For the first time since his official retirement, Mr Le Mans, Tom Kristensen is set to pull on a fire suit and boots to take part in the Race of Champions at the Olympic Stadium in London on 20 and 21 November.

24H Le Mans

24 Heures du Mans

The 4 Hours of Imola, third round of the 2024 European Le Mans Series, is shaping up to be a nail-biter! With a staggering 43 cars in the field, the competition will be fierce in the LMP2, LMP3 and LMGT3 categories.

<p>The&nbsp;4 Hours of Imola entry list includes&nbsp;14 LMP2s, eight&nbsp;LMP2 Pro/Ams,&nbsp;10&nbsp;LMP3s and&nbsp;11 LMGT3s. All eyes will be on the prototypes in LMP2,&nbsp;the ELMS&#39;s head category, with teams vying not only for victory but for precious points in the championship.</p>

<h2>Every Point Matters</h2>

<p>Earlier in the season, COOL Racing&#39;s #37 ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson triumphed at the 4 Hours of&nbsp;Barcelona, and Inter Europol Competition&#39;s #43 ORECA took the top spot at the&nbsp;4 Hours of Le&nbsp;Castellet. The victory&nbsp;propelled the Polish team into the lead of the provisional standings&nbsp;ahead of&nbsp;United Autosports, COOL&nbsp;Racing and&nbsp;IDEC SPORT Racing. The battle for the championship trophy&nbsp;is extremely intense this year and every point gained in&nbsp;Italy could make the difference in who wins the crown.</p>

<p>RLR M Sport is currently at the helm of&nbsp;the LMP3 category, closely followed by&nbsp;Team Virage, COOL&nbsp;Racing and&nbsp;DKR Engineering.</p>

<p>Spirit&nbsp;of Race&#39;s #55 Ferrari 296 LMGT3 presently holds first place in the LMGT3 classification.</p>

<p>The Imola circuit last hosted a four-hour&nbsp;European Le Mans Series race&nbsp;in 2022. Prema Racing won in LMP2,&nbsp;United Autosports in&nbsp;LMP3 and&nbsp;Oman Racing with TF Sport in LMGTE.</p>

<p>Endurance racing fans around the world can follow the 4 Hours of Imola action <u>live</u> on the official European Le Mans Series&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/@EuropeanLeMansSeriesOfficial/streams" target="_blank"><strong>YouTube channel</strong></a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/EuropeanLMS" target="_blank"><strong>Facebook page</strong></a>.</p>

<p><strong><a href="https://storage.googleapis.com/doc-prod/z2CfNI6J77gpKmyF_o8pK9Tn.pdf" target="_blank">2024 4 Hours of Imola entry list</a>.</strong></p>

European Le Mans Series – A lot hangs in the balance at the 2024 4 Hours of Imola

Brazil is set to host a round of the FIA World Endurance Championship again for the first time since 2014. The highly anticipated Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo will be held on 13-14 July at the Interlagos circuit.

<h2>First-Class&nbsp;Starting Grid</h2>

<p>Thirty-seven cars are expected to&nbsp;line up on the starting grid for&nbsp;the&nbsp;fifth round of the 2024 FIA WEC:&nbsp;19 Hypercars including Alpine, BMW, Cadillac, Ferrari, Isotta Fraschini, Lamborghini, Peugeot, Porsche and&nbsp;Toyota, as well as&nbsp;18 LMGT3s including&nbsp;Aston Martin, BMW, Corvette, Ford, Ferrari, Lexus, Lamborghini, McLaren and&nbsp;Porsche.</p>

<h2>Keep Your Eye on These Two Brazilian Drivers</h2>

<p>Brazilian fans will be out in droves to cheer on two local competitors, namely&nbsp;Nicolas Costa at the wheel of the United Autosports team&#39;s #59&nbsp;McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo, and Augusto Farfus in Team WRT&#39;s #31&nbsp;BMW M4 LMGT3. You do not want to miss the latter&#39;s&nbsp;return to his home turf!</p>

<h2>Two Driver Changes</h2>

<p>Two adjustments have been made to the Rolex 6 Hours of&nbsp;S&atilde;o Paulo entry list. In the Hypercar category, Proton Competition&#39;s #99 Porsche 963 will be shared&nbsp;by&nbsp;Neel Jani and&nbsp;Julien Andlauer without Harry Tincknell.</p>

<p>In LMGT3, Austrian driver Clemens Schmid will take the wheel of Akkodis ASP&#39;s #78 Lexus RC F LMGT3 rather than&nbsp;Timur Boguslavskiy. Schmid already represented the team&nbsp;at Spa-Francorchamps,&nbsp;replacing&nbsp;Boguslavskiy who was ill.</p>

