Monza ELMS: Panis Racing beats United for maiden win
Panis Racing took its maiden European Le Mans Series victory at Monza as Will Stevens, Julien Canal and James Allen headed United Autosports after four hours of racing.
Photo by: Paolo Belletti
The first part of the race was an all-out battle between championship contenders G-Drive Racing, Team WRT and United Autosports with reigning champion Phil Hanson in the sole United car taking the lead from the pole-sitting #26 G-Drive car driven by Roman Rusinov just before the first pitstops.
Rusinov's race was compromised when he ran out of fuel following a safety car brought out to recover the #77 WeatherTech Racing Porsche from the Lesmo gravel trap. The 2018 champion would eventually finish one lap down in eighth together with Mikkel Jensen and Franco Colapinto.
Several race interruptions brought other teams in the fray, including the Panis Racing team that had started eighth but moved into second after the first stops with Canal at the wheel.
The lead changed hands during the second round of pitstops when Allen climbed aboard, and the Australian kept United's Jonathan Aberdein at bay before handing over to Stevens for the final stint, the ex-Formula 1 driver able to fend off United’s Tom Gamble for the win.
Behind the guesting JOTA Oreca of Jazeman Jaafar and Sean Gelael - using the event to prepare for next weekend's FIA World Endurance Championship round at Monza - championship leader WRT continued its consistent points-scoring run with fourth for Robert Kubica, Louis Deletraz and Yi Yifei.
Almost the entire LMP2 Pro-Am field led at some time or another, but a well-executed strategy and a strong final stint from former F1 Roberto Merhi gave the #25 G-Drive machine he shared with Jon Falb and Rui Andrade class honours in sixth overall.
#65 Panis Racing Oreca 07 - Gibson: Julien Canal, Will Stevens, James Allen
Photo by: Paolo Belletti
The LMP3 class provided a vast array of strategies, with the difference between a win and a top 10 result often decided by an unlucky full course yellow. The pole-sitting DKR Engineering Duqueine used the final full course yellow of the race, ironically following an incident in which the team itself was involved, to secure a win for Laurens Horr and Matthieu de Barbuat.
The GTE class proved to be an all-Ferrari fight between the Spirit of Race and Iron Lynx teams, who were often only separated by a few tenths of a second.
The battle between Spirit of Race's David Perel and Miguel Molina proved especially riveting, and the South African held firm throughout the final stints to join Duncan Cameron and Alessandro Pier Guidi on the top step of the podium.
Perel dedicated the win to absent teammate Matt Griffin, who withdrew from the event following the sudden passing of his father.
Race results:
Cla | # | Driver | Car | Laps | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 65 | Julien Canal Will Stevens James Allen |
Oreca 07 | 125 | |
2 | 22 | Philip Hanson Jonathan Aberdein Tom Gamble |
Oreca 07 | 125 | 5.131 |
3 | 82 | Jazeman Jaafar Sean Gelael |
Oreca 07 | 125 | 34.420 |
4 | 41 | Robert Kubica Louis Deletraz Ye Yifei |
Oreca 07 | 125 | 41.783 |
5 | 30 | Tristan Gommendy Rene Binder Memo Rojas |
Oreca 07 | 124 | |
6 | 25 | John Falb Rui Andrade Roberto Merhi |
Aurus 01 | 124 | 1 Lap |
