Despite a delayed start to the 2020 European Le Mans Series due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the LMGTE class once again provided some of the best sporting entertainment found on any racetrack anywhere in the world and the 2020 season was a classic by any standard.
In the end, the class was so close it wasn’t decided on points because the two leading cars had the same amount after the fifth race. It wasn’t decided on who had the most victories, because the top two cars had exactly the same number of wins, second places and pole positions.
It was so close the series champions were decided by the fact of who won the first race, which was the no77 Proton Competition Porsche of Alessio Picariello, Michele Beretta and Christian Ried. The no74 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Michael Broniszewski, Nicola Cadei and David Perel secured the covet automatic invitation to the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans as ELMS LMGTE vice-champions.
The LMGTE grid for the 2020 season featured eight full season entries, six Ferrari 488 GTE EVOs and two Porsche 911 RSRs, with some WEC teams joining in during the season to boost the grid as they used the ELMS events to get back to racing after the long break.
The Ferrari teams featured one entry from Kessel Racing, the no74 car of Broniszewski, Cadei and Perel. Iron Lynx also ran a pair of 488s, the no60 car for Claudio Schiavoni, Sergio Pianezzola and Andrea Piccini, the no83 car for the all-female crew of Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting and Manuela Gostner, who were back for their second season with the new Italian team.
The no55 Spirit of Race Ferrari featured an unchanged crew line up of Duncan Cameron, Aaron Scott and Matt Griffin, while the 2017 GTE Champions JMW Motorsport would run the 488 for Gunnar Jeannette, Rodrigo Sales and Finlay Hutchinson. AF Corse would also field a single entry for an all bronze driver crew Christoph Ulrich, Alexander West and Steffen Görig.
The two Porsche entries were run by German team Proton Competition with Picariello, Ried and Beretta driving the no77 car, while the no93 Porsche would receive a lot of media attention because former WEC GTE Champion Richard Lietz and Felipe Laser were joined by Hollywood actor Michael Fassbender, who was making his endurance racing debut in the ELMS.
Round 1: 4 Hours of Le Castellet
Round 1 was the 4 Hours of Le Castellet in July, with all of the teams eager to get back to racing.The grid was bolstered with addition of the no98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage of 2017 WEC LMGTE Am champions Paul Dalla Lana and Mathias Lauda, who were joined by Augusto Farfus.
The no74 Kessel Racing Ferrari scored the first point with Cadei taking pole position but at the end of the four hour race it was the no77 Proton Competition Porsche that was victorious with Alessio Picariello taking the chequered flag, the Belgian driverlittle realising how significant that win was going to be at the beginning of November at the last race in Portugal.
The no74 Ferrari was 15 seconds behind in second with the no51 AF Corse Ferrari claiming the third and final podium position.
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