<h2>Interlagos, A Formidable Playing Field&nbsp;</h2>

<p>Toyota and&nbsp;Porsche have previously won at&nbsp;S&atilde;o Paulo, a&nbsp;particularly demanding and hilly 4.3 km circuit with&nbsp;15 corners and counterclockwise action. Even the most seasoned drivers will be put to the test!</p>

<p><strong>The start of the Rolex 6 Hours of S&atilde;o Paulo will be given on Sunday 14 July at&nbsp;11:30 local time&nbsp;(GMT-3).</strong></p>

<p><a href="https://press.fiawec.com/assets/fileuploads/66/7a/667ad54fa32a6.pdf" target="_blank"><strong>The 2024 Rolex&nbsp;6 Hours of&nbsp;S&atilde;o Paulo entry list</strong></a><strong>.</strong></p>

Don’t miss the FIA WEC’s upcoming return to São Paulo

2019 European Le Mans Series champion IDEC SPORT Racing delivered a brilliant performance at the 92nd 24 Hours, finishing third in LMP2.

<p>Since its rookie start in the 24 Hours&nbsp;eight years ago, IDEC SPORT Racing&nbsp;has made steady progress&nbsp;and routinely&nbsp;delivers its share of excitement during&nbsp;the race. The 92nd running was no exception, with&nbsp;countless twists, turns and tense moments for the #28 ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson shared by&nbsp;Paul Lafargue/Job van Uitert/Reshad de Gerus.</p>

<p>In the wake of encouraging free practice sessions, the team clocked the fifth fastest time in the LMP2 category at&nbsp;qualifying. Job van Uitert then landed on the front row for&nbsp;the Hyperpole, coming in second on the timesheet.</p>

<p>The Dutch driver took the first stint of the race, followed by Lafargue and de Gerus. After&nbsp;a textbook&nbsp;start, intermittent rain showers disrupted the team&#39;s strategy, changing the order of the stints and complicating the race in general. Impeccable pit stop management and the absence of mistakes&nbsp;despite tricky&nbsp;weather conditions&nbsp;allowed IDEC SPORT Racing&nbsp;to stay in the fight. At&nbsp;03:44, intense downpours forced Race Control to deploy the safety cars, and at the restart, the French team launched&nbsp;a spectacular comeback, even taking&nbsp;the lead in LMP2 for a time.</p>

<h2>Podium Finish that Feels Like Victory</h2>

<p>The adrenaliine was palpable in the garage of Lafargue&#39;s team all the way to the chequered flag, with memories of last year&#39;s&nbsp;fateful tyre puncture&nbsp;still fresh in everyone&#39;s minds. In the end, the #28 ORECA crossed the finish line third in LMP2, giving IDEC SPORT Racing its first ever podium at Le&nbsp;Mans.</p>

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<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>It also marked the first podium for former driver and current team manager <strong>Nicolas Minassian:</strong><em>&nbsp;We worked really hard. We were all in. It&#39;s wonderful and I am extremely moved.&nbsp;IDEC SPORT is now a&nbsp;team that has&nbsp;earned a&nbsp;podium finish at Le&nbsp;Mans as well as winning&nbsp;championships. It&#39;s a big team with a family core and fantastic&nbsp;energy. This was a brutal running of the race, and we were sweating it through&nbsp;the last corner because we needed to maintain this&nbsp;tiny&nbsp;gap&nbsp;up to the chequered flag.&nbsp;Everyone was on top of their game: no technical errors, no&nbsp;penalties, no driver&nbsp;errors. This third place feels like a win and&nbsp;I am so proud to be part of this great team.&quot;</em></p>

<p><strong>Reshad de Gerus:</strong> <em>I learned a lot during this running of the race, which&nbsp;is terrific.&nbsp;And we claimed&nbsp;the third step on the podium. We fought for the win all the way to the finish. We didn&#39;t give up and we proved we are capable.&nbsp;I am leaving with two trophies, that of the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans and that of the best average in LMP2 which&nbsp;I am proud to&nbsp;have. But, the driver is nothing without the team.</em></p>

<p>This first podium is a well-deserved reward for a team who has successfully&nbsp;overcome challenges and established itself as&nbsp;a&nbsp;front runner every season. With flawless strategy&nbsp;and such talented drivers, IDEC SPORT Racing continues to build an outstanding legacy at the 24 Hours of Le&nbsp;Mans.</p>

2024 24 Hours of Le Mans – IDEC SPORT Racing finally gets its due

Everyone was eagerly awaiting the first outing of Proton Competition’s new Ford Mustang GT3s in the LMGT3 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This début performance was rewarded with a podium finish plus fourth place in its class.

