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WRT, Kubica win dramatic Red Bull Ring ELMS race

Team WRT drivers Robert Kubica, Louis Deletraz and Yifei Yi took their second consecutive win in the second round of the European Le Mans Series at the Red Bull Ring.

41-02

In a race affected by a heavy rainstorm mid-way through proceedings, the championship leading team managed to keep its head to come out on top after four hours.

Logan Sargeant proved to be the big surprise on Saturday with the sportscar rookie taking pole-position on his debut for Racing Team Turkey as he filled in for the absent Harry Tincknell following a date clash with a Mid-Ohio IMSA sportscar race.

Salih Yoluc started the pole-sitting ORECA-07 Gibson, entered in the LMP2-AM class by virtue of the Turkish racer’s bronze rating, and was quickly overtaken by similarly rated John Falb.

The American clung on to the lead for fifteen minutes while United Autosports duo Nico Jamin and Phil Hanson breathed down his neck but as the lead car hit traffic, both Jamin and Hanson found a way through.

The early running was then made by the United cars before the first stops suddenly brought Nyck de Vries and G-Drive racing to the fore with the Mercedes Formula E star benefitting from a quick stop and proving extremely rapid.

De Vries would speed away from the nearest opposition, now coming from Kubica in the WRT car that had steadily made up ground courtesy of a strong opening stint by Ye.

#41 Team WRT Oreca 07 - Gibson: Louis Delétraz, Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye

#41 Team WRT Oreca 07 - Gibson: Louis Delétraz, Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

The rhythm race changed completely at the half way point with a heavy shower drenching the Styrian track and bringing out the safety car.

The ensuing melee left only the WRT and G-Drive cars on the lead lap and the final stint battle between G-Drive’s Franco Colapinto and Deletraz was dramatic.

The youngster pushed hard on a drying track to stay ahead of the more experienced Deletraz, taking a lot of risks in the process.

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It was not to be for the Argentinean though, as Deletraz capitalised on Colapinto running deep at Turn 3 to pass on the exit and claim a second win in as many rounds.

LMP2-AM and third overall went to G-Drive Racing, with former Formula 1 driver Roberto Mehri proving particularly quick in the changeable conditions and keeping well clear of a charging Logan Sargeant to win together with team-mates John Falb and Rui Andrade.

LMP3 was initially dominated by United Autosports before the rain-induced safety car ended the British team’s challenge.

Victory then seemed to go to Graff Racing until a late penalty for a pitstop infringement handed the win to Cool Racing trio Matt Bell, Niklas Kruetten and Nicholas Maulini, the same team that won the opening round at Barcelona.

The GTE class was dominated by the #80 Iron Lynx Racing Ferrari until the chaotic second half of the race, leaving AF Corse to pick up the pieces.

Francois Perrodo, Alessio Rovera and Emannuel Collard taking victory after fighting back from a drive through penalty early on.

The next race of the European Le Mans Series will take place at Paul Ricard on 6 June.

