Victory in Barcelona for Forestier Racing by Panis

Masson took the chequered flag 13 seconds ahead of the no34 Inter Europol Competition of Reshad De Gerus, with Ben Hanley in the no22 United Autosports claiming the final podium position.

Algarve Pro Racing took the victory in the LMP2 Pro/Am category, with last year’s winners AF Corse in second and Duqueine Team in third.  The LMP3 victory was claimed by Rinaldi Racing after a great class battle with the no85 R-ace GP Duqueine, the no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier and the no11 Eurointernational Ligier-Toyota.

Proton Competition took the win in the LMGT3 class with Tom Sargeant crossing the line in the no75 Porsche 911 to take the victory in a car whose livery is celebrating Porsche’s first class win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1951.  The no23 United Autosports McLaren 720S was second, 3 seconds behind the Porsche, with the no57 Kessel Racing Ferrari in third.

4 Hours of Barcelona

The race got underway on time under grey skies with possible rain in the forecast.  The 47-car field headed into Turn 1, with the LMP2 cars all getting through but there was a collision in the LMP2 Pro/Am pack which saw the no9 Proton Competition Oreca of Jonas Ried spin across the track.  The car was then collected by the no47 CLX Motorsport of Giorgios Kolovos, the Greek driver having nowhere to go, with his compatriot Kriton Lentoudis in the no27 Nielsen Racing Oreca hitting the no47 Oreca. 

In a separate incident the no4 DKR Engineering Ligier of Antti Rammo got onto the kerbs under braking for Turn 1, the Estonian’s car spinning across the track collecting the no17 CLX Motorsport Ligier and the no68 M Racing Ligier, with all three cars in the gravel on the entrance to T1. 

With cars stranded and debris on the track, the Safety Car was quickly deployed and then the race was halted under a Red Flag to allow the cars to be recovered and the track cleaned. 

After exiting the car, Georgios Kolovos reported back pain and was immediately attended to by the medical team.  As a precaution, he was evacuated on a stretcher and transferred to hospital for further evaluation.  Medical examinations have confirmed a fracture of the L2 vertebra. He remains under observation but is in stable condition and doing well.  The other drivers involved were all released after medical checks at the circuit medical centre.

The clean-up was completed as soon as possible, with the 25-minutes lost under the red flag being added to the overall time when the race went back to green.

The race restarted behind the Safety Car, with the no34 Inter Europol Competition leading the way with Bijoy Garg pulling ahead of Louis Rousset in the no29 Forestier Racing by Panis was the cars were released to go racing again.

The no83 AF Corse Oreca had to pit to repair damage to the rear of the car that had been picked up in the first lap incident.  The no51 AF Corse Ferrari had started at the back of the field due to the fact it hadn’t taken part in qualifying.  With Davide Rigon in the car, the pro driver was soon heading towards the front of the LMGT3 field.

Four cars were given a Drive Through Penalty for a start procedure infringement, which included the no29 Oreca in second spot.  Rousset served the penalty and emerged down the order.

Griffin Peebles in then no22 United Autosports moved up to second and was soon challenging Garg for the lead, the Australian making his move at T13 to take the lead.  Giorgio Roda and PJ Hyett were fighting hard for the lead in LMP2 Pro/Am, with Roda keeping the Duqueine Team Oreca ahead of the AO by TF driver until the end of the first hour when the Italian ran wide at T3 allowing Hyett to take the lead. 

The no28 IDEC Sport Oreca of Paul Lafargue span off into the barrier at T5, bringing out the Virtual Safety Car which allowed the cars needing to make a pitstop to head into the pitlane.  The VSC became a Safety Car, with the race going green again after 15-minutes. 

The no29 Oreca received two more penalties, both were 10 seconds added to the next pitstop for not respecting the Race Directors instructions at Turn 2 and for overtaking offtrack.  The leading no22 United Autosports Oreca also receive a five second penalty for a pitstop infringement.

After a short Full Course Yellow to recover the beached no59 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin from the gravel, the race settled into a rhythm ahead of the next round of pitstops.

The no99 AO by TF Oreca was hit by the no28 IDEC Sport Oreca, with Dane Cameron ending up in the gravel at T11, destroyed the American’s chances of retaking the lead in LMP2 Pro/Am.  This brought out another VSC /SC period to recover the car.

At the restart the no29 Forestier Racing by Panis, now with Oliver Gray behind the wheel, was back in the lead of the race, with Gregoire Saucy in the no22 United Autosports in second.  Doriane Pin was leading LMP2 Pro/Am in the no30 Duqueine Team from the no14 TDS Racing Oreca of Sami Meguetounif. 

Douwe Dedecker was leading LMP3 in the no11 Eurointernational Ligier from Pierre-Alexander Provost in the no85 R-ace GP Duqueine, with Alvise Rodella in the no5 Rinaldi Racing Ligier close behind in third. 

After a good run by Abdulla Ali Al-Khelaifi in the no62 Mercedes-AMG, the Qatari driver handed over to Julian Hanses, who was holding a 2 second lead over the no75 Proton Competition Porsche of Richard Lietz, with Garnet Patterson in the no23 United Autsoports McLaren in the third.  Lietz was catching the Mercedes-AMG but the Austrian was unable to find a way past his German rival.

Another FCY was declared with the no33 TF Sport Corvette of Alec Udell was hit by the no86 GR Racing Ferrari, pushing the American across the track into the path of the no74 Kessel Racing Ferrari.  The Corvette and GR Racing Ferrari recovered to the pits but both retired, while the Kessel Racing Ferrari had to be pulled out of the gravel.

As the race entered the final stages, the overall lead was held by the no24 Nielsen Racing of Jack Doohan, the Australian 11 seconds ahead of Ben Hanley in the no22 United Autosports, Esteban Masson in the no29 Forestier Racing by Panis and Reshad De Gerus in the no34 Inter Europol Competition.  Masson went ahead of Hanley on the outside into T6 just before the final set of pitstops. 

The no34 Oreca was on a different strategy and when the other had to pit for fuel and tyres, De Gerus stayed out to build up a 40 second lead before he had to pit for a final splash of fuel.  De Gerus emerged still in the lead but with Hanley in second, Doohan in third and Masson in fourth.  Masson used the traffic to leap from fourth to second and then set off after De Gerus in the lead car.

De Gerus was unable to keep the no24 Nielsen Racing Oreca behind and he dropped back to third as Doohan took the place. On the last lap Doohan suddenly slowed and the car was limping round with what turned out to be a broken wishbone.

At the chequered flag Esteban Masson crossed the line to take the first race of the season for Forestier Racing by VPS, Reshad De Gerus and Ben Hanley finishing second and third respectively.

Malthe Jakobsen had made progress through the LMP2 Pro/Am field in the no20 APR Oreca, with the Dane bringing the car home 19 seconds ahead of Antonio Fuoco in the no83 AF Corse, with the no30 Duqueine Team Oreca a further six seconds behind.

Mikkel Gaarde Pedersen finished the race at the head of the LMP3 field, 11 seconds ahead of the no85 R-ace GP Duqueine, with the no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier in third 2.3 seconds behind the Duqueine. 

Tom Sargeant took the chequered flag in the no75 Proton Competition Porsche to take the win in LMGT3, three seconds ahead of the chasing United Autosports McLaren, with Daniel Serra securing the final podium position in the no57 Kessel Racing Ferrari on the final lap. 

CLICK HERE for the provisional result from the 4 Hours of Barcelona.

The next race will be the 4 Hours of Le Castellet on Sunday 3 May 2026.