Julien Canal, James Allen and Will Stevens left the “Temple of Speed” with a beaming smile. The three men ran a perfect, error-free race in the #65 Oreca 07 to offer the structure headed by Olivier Panis – in partnership with Sarah and Simon Abadie – a fully deserved maiden win. Ever-present in the European Le Mans Series since 2016, the team has received a timely confidence boost ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The fourth round of the European championship season promised to be another battle between the #26 Aurus fielded by G-Drive Racing in pole position and the #41 Oreca of Orlen Team WRT. With United Autosports’ #22 Oreca showing early pace, the race appeared to be shaping up for a three-way tussle. However, a race incident after 40 minutes upset the applecart.

The Proton Competition #77 Porsche spun off into the gravel trap, bringing out the safety car.  By pitting early, just before the pit lane was closed, United Autosports and Panis Racing took full advantage of the situation.  Orlen Team WRT was then forced in for a five-second emergency refuelling stop to be able to continue racing. G-Drive Racing’s #26 Aurus had regained the lead during the spate of pit stops but ran out of fuel when the safety car left the track. It rejoined the race down in 18th place. Racing Team Nederland also had to pit and dropped to eighth.

A fight between United Autosports and Panis Racing ensued from that point. Will Stevens (#65 Oreca, Panis Racing) managed to hold off Tom Gamble (#22 Oreca, United Autosports) during the final stint and took the chequered flag for the French team’s maiden win. Sixth overall, Roberto Merhi in the #25 Aurus took the honours in the LMP2 Pro-Am class for G-Drive Racing after a long struggle against Charlie Eastwood in the #34 Oreca (Racing Team Turkey).

In LMP3, the #4 Duqueine M30-D08-Nissan entered by DKR Engineering set the pace throughout the weekend. As at Le Castellet, the Luxembourg outfit took maximum points with pole position and the class win.

Ferrari once again triumphed in the LMGTE class with a clean sweep of the podium places in its ‘home’ race, although Italian teams Iron Lynx and AF Corse were shaded out by Spirit of Race. With the extra point for pole position, the Swiss outfit continues to be a threat in the race to the title. At the chequered flag, the #55 car driven by Duncan Cameron, Alessandro Pier Guidi and David Perel finished just 2.8 seconds ahead of the #80 of Matteo Cressoni, Rino Mastronardi and Miguel Molina. François Perrodo, Emmanuel Collard and Alessio Rovera were a mere five seconds further back.

The next ELMS meet will be held at Spa-Francorchamps in mid-September. However, most of the field will firstly head to France for the 24 Hours of Le Mans (21-22 August).