Results

Cla Driver Car Laps Gap
1 Poland Robert Kubica
Switzerland Louis Deletraz
China Ye Yifei
Oreca 07 149  
2 Russian Federation Roman Rusinov
Argentina Franco Colapinto
Netherlands Nyck de Vries
Aurus 01 149 21.511
3 United States John Falb
Portugal Rui Andrade
Spain Roberto Merhi
Aurus 01 149 1'32.227
4 Turkey Salih Yoluc
Ireland Charles Eastwood
United States Logan Sargeant
Oreca 07 148 1 Lap
5 France Matthieu Lahaye
France Jean Baptiste Lahaye
France François Heriau
Oreca 07 148 1 Lap
6 France Paul Lafargue
France Paul-Loup Chatin
France Patrick Pilet
Oreca 07 148 1 Lap
7 United Kingdom Philip Hanson
South Africa Jonathan Aberdein
United Kingdom Tom Gamble
Oreca 07 148 1 Lap
8 Mexico Diego Menchaca
Austria Ferdinand Habsburg
United Kingdom Richard Bradley
Oreca 07 148 1 Lap
9 France Tristan Gommendy
Austria Rene Binder
Mexico Memo Rojas
Oreca 07 148 1 Lap
10 Switzerland Alexandre Coigny
France Nicolas Lapierre
Switzerland Antonin Borga
Oreca 07 147 2 Laps
11 United States Dwight Merriman
United Kingdom Kyle Tilley
United Kingdom Ryan Dalziel
Oreca 07 146 3 Laps
12 Sweden Henrik Hedman
Ben Hayley
United States Ricky Taylor
Oreca 07 146 3 Laps
13 France Vincent Capillaire
France Maxime Robin
Arnold Robin
Oreca 07 145 4 Laps
14 France Julien Canal
United Kingdom Will Stevens
Australia James Allen
Oreca 07 145 4 Laps
15 Italy Francesco Dracone
Italy Sergio Campana
Oreca 07 145 4 Laps
16 Nicolas Maulini
United Kingdom Matthew Bell
Niklas Kruetten
Ligier JS P320 143 6 Laps
17 Italy Andrea Dromedari
Turkey Cem Bolukbasi
Joey Alders
Ligier JS P320 143 6 Laps
18 France Eric Trouillet
Sebastien Page
Switzerland David Droux
Ligier JS P320 143 6 Laps
19 Germany Martin Hippe
Ugo De
France Julien Falchero
Ligier JS P320 142 7 Laps
20 Julius Adomavičius
Italy Alessandro Bracalente
Italy Mattia Pasini
Ligier JS P320 142 7 Laps
21 United Kingdom Wayne Boyd
Robert Wheldon
Edouard Cauhaupe
Ligier JS P320 142 7 Laps
22 Cresp Christophe
France Fabien Lavergne
Adrien Chila
Ligier JS P320 142 7 Laps
23 Netherlands Job Van Uitert
France Nico Jamin
Venezuela Manuel Maldonado
Oreca 07 142 7 Laps
24 France François Perrodo
France Emmanuel Collard
Italy Alessio Rovera
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO 142 7 Laps
25 Germany Laurents Hörr
Alain Berg
Duqueine M30 - D08 141 8 Laps
26 United Kingdom Duncan Cameron
Ireland Matthew Griffin
South Africa David Perel
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO 141 8 Laps
27 Italy Matteo Cressoni
Italy Rino Mastronardi
Spain Miguel Molina
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO 141 8 Laps
28 James McGuire
Duncan Tappy
Andrew Bentley
Ligier JS P320 141 8 Laps
29 United Kingdom Nick Adcock
United States Austin McCusker
Netherlands Max Koebolt
Ligier JS P320 141 8 Laps
30 United Kingdom Tony Wells
United Kingdom Colin Noble Jr.
Ligier JS P320 141 8 Laps
31 Germany Michael Fassbender
Germany Felipe Fernández Laser
Austria Richard Lietz
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 141 8 Laps
32 United Kingdom Jody Fannin
Italy Andrea Fontana
United States Rodrigo Sales
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO 140 9 Laps
33 Germany Christian Ried
United States Cooper MacNeil
Australia Matt Campbell
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 140 9 Laps
34 Italy Claudio Schiavoni
Italy Giorgio Sernagiotto
Italy Paolo Ruberti
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO 140 9 Laps
35 United Kingdom John Hartshorne
United Kingdom Jonathan Adam
Ollie Hancock
Aston Martin Vantage AMR 139 10 Laps
36 Switzerland Matthias Kaiser
Finland Rory Penttinen
Ligier JS P320 120 29 Laps
  Switzerland Rahel Frey
Denmark Michelle Gatting
Italy Manuela Gostner
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO 140 9 Laps
  David Hauser
Gary Hauser
Tom Cloet
Duqueine M30 - D08 93 56 Laps
  Mike Benham
United Kingdom Alex Kapadia
Malthe Jakobsen
Ligier JS P320 38 111 Laps
  Alessandro Bressan
Greece Andreas Laskaratos
Italy Damiano Fioravanti
Ligier JS P320 1 148 Laps
  United States Rob Hodes
Canada Garett Grist
Charles Crews
Ligier JS P320 1 148 Laps

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