7 | 34 | Salih Yoluc Charles Eastwood Logan Sargeant |
Oreca 07 | 124 | 1 Lap |
8 | 26 | Roman Rusinov Franco Colapinto Mikkel Jensen |
Aurus 01 | 124 | 1 Lap |
9 | 28 | Paul Lafargue Paul-Loup Chatin Patrick Pilet |
Oreca 07 | 124 | 1 Lap |
10 | 24 | Diego Menchaca Ferdinand Habsburg Richard Bradley |
Oreca 07 | 124 | 1 Lap |
11 | 29 | Matthieu Lahaye Jean Baptiste Lahaye François Heriau |
Oreca 07 | 124 | 1 Lap |
12 | 37 | Alexandre Coigny Nicolas Lapierre Antonin Borga |
Oreca 07 | 123 | |
13 | 92 | Frits van Eerd Giedo van der Garde |
Oreca 07 | 123 | 2 Laps |
14 | 70 | Esteban Garcia Loic Duval |
Oreca 07 | 123 | 2 Laps |
15 | 17 | Dwight Merriman Kyle Tilley Ryan Dalziel |
Oreca 07 | 122 | |
16 | 39 | Vincent Capillaire Maxime Robin Arnold Robin |
Oreca 07 | 122 | 3 Laps |
17 | 21 | Henrik Hedman Ben Hayley Juan Pablo Montoya |
Oreca 07 | 122 | 3 Laps |
18 | 35 | Francesco Dracone Sergio Campana Markus Pommer |
Oreca 07 | 122 | 3 Laps |
19 | 4 | Laurents Hörr Mathieu de |
Duqueine M30 - D08 | 119 | |
20 | 2 | Wayne Boyd Robert Wheldon Edouard Cauhaupe |
Ligier JS P320 | 119 | 6 Laps |
21 | 13 | Martin Hippe Mattia Pasini Ugo De |
Ligier JS P320 | 119 | 6 Laps |
22 | 19 | Nicolas Maulini Matthew Bell Niklas Kruetten |
Ligier JS P320 | 119 | 6 Laps |
23 | 20 | Rob Hodes Garett Grist Charles Crews |
Ligier JS P320 | 118 | |
24 | 5 | Cresp Christophe Fabien Lavergne Adrien Chila |
Ligier JS P320 | 118 | 7 Laps |
25 | 14 | Erwin Creed Marius Zug Mateusz Kaprzyk |
Ligier JS P320 | 118 | 7 Laps |
26 | 18 | Alessandro Bressan Andreas Laskaratos Damiano Fioravanti |
Ligier JS P320 | 118 | 7 Laps |
27 | 15 | Mike Benham Alex Kapadia Malthe Jakobsen |
Ligier JS P320 | 117 | |
28 | 3 | James McGuire Duncan Tappy Andrew Bentley |
Ligier JS P320 | 117 | 8 Laps |
29 | 55 | Duncan Cameron Alessandro Pier Guidi David Perel |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | 117 | 8 Laps |
30 | 80 | Matteo Cressoni Rino Mastronardi Miguel Molina |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | 117 | 8 Laps |
31 | 88 | François Perrodo Emmanuel Collard Alessio Rovera |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | 117 | 8 Laps |
32 | 12 | David Hauser Gary Hauser Tom Cloet |
Duqueine M30 - D08 | 117 | 8 Laps |
33 | 66 | Jody Fannin Andrea Fontana Rodrigo Sales |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | 117 | 8 Laps |
34 | 60 | Claudio Schiavoni Giorgio Sernagiotto Paolo Ruberti |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | 117 | 8 Laps |
35 | 83 | Rahel Frey Michelle Gatting Manuela Gostner |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | 117 | 8 Laps |
36 | 6 | Nick Adcock Austin McCusker Max Koebolt |
Ligier JS P320 | 117 | 8 Laps |
37 | 93 | Michael Fassbender Felipe Fernández Laser Richard Lietz |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | 116 | |
38 | 95 | John Hartshorne Ross Gunn Ollie Hancock |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR | 115 | |
39 | 77 | Christian Ried Cooper MacNeil Gianmaria Bruni |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | 115 | 10 Laps |
40 | 8 | Eric Trouillet Sebastien Page David Droux |
Ligier JS P320 | 111 | |
41 | 9 | Matthias Kaiser Rory Penttinen |
Ligier JS P320 | 99 | |
42 | 7 | Tony Wells Colin Noble Jr. |
Ligier JS P320 | 79 | |
View full results |
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