Paul Ricard ELMS: G-Drive ends WRT and Kubica's unbeaten run

The Algarve Pro Racing-run G-Drive car, an Aurus-badged ORECA 07-Gibson, beat reigning champion United Autosports and dominant series leader Team WRT in the third race of the season after four hours of racing.

At the start, Yifei Ye took the lead in the WRT ORECA that had won the previous two races at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona and Red Bull Ring, and proceeded to build up a substantial gap over pole starter Rusinov throughout the opening stint.

But a full course yellow just around the first pit window and a safety car at the halfway mark wiped out the championship-leading team’s advantage and it was further hampered by a penalty handed to Ye for beaching in breach of the rolling start procedure.

As the race settled down, the #32 United ORECA came to the fore, albeit under pressure from G-Drive.

United driver Job van Uitert, sharing with Manuel Maldonado and Nico Jamin, was hunted down by fellow Dutchman de Vries and then forced to surrender the lead with an hour left to go.

Mercedes Formula E ace De Vries then remained faultless throughout the final stint as United driver Tom Gamble in the #22 car he shared with Phil Hanson and Jonathan Aberdein passed team-mate Van Uitert just before the final round of pitstops.

De Vries crossed the line to win by 6.38s from the #22 and #32 United Autosport cars, while the Duqueine ORECA of Tristan Gommendy, Rene Binder and Memo Rojas pushed Ye, Louis Deletraz and Robert Kubica down to fifth at the flag.

#26 G-Drive Racing Aurus 01 - Gibson: Roman Rusinov, Franco Colapinto, Nyck De Vries,

Photo by: ELMS

The LMP3 class looked affected most by the on-track incidents as the field was immediately split on strategy, with some teams electing to pit early under yellow and others waiting it out. It soon became apparent however that strategy was not going to be enough to beat DKR Engineering at Paul Ricard.

The pole-sitting Duqueine machine was simply too quick in the hands of Laurents Horr and bronze-rated driver Jean-Philippe Dayraut, with the pair finishing well clear of championship leaders Nicolas Maulini, Matthew Bell and Niklas Krutten (Cool Racing) and reigning champions United Autosports’ lead entry of Wayne Boyd, Rob Wheldon and Edouard Cauhaupe.

Meanwhile in GTE, the Iron Lynx Ferrari team was able to celebrate victory as Matteo Cressoni, Rino Mastronardi and Miguel Molina took their second win and solidified their grip on the championship.

Ollie Hancock dominated the opening proceedings in his pole-sitting TF Sport Aston Martin before his lead was virtually wiped out by the safety car, diminishing the chance of a victory against the Porsches and Ferraris.

The most notable incident came when Manuela Gostner’s Iron Lynx Ferrari was spun by Hollywood actor Michael Fassbender's Proton Porsche mid-way through the second stint, taking both cars out of contention for victory.

