Silverstone ELMS: Oliver Turvey and Jota win as rain truncates race

Heavy rain and a near-flooded track forced the safety car out of the pits with 90 minutes of the scheduled three hours gone, at which point Dolan lay second behind the leading TDS ORECA-Nissan of Jonathan Hirschi.

But with Hirschi pitting under the safety car to hand his car over to Pierre Thiriet and dropping to third, and the red flags then being shown once the two-thirds distance mark (the minimum requirement for the awarding of full points), Jota's victory was assured.

Turvey started the race from pole position, but was passed by the Alpine-Nissan of Nelson Panciatici early on the opening lap.

Both were overhauled by the Murphy Prototypes ORECA-Nissan of Brendon Hartley and Franck Mailleux in Morand Racing's Morgan-Judd during the early stages.

But a spin into the gravel for Hartley at Stowe, followed by a spin at Chapel for Mailleux while lapping ProSpeed Competition's GTE Porsche, delayed both cars significantly and handed Turvey back the lead.

Dolan spun and made light contact with the wall approaching Vale shortly after taking over driving duties from Turvey, but was still able to take advantage when the TDS car pitted.

The Race Performance Lola also made it past at the same time; GP3 racer Patric Niederhauser and Michel Frey taking second place overall.

Proton Competition won the GTE class with its Porsche that was anchored by factory driver Nick Tandy and also campaigned - under safety-car conditions only - by Gianluca Roda.

After falling behind the Ram Racing Ferraris after the initial pitstops, Tandy was able to move back into the lead as the weather deteriorated.

Matt Griffin and Johnny Mowlem finished second in their Ram Ferrari with Gunnar Jeanette and Franck Montecalvo third in the sister car.

Victory in the GTC class went to the Barwell-run Ecurie Ecosse BMW, driven by Ollie Millroy, Andrew Smith and Alasdair McCaig while Anthony Pons and Soheil Ayari won in the one-make LMPC category, despite an early spin.

Results - 48 laps (red-flagged):

Pos  Cl   Drivers                    Team/Car                         Time/Gap
 1.  P2   Dolan/Turvey               Jota Zytek-Nissan            2h15m22.561s
 2.  P2   Frey/Niederhauser          Race Performance ORECA-Judd      + 4.619s
 3.  P2   Thiriet/Hirschi            TDS ORECA-Nissan                 + 5.485s
 4.  P2   Ragues/Panciatici          Signatech Alpine-Nissan       + 3m54.005s
 5.  GTE  Ried/Roda/Tandy            Proton Porsche                + 4m00.704s
 6.  GTE  Mowlem/Griffin             RAM Ferrari                       + 1 lap
 7.  GTE  Jeanette/Montecalvo        RAM Ferrari                       + 1 lap
 8.  GTE  Bertolini/Camathias        JMW Ferrari                       + 1 lap
 9.  PC   Pons/Ayari                 ORECA FLM                        + 2 laps
10.  GTC  Millroy/Smith/McCaig       Ecosse BMW                       + 2 laps
11.  P2   Briere/Dagoneau/Hatshorne  Boutsen ORECA-Nissan             + 2 laps
12.  GTE  Perrodo/Collard/Crubile    Prospeed Porsche                 + 2 laps
13.  GTC  Rizzoli/Gai/Case           AF Ferrari                       + 2 laps
14.  GTE  Milesi/Henzler             IMSA Porsche                     + 4 laps
15.  P2   Porta/Brandela/Raffin      DKR Lola-Judd                    + 5 laps
16.  GTE  Perazzini/Cioci/Leo        AF Ferrari                       + 5 laps
17.  GTE  Mallegol/Bachelier/Blank   AF Ferrari                       + 6 laps
18.  P2   Hartley/Patterson          Murphy ORECA-Nissan              + 7 laps
19.  PC   Loup Chatin/Hirsch         ORECA FLM                       + 11 laps

Retirements:

     GTC  Bader/Derdaele/Giermaziak  Megatron Audi                     33 laps
     P2   Dyson/Marsal               Greaves Zytek-Nissan              23 laps
     P2   Gachnang/Mailleux          Morand Morgan-Judd                22 laps
     PC   Loan/Lecuyer               ORECA FLM                          0 laps