The win in LMP2 Pro/Am went to the no27 Nielsen Racing Oreca-Gibson with Alex Quinn taking the chequered flag. The no83 AF Corse of Matthieu Vaxiviere crossed the line first but a Drive Through Penalty dropped the team down to 6th. Kriton Lentoudis and James Allen joined Quinn on the top step of the podium, with the no99 AO by TF finishing second and the no30 Duqueine Team finishing third.
The no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier of Alex Bukhantsov, Chun Ting Chou and Henry Cubides Olarte took the win in LMP3 after Wyatt Brichacek had to pit from the lead in the no4 DKR Engineering Ligier after the cockpit door wouldn’t shut. The American finished the race in third behind the no68 M Racing Ligier.
The no57 Kessel Racing Ferrari took the victory in LMGT3 after Mathys Jaubert stormed through to pass reigning champion Charlie Eastwood in the no33 TF Sport Corvette, the French driver going on to win the class by 17.6 seconds. Takeshi Kimura and Daniel Serra celebrated the win with Jaubert, with the no55 Spirit of Race Ferrari secured the third place on the podium behind the TF Sport crew.
ROUND 2: 4 HOURS OF LE CASTELLET
A warm but overcast Circuit Paul Ricard hosted the 15th European Le Mans Series race since 2013, with Louis Rousset in the no29 Forestier Racing by Panis Oreca leading the 47 car field into the first corner after an extra formation lap due to the no5 Rinaldi Racing Liger stalling on the second lap behind the Leading Car.
The cars all filed through the first two turns, with the no3 DKR Engineering Oreca of Jean Glorieux the only casualty of the melee, the Belgian driver spinning off the track before recovering to rejoin at the back of the field.
The no14 TDS Racing Oreca of Steven Thomas got ahead of the pole sitting no99 AO by TF of PJ Hyett, with Blake McDonald taking the lead in the no33 TF Sport Corvette ahead of the no62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG of LMGT3 pole sitter Abdulla Ali Al-Khelaifi.
Alex Bukhantsov moved up two places on the opening lap to lead LMP3 in the no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier, ahead of Fabien Michal in the no85 R-ace GP Duqueine and the no11 Eurointernational Ligier of Matthew Richard Bell.
At the front of the field Rousset was trying to hold off a determined challenge by Griffin Peebles in the no22 United Autosports, but the Australian overtook the French driver at T13 to take the lead at the end of lap one.
The Virtual Safety Car was deployed after there was a collision between the no50 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari of Custodio Toledo, the no 77 Proton Competition Porsche of Japanese driver Banksey and the no88 Proton Competition Oreca of Horst Felbermayr, with Toledo’s Ferrari hitting the TechPro barriers at T10. Custodio Toledo climbed out of his damaged car unaided, the other two cars continuing. However, the race had to be neutralised for the barriers to be repaired. Both the no77 and no88 cars were given penalties later in the race for the incident.
The race went green after the VSC became a Safety Car, with Bell in the no11 Eurointernational Ligier swept past the no13 IEC Ligier to take the lead in LMP3 at T1. Bell then moved ahead of the chasing pack, with Fabien Michal (R-ace GP) and Paul Lanchere (CLX Motorsport) getting ahead of Bukhantsov.
At the front Peebles started to pull away from Rousset, with Bijoy Garg in the no34 Inter Europol Competition Oreca, Theodor Jensen in the no37 CLX Motorsport and Jamie Chadwick in the no18 IDEC Sport completing the Top 5 and closing the gap to Rousset.
In LMGT3 the no33 Corvette was moving away from the rest of the field, with the no75 Proton Competition Porsche of Matt Kurzejewski in second and the no54 High Class Racing Porsche of Max Moritz in third. The no23 United Autosports McLaren stopped on pit exit, with Michael Birch able to recover the car slowly back to the pits, but only into retirement. There was a collision between the no62 Team Qatar Mecedes-AMG of Abdulla Ali Al-Khelaifi and the no57 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Takeshi Kimura, with the Ferrari spinning off before recovering back to the track. Al Khelaifi was later given a drive through penalty for the incident.
In LMP2 Pro/Am the no14 TDS Racing Oreca was leading by over 10 seconds, with Sami Meguetounif taking over from Steven Thomas, the French driver able to keep extending the gap to the chasing pack led by the no83 AF Corse Oreca with Antonio Fuoco at the wheel.
In LMP3 disaster struck the leading Eurointernational Ligier when Matthew Richard Bell came slowly into the pitlane, only to stop in the entry road, completely blocking the route and delayed two cars that were following. The team mechanics rushed across to push the car to the pit box, where it was refuelled and sent back out. The no85 R-ace GP Duqueine was now leading but it too suffered a setback when a Black and Orange flag was shown for damage to the rear of the car to be repaired.
This allowed Paul Lanchere in the no17 CLX Motorsport to take the lead, with Chun Ting Chou in the no13 IEC Ligier in second. However, Brichacek in the no4 DKR Ligier got a good run on the Taiwanese driver and swept past at T4 into second place.
Griffin Peebles handed over the leading car to Gregoire Saucy with a 10 second lead but the race was neutralised again with a Virtual Safety Car when the no74 Kessel Racing Ferrari went off at T6 with a collapsed rear wheel and had to be recovered. After nearly 25-minutes the race went green again with less than an hour remaining.
Ben Hanley was leading in the no22 United Autosports, with Esteban Masson in the no29 Forestier Racing by Panis giving chase, but then the no29 Oreca slowed and Masson had to limp back to the pits.
The no4 DKR Ligier was leading LMP3, but the door had failed to close properly, and Brichacek had to pit for repairs, the no85 R-ace GP Duqueine of Hugo Schwarze taking the lead, with Henry Cubides Olarte up to second in the no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier. However, a 30 second stop and go penalty for the no85 car dropped the Duqueine down the order, with the no13 Ligier now leading the class.
Mathys Jaubert took over the no57 Kessel Racing Ferrari from Daniel Serra and a good pitstop put the French driver into third behind Charlie Eastwood in the leading Corvette and the no75 Proton Competition Porsche of Thomas Sargent. Jaubert soon caught and passed Sargent and then closed the gap to Eastwood. For several laps Eastwood held the Ferrari at bay, but Jaubert eventually got a good run and moved into the lead.
The no22 Oreca was being caught by the no34 Inter Europol Competition of Reshad De Gerus, the French driver challenging Hanley for the lead. As the two cars went side by side into T8 they touched, spinning both cars around. While De Gerus was facing the wrong way, Hanley did a complete 360 degree spin, ending up facing the right way and able to get going again without losing the lead. De Gerus also rejoined in 4th but the no34 Oreca fought its way back up to 2nd by the chequered flag.
In LMP2 Pro/Am the no83 AF Corse Oreca had passed the no14 TDS Racing to take the lead of the class, with Matthias Vaxiviere opening up a small gap. Charles Milesi in the no47 CLX Motorsport was in second place but suddenly headed to the pits for fuel with less than five minutes on the clock. This promoted Alex Quinn into second place in the no27 Nielsen Racing Oreca just as a Drive Through Penalty was issued to the no83 Oreca for a Yellow Flag Infringement. Vaxiviere too the chequered flag ahead of Quinn but the subsequent 30-second penalty dropped the AF Corse Oreca back down the order.
Ben Hanley took the chequered flag at the end of the drama filled race to give United Autosports their fifth ELMS victory at Le Castellet. The no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier took the win in LMP3 and Mathys Jaubert finished 17 seconds ahead in LMGT3.
CLICK HERE for the provisional result from Round 2 of the 2026 European Le Mans Series.