Results

Cla	Driver	Car	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Roman Rusinov Franco Colapinto Nyck de Vries	Aurus 01	126	4:00'17.286
2	Philip Hanson Jonathan Aberdein Tom Gamble	Oreca 07	126	4:00'23.671	6.385
3	Job Van Uitert Nico Jamin Manuel Maldonado	Oreca 07	126	4:00'41.558	24.272
4	Tristan Gommendy Rene Binder Memo Rojas	Oreca 07	126	4:01'00.457	43.171
5	Robert Kubica Louis Deletraz Ye Yifei	Oreca 07	126	4:01'08.286	51.000
6	Salih Yoluc Charles Eastwood Harry Tincknell	Oreca 07	126	4:01'12.053	54.767
7	Diego Menchaca Ferdinand Habsburg Richard Bradley	Oreca 07	126	4:01'42.127	1'24.841
8	Julien Canal Will Stevens James Allen	Oreca 07	125	4:00'31.710	1 Lap
9	Paul Lafargue Paul-Loup Chatin Jean-Eric Vergne	Oreca 07	125	4:00'33.618	1 Lap
10	John Falb Rui Andrade Roberto Merhi	Aurus 01	125	4:01'09.408	1 Lap
11	Francesco Dracone Sergio Campana Markus Pommer	Oreca 07	125	4:01'09.462	1 Lap
12	Alexandre Coigny Nicolas Lapierre Antonin Borga	Oreca 07	125	4:01'37.823	1 Lap
13	Matthieu Lahaye Jean Baptiste Lahaye François Heriau	Oreca 07	124	4:01'22.126	2 Laps
14	Vincent Capillaire Maxime Robin Arnold Robin	Oreca 07	124	4:01'49.891	2 Laps
15	Dwight Merriman Kyle Tilley Gabriel Aubry	Oreca 07	122	4:01'09.109	4 Laps
16	Laurents Hörr Jean-Philippe Dayraut	Duqueine M30 - D08	119	4:01'17.825	7 Laps
17	Nicolas Maulini Matthew Bell Niklas Kruetten	Ligier JS P320	119	4:01'41.644	7 Laps
18	Wayne Boyd Robert Wheldon Edouard Cauhaupe	Ligier JS P320	119	4:02'09.517	7 Laps
19	Mike Benham Alex Kapadia Malthe Jakobsen	Ligier JS P320	118	4:00'27.491	8 Laps
20	Tony Wells Colin Noble Jr.	Ligier JS P320	118	4:00'29.716	8 Laps
21	Gustas Grinbergas Mateusz Kaprzyk Mattia Pasini	Ligier JS P320	118	4:00'58.976	8 Laps
22	Eric Trouillet Sebastien Page David Droux	Ligier JS P320	118	4:01'07.725	8 Laps
23	David Hauser Gary Hauser Tom Cloet	Duqueine M30 - D08	118	4:01'32.221	8 Laps
24	Matthias Kaiser Rory Penttinen	Ligier JS P320	118	4:02'04.247	8 Laps
25	Takuma Aoki Nigel Bailly Pierre Sancinena	Oreca 07	117	4:00'24.549	9 Laps
26	Andrea Dromedari Joey Alders	Ligier JS P320	117	4:00'38.646	9 Laps
27	Matteo Cressoni Rino Mastronardi Miguel Molina	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	117	4:00'47.292	9 Laps
28	Cresp Christophe Fabien Lavergne Adrien Chila	Ligier JS P320	117	4:01'01.341	9 Laps
29	Duncan Cameron Matthew Griffin David Perel	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	117	4:01'01.970	9 Laps
30	Nick Adcock Austin McCusker Max Koebolt	Ligier JS P320	117	4:01'07.010	9 Laps
31	François Perrodo Emmanuel Collard Alessio Rovera	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	117	4:01'19.913	9 Laps
32	Christian Ried Cooper MacNeil Gianmaria Bruni	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	117	4:01'21.333	9 Laps
33	Claudio Schiavoni Giorgio Sernagiotto Paolo Ruberti	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	117	4:01'32.985	9 Laps
34	Jody Fannin Andrea Fontana Rodrigo Sales	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	115	4:01'03.415	11 Laps
35	John Hartshorne Ross Gunn Ollie Hancock	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	115	4:01'11.879	11 Laps
36	James McGuire Duncan Tappy Andrew Bentley	Ligier JS P320	113	4:00'35.922	13 Laps
37	Michael Fassbender Jaxon Evans Richard Lietz	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	96	4:01'28.869	30 Laps
	Rob Hodes Garett Grist Charles Crews	Ligier JS P320	94	3:11'53.733	32 Laps
	Rahel Frey Michelle Gatting Manuela Gostner	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	41	1:28'11.250	85 Laps
	Martin Hippe Ugo De Ulysse De	Ligier JS P320	28	56'22.408	98 Laps
	Alessandro Bressan Andreas Laskaratos Damiano Fioravanti	Ligier JS P320	20	38'01.162	106 Laps