The no22 United Autosports Oreca finished in second place, with Ben Hanley, Gregoire Saucy and Griffin Peebles heading to Belgium next month as championship leaders. The no25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca completed the overall podium in Italy.
Vector Sport Took their first even ELMS class victory, with Jen Reno Moller, Cem Bölükbaşı and Lorenzo Fluxa standing on the top of the LMP2 Pro/Am podium. Fluxa crossed the line just 4.1 seconds ahead of Malthe Jakobsen in the no20 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca, with the no21 United Autosports Oreca finishing third.
CLX Motorsport secured their first LMP3 victory since Portimão last season, with the reigning champions dominating the category. Louis Iglesias completed a perfect ELMS debut weekend after claiming pole yesterday and the French driver took the chequered flag early 30 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. He was joined on the class podium by reigning ELMS LMP3 champion Paul Lanchère and Alexander Jacoby. The no5 Rinaldi Racing Ligier and the no8 Team Virage Ligier completed the podium.
Reigning LMGT3 champions TF Sport got their title defence back on track with a perfect 26-point haul in Imola. American drivers Blake McDonald and Alec Udell took the victory alongside their Irish teammate Charlie Eastwood on the same weekend as the 250th birthday of the United States of America, in an American car the Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R. Eastwood finished the race 1.8 seconds ahead of Maxime Martin in the no62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG, with the no77 Proton Competition Porsche 911 in third spot.
A Dramatic Eighth ELMS Race at Imola
The race got underway with Louis Rousset leading the 47-car grid into the first corner ahead of Adrien Closmenil in the no37 CLX Motorsport Oreca and Griffin Peebles in the no22 United Autosports. Giorgio Roda led the LMP2 Pro/Am field from pole in the no30 Duqueine Team, Paul Lanchere headed the LMP3 field in the no17 CLX Motorsport Ligier and Blake McDonald led LMGT3 from pole in the no33 TF Sport Corvette.
In LMGT3 the no75 Proton Competition Porsche of Matt Kurzejewski was on the move up the grid, as was the no62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG of Abdulla Ali Al-Khelaifi.
On lap 8 Adrien Closmenil went into the lead ahead of Louis Rousset at Variante Villeneuve just as the no68 M Racing Ligier went off at the last corner and got stuck in the gravel, bringing out the first Virtual Safety Car of the race. Under a VSC period the pitlane remains open and all of the cars pitted with the exception of the leading no37 CLX Motorsport and the no19 Rossa Racing by Virage Oreca of John Falb. Two of the LMP3 competitors, the race leading no17 Ligier and the no8 Team Virage Ligier decided to burn both the long pitstops in quick succession, which proved to be a great move at the end of the race.
After a 10-minute Safety Car the race went back to green, with Griffin Peebles moving up to second in the no22 United Autosports ahead of the no29 Forestier Racing Oreca. After the pitstops the LMP3 field was headed by Fabien Michal in the no85 R-ace GP Duqueine, while LMGT3 was now led by the no62 Mercedes-AMG, with the no75 Porsche and no33 Corvette in second and third respectively.
McDonald moved back up to second at Tamburello while the leading no37 Oreca had to serve a drive through penalty for a start infringement, putting Griffin Peebles into the lead of the race.
The no28 IDEC Sport Oreca went off at Villeneuve, and a Full Course Yellow was declared to recover the car from the gravel.
As the race progressed more cars were spinning off as grip on certain parts of the circuit was hard to find. The no57 Kessel Racing Ferrari was hit by the no4 DKR Engineering LMP3 car and Takeshi Kimura found himself stuck in the gravel. Another Virtual Safety Car was declared and more pitstops ensued. The no99 AO by TF Oreca had pitted but Dane Cameron had to return slowly to the pits when the front left wheel detached from the car.
After the restart the race settled down until the no59 Racing Spirit of Léman Aston Martin missed the braking point at Turn 2 and speared across the track to collide with the no63 Iron Lynx Aston Martin. This brought out another Virtual Safety Car.
When the racing resumed the no22 United Autosport Oreca with Gregoire Saucy at the when and the no29 Forestier Racing by Panis Oreca of Oliver Gray were engaged in a battle for the lead of the race. This raged for several laps as Gray tried to get ahead, but Saucy held the position until the next set of pitstops. A better pitstop by the Forestier Racing crew put the no29 Oreca, now driven by Esteban Masson, out in front.
Horst Felix Felbermayr was heading the LMP2 Pro/Am class in the no88 Proton Competition Oreca, just ahead of Oliver Jarvis in the no21 United Autosports and Enzo Trulli in the no20 Algarve Pro Racing but a 10 second stop and go penalty for the no88 car dropped the Austrian down the order.
The no85 R-ace GP Duqueine was leading LMP3 but a hit on the rear of the car by the no18 IDEC Sport Oreca forced Pierre-Alexandre Provost into the pits for repairs.
After the final LMGT3 pitstops the no54 High Class Racing Porsche of Klaus Bachler was leading after the Danish team opted to fit two Goodyear tyres to the car to speed up the stop. The no33 TF Sport Corvette pitted and rejoined in 4th with Charlie Eastwood at the wheel, with Maxime Martin in the no62 Mercedes-AMG in third and Thomas Sargent in the no75 Proton Competition Porsche ahead. Martin went ahead of Sargent for second place, with Eastwood moving past Sargent soon after. The Corvette then went past the Mercedes-AMG and the leading Porsche on the same lap to go into the lead. Maxime Martin went into second a couple of laps later as Bachler was struggling on the older tyres.
In LMP2 Pro/Am the no19 Rossa Team Oreca pitted from the lead with the no7 Vector Sport Oreca taking the lead. The no17 CLX Motorsport Ligier also went into the LMP3 by passing the no8 Team Virage Ligier.
At the front of the field the no29 Forestier Racing by Panis Oreca started to pull away and Masson soon built an unassailable 50 second lead as the chequered flag approached. He crossed the line to take the win in Imola, 51 seconds ahead of Ben Hanley in the no22 United Autosports Oreca.
The next race on the calendar is the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday 23 August, which will be Round 4 of the 2026 European Le Mans Series.
CLICK HERE for the result from the 4 Hours of Imola
POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE
