Back To The Top Step for Inter Europol Competition at Spa-Francorchamps

After taking their second 24 Hours of Le Mans victory in a row in June and finishing second on the ELMS podium no less than six times in the past two seasons, Jakub Smiechowski, Nick Yelloly and Tom Dillmann were all smiles as they held up their winners’ trophies, having taken the chequered flag just 3.3 seconds ahead of the no10 Vector Sport Oreca. 

However, Pietro Fittipaldi had driven 1m15.791 below the minimum driving time.  The no10 Oreca was given a post-race penalty of 1:50.791 sec (Stewards Decision no71), which dropped the car to 17th overall and 9th in LMP2.  This promoted the no29 Forestier Racing by Panis Oreca into second place and the no18 IDEC Sport Oreca to third.

GR Racing secured their first ELMS victory since 2015, with Mike Wainwright, Mex Jansen and Lorcan Hanafin winning the LMGT3 category. Hanafin brought the no86 Ferrari 296 LMGT3 home just 2.7 seconds ahead of the no77 Proton Competition Porsche, with the no62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG securing a second podium in a row.

The LMP2 Pro/Am win went to the no83 AF Corse Oreca of François Perrodo, Antonio Fuoco and Matthieu Vaxiviere. Vaxiviere was battling hard with Louis Delétraz in the no99 AO by TF Oreca in the final stages of the race when the pair clashed at Les Combes. Delétraz span off, with Vaxiviere taking to the escape road and was able to keep his lead. The no83 Oreca took the chequered flag 3.3 seconds ahead of Malthe Jakobsen in the no20 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca, with Delétraz finishing third 5 seconds further back.

The no5 Rinaldi Racing Ligier took the chequered flag in LMP3, with Mikkel Gaarde Pedersen finishing 54 seconds ahead of the rest of the class field. However, a post race penalty led to the car being disqualified due to non compliance with the maximum capacity of the fuel tank (Steward’s Decision no76). This promoted the no17 CLX Motorsport Ligier to first place, with the no85 R-ace GP Duqueine in second and the no11 Eurointernational Ligier completing the top three.

A RACE OF TWO HALVES

Jamie Chadwick made ELMS history by becoming the first female driver to start a race from the overall podium after her teammate Valerio Rinicella put the no18 IDEC Sport on pole in qualifying.

The British driver led the field into La Source with Griffin Peebles getting a good start from third on the grid in the no22 United Autosports Oreca.  The Australian was hit by Bijoy Garg in the no34 Inter Europol Competition under braking, but Peebles was able to keep the car pointing in the right direction and came out of La Source in second ahead of Kuba Smiechowski in the no43 Inter Europol Competition. 

Garg had to pit to repair the damage to the front of the Oreca and was later given a 10 second penalty added to his next pitstop for causing he collision.

The LMP3 class no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier of Alex Bukhantsov went off into the barrier at Turn 5, bringing out the Safety Car for the first time before the first lap was completed.

At the restart Peebles got a better run into the first corner and the no22 Oreca moved into the lead, with Chadwick keeping pace through Eau Rouge and up to Les Combes.  Giorgio Roda was leading the LMP2 Pro/Am category from pole in the no30 Duqueine Team. 

Fabien Michal had made the most his front row start in LMP3, leading the class in the no85 R-ace GP Duqueine, but soon came under pressure from the no17 CLX Motorsport Ligier, with Paul Lanchere passing the no85 Duqueine at T5.

Tony McIntosh had done the same in the LMGT3 category, leading the way in the no59 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin, just a head of the no62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG of Abdullah Ali Al-Khelaifi.

PJ Hyett was moving up the order in LMP2 Pro/Am, moving up to third by passing Jean Glorieux’s no3 DKR Engineering Oreca and then passing Jens Reno Moller in the no7 Vector Sport, with American setting off to close the gap to Roda, who was 10 seconds further up the road. 

The no47 CLX Motorsport Oreca of Georgios Kolovos was tapped into a spin at the final corner by the no14 TDS Racing of Steven Thomas, the Greek driver’s car becoming stranded on the apex of the corner.  This brought out the Virtual Safety Car to allow the car to be recovered and allow the rest of the field the chance to carry out the first pitstops.

After 25 minutes the race went green again, only for the Safety Car to be deployed again when the no74 Kessel Racing Ferrari was hit by the no54 High Class Racing Porsche, the Ferrari ending up in the gravel at T7.

