlights I 2024 6 Hours of Fuji I FIA WEC

FIA WEC : les faits de course majeurs des 6 Heures de Fuji 2024

Big in Japan: Porsche trio put one hand on Drivers’ crown at Fuji

The 7th round of the World Endurance Championship takes place in Fuji, Japan. The 6 Hours of Fuji has a particularity: the safari tour, which offers the opportunity for “classic” vehicles to race with certain racing cars that make up the FIA WEC field at moderate speed. A hydrogen vehicle has evolved on the track.

The GR010 Hybrid Hypercars were not the only Toyotas on track at Fuji this weekend. The Toyota Mirai Sport, a Hydrogen car, also stood out on the Japanese circuit to promote hydrogen in Endurance. At the wheel Pierre Fillon, president of the Automobile Club de l&#39;Ouest, an actor involved in the decarbonization of mobility and the deployment of hydrogen in competition, traveled over the 4.5 km of the route and in particular the straight of more than 1.4 km with a vehicle emitting 0% CO2, in the company of Mr. Shimizu, the engineer responsible for this Mirai Sport, and Fr&eacute;d&eacute;ric Lequien, CEO of the FIA WEC.

Today, the 2024 grid uses a fuel developed by TotalEnergies, Excellium Racing 100, a competition fuel produced from waste and residues notably from wine growing and which meets all the requirements of manufacturers, engine manufacturers and the European directive on renewable energies. It offers at least 65% reduction in CO2 emissions, at a minimum, over its life cycle. This fuel is certified 100% sustainable. Motorsport thus demonstrates its involvement in the energy transition and the search for more virtuous solutions.

The experience of the Toyota Mirai Sport illustrates the work carried out by the ACO with the FIA ​​and the manufacturers for the creation of a category dedicated to hydrogen by 2028.

Hydrogen on track at Fuji

#97 / Porsche 997 GT3 RSR / BMS Scuderia Italia / Westbrook-Scheider-Holzer / 14th (3rd GT2)

After many wins and titles with Ferrari in the various GT classes and series, Beppe Lucchini&rsquo;s team switched to a Porsche at the Le Mans 24 Hours this year. A good choice: BMS Scuderia Italia scored its best overall result since 2007 (with an Aston Martin that year).

This also was a great result for the three drivers, all Le Mans rookies. BMS Scuderia Italia&rsquo;s line-up included Richard Westbrook, one of the best specialists of the 997. The 2-time DTM defending champion, Timo Scheider drove this car for the first time at Le Mans. The youngest of the three, Marco Holzer (22) was very happy after finish: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s sensational!&rdquo; A sensational achievement indeed, since BMS Scuderia Italia was operated by a new Team Principal, and also changed tyres, switching from Dunlop to Michelin. But Porsches are solid and reliable cars, and the class win by Marc Lieb, Richard Lietz and Wolf Henzler confirmed that once again this year.

24H LE MANS

BMS Scuderia Italia: three rookies and a podium

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Hydrogen on track at Fuji

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