<p>The Ford Mustang&nbsp;GT3 made a successful first impression by&nbsp;<strong>securing a podium position</strong>&nbsp;at this year&rsquo;s 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Proton Competition #88 car driven by Giorgio Roda, Mikkel Pedersen and Dennis Olsen finished third in the LMGT3 class, behind the winning Manthey EMA #91 Porsche and the Team WRT #31 BMW.&nbsp;&ldquo;<em>After the first few laps, it became clear to me that we had an excellent package</em>,&rdquo;&nbsp;explains Dennis Olsen.&nbsp;&ldquo;<em>This gave me plenty of confidence and the motivation to take risks, despite the difficult conditions and heavy rain.&nbsp;I had a great last stint and <strong>I was&nbsp;proud to be on the podium with Bill Ford himself</strong></em>.&rdquo;</p>

<p>In fact, <strong>Proton Competition narrowly missed out on a double podium finish</strong>&nbsp;as the #44 car with John Hartshorne, Ben Tuck and Christopher Mies finished fourth.&nbsp;&ldquo;<em>Our Mustang&nbsp;GT3 was fantastic to drive</em>,&rdquo;&nbsp;said Christopher Mies. &ldquo;<em>It&rsquo;s incredible the progress we&rsquo;ve made over the last few months.&nbsp;I can only hope that this development continues</em>.&rdquo;<br />
<br />
This was John Hartshorne&rsquo;s final appearance in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, after previous entries with a TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage AMR (2021), a Jetalliance Lotus Evora (2011) and a Racesport Peninsula TVR Tuscan (2005).</p>

<h2>The 24 Hours of Le Mans lottery</h2>

<p>The #77 driven by Ryan Hardwick, Ben Barker and Zacharie Robichon also displayed great potential, largely thanks to Barker&rsquo;s standout qualifying performance. At one point, the British driver held provisional LMGT3 class pole with the Mustang. However, after this promising start, a series of mishaps relegated them to P17.</p>

<p>Michael Ried, team owner and technical director of Proton Competition, praised the endurance and talent of his drivers and team: &quot;<em>Le Mans once again lived up to its reputation as the toughest car race in the world.&nbsp;The repeated rain caused extremely difficult conditions on track and made the choice of tyres something of a lottery</em>.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Fans at the 24 Hours of Le Mans were thrilled to see the Ford Mustang&nbsp;GT3s line up on the grid. And they are all looking forward to hearing the roar of the naturally aspirated 5.4-litre V8 again at the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/93rd-24-hours-of-le-mans-see-you-on-14-15-june-2025-58838" target="_blank">next 24 Hours of Le Mans</a>. Especially after such a promising d&eacute;but.</p>

A podium finish for the Ford Mustang GT3 on its début at the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans

<p>
	In 2014, the event was held in Barbados and was Kristensen&rsquo;s last race to date, although he officially retired after the last leg of the FIA World Endurance Championship in S&atilde;o Paulo.</p>
<p>
	The Danish driver bowed out in style in Barbados, winning the nations&rsquo; cup with Petter Solberg, World Champion in both rally and rally-cross. The Danes will be back to defend their title this year in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London.</p>
<p>
	Kristensen, who now coaches Audi drivers, was Grand Marshal at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year and had the honour of leading the field of 55 to green. As an ambassador for Audi and like many retired Audi factory drivers, he also often acts as a consultant for younger drivers. He did just that at the DTM race in Norisring in Germany last weekend.</p>
<p>
	Although retired, the Dane is keeping fit by running marathons and as he has decided to defend his title in London, defend it he certainly will!</p>
<p>
	C&eacute;cile Bonardel / ACO &ndash; Translated by Emma Paulay</p>
<p>
	<strong>PHOTO: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, LE MANS 24 HOURS, SATURDAY 13 JUNE 2015. Tom Kristensen, Grand Marshal of this year&rsquo;s 24 Hours of Le Mans will be back in a racing car for the Race of Champions.</strong><br />
	&nbsp;</p>


24H LE MANS

Tom Kristensen, nine-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans back in the cockpit.

Related News

European Le Mans Series – A lot hangs in the balance at the 2024 4 Hours of Imola

Don’t miss the FIA WEC’s upcoming return to São Paulo

2024 24 Hours of Le Mans – IDEC SPORT Racing finally gets its due

A podium finish for the Ford Mustang GT3 on its début at the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans

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