After 8 -minutes the race went green again for one lap before the no57 Kessel Racing Ferrari and the no8 Team Virage Ligier collided at T12, both cars spinning off into the gravel trap and bringing out the fourth Safety Car of the race. Another Safety Car followed almost immediately, when the no59 Racing Spirit of Léman Aston Martin spun off at T9 into the barriers. The recovery and repairs took a further 15-minutes.

The sixth and final Safety Car of the race happened at the halfway point of the race when Custodio Toledo’s no50 Ferrari was forced into a spin by an LMP2 car, the Ferrari impacting the wall hard and spreading debris across the track. Toledo climbed out of the Ferrari unaided, and the marshals worked hard for 15-minutes to allow the race to resume. 

By this time the running order had changed with the no43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca of Nick Yelloly leading from Vlad Lomko in the no10 Vector Sport and Gregoire Saucy in the no22 United Autosports.  Matthieu Vaxiviere was leading LMP2 Pro/Am from Malthe Jakobsen in the no20 APR, with Louis Delétraz closing the gap in the no99 AO byTF.

Alvise Rodella held a huge 86 second lead in LMP3, the no5 Rinaldi Racing Ligier well ahead of the chasing pack led by the no11 Eurointernational Ligier driven by Max Van Der Sne, with Pierre-Alexandre Provost in the no85 R-ace GP and Alexander Jacoby in the no17 CLX Motorsport close behind.

The LMGT3 field was headed by Wayne Boyd in the no23 United Autosports McLaren, the British driver having to contend with traffic and was clipped by one of the faster LMP2 cars at Turn 8.  Boyd was able to continue and was 11 seconds ahead of Mex Jansen in the no86 GR Racing Ferrari and the no63 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG of reigning champion Rui Andrade. 

The next set of pitstops saw the no10 Vector Sport emerge in the lead with Pietro Fittipaldi eight seconds ahead of Tom Dillmann in the no43 Oreca, with Valerio Rinicella a further 10 seconds back in the no18 IDEC Sport.

Lorcan Hanafin had taken over the no86 Ferrari but was only one second ahead of the no63 Mercedes-AMG and six ahead of the no77 Proton Competition Porsche.  For lap after lap the LMGT3s battled for the lead, with Hanafin holding onto his slender lead.  Maxime Martin in the no62 Team Qatar Mercedes-AMG joined in the battle.

At the final pitstops the Inter Europol crew got Dillmann back out in the lead after taking 10 seconds less for the pitstop then the Vector Sport team.  Fittipaldi closed the gap to just under two seconds but was unable to get on terms with Tom Dillmann to challenge for the race lead.  The no43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca took the chequered flag ahead of the no10 Vector Sport.  But a post race penalty for Vector Sport (Stewards Decision no71) promoted the no29 Forestier Racing by Panis to second ahead of the no18 IDEC Sport Oreca.

The no83 AF Corse Oreca and no99 AO by TF were battling hard for the lead in LMP2 Pro/Am when Louis Delétraz made a move to pass at the end of the Kemmel Straight.  Matthieu Vaxiviere moved to defend, with the two cars colliding in the breaking zone.  The AO by TF Oreca spun while the no83 AF Corse went up the escape road and rejoined at T7.  Malthe Jacobsen in the no20 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca passed the recovering Delétraz and the three cars finished in that order.

Mikkel Gaarde Pedersen took the win in LMP3 but the no5 Rinaldi Racing Ligier was found to have a fuel tank with a capacity of 101.5 litres when the maximum allowed under the regulations is 100 litres.  The no5 Ligier was disqualified (decision no76) and the reigning champions CLX Motorsport and drivers Paul Lanchère, Alexander Jacoby and Louis Iglesias were classified as the winners, 11 seconds ahead of R-ace GP Duqueine and a further 8.6 seconds ahead of the no11 Eurointernational Ligier. 

GR Racing secured the LMGT3 victory, with Lorcan Hanafin finishing ahead of two Belgian drivers, Alessio Picariello in the no77 Porsche and Maxime Martin in the no62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG, the three cars covered by just 10 seconds at the end of the 4-hour race. 

Round 5 of the 2026 European Le Mans Series will be the Goodyear 4 Hours of Silverstone, which will take place on Sunday 13 September.

CLICK HERE for the result of the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.

CLICK HERE for the championship positions after Round 5.