[ELMS Race] ELMS round 3: Red Bull Ring

[TheMightyM]

The third round of the 2014 European Le Mans Series championship takes place on July 19 and 20 at Austria’s picturesque Red Bull Ring. The name of the race in German is the “4 Stunden am Red Bull Ring.”

The field: 33 cars (8 P2, 13 GTE, 1nd 12 GTC). The latest entry list is here — note the withdrawal in the last few days of the #80 Kessel Racing Ferrari GTE car

Results of practice 1 are here. In addition, Sportcars365.com offers up a practice 1 results summary here. Spoiler: Race Performance’s Oreca 03 - Judd was fastest during the session.

A second practice is scheduled for 3:00pm local time on Saturday.

On Sunday, qualifying gets underway at 9:30am local time while the 4 hour race starts at 2:00pm local time.

Live timing is available here.

[TheMightyM]

Just under half an hour left in Practice 2 and the two Judd-powered P2s are at the top of the time sheet, just like in Practice 1. Does the Red Bull Ring really suit the Judds or are Race Performance and Newblood by Morand Racing just the best teams so far this weekend?

[nasdriv87]

live streaming ---> http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xpl...2014-live_auto

[TheMightyM]

And boom, just after I wrote that, the Thiriet by TDS Racing, Jota, and Signatech cars all jump ahead of the two Judd-powered entries. And then the Morand car goes fastest again.

Sixth is the #28 Greaves car, a full second off the pace.

[bella]

you can tell who the 'proper' drivers are through t1 - they're the ones who don't touch the inner kerb at all and carry the speed in one swift motion as if it's a fast corner. the other guys seem to attack it as if it's a slow corner, like the first half of a chicane.

speaking of t1, i realise i should know this but is it 4 wheels over the white line, or 4 wheels off the kerb?

i think the lmp2s are getting a bit squeezed here. the importance of having a good line through the last corner (and the relative lack of grunt in a straight line) is making it really difficult for them to get past the ferraris in particular on the main straight. there's quite a lot of moves happening into t1 rather than in the acceleration process on the straight. whilst it's really quite spectacular, i reckon we might see one or two lapping shunts more than usual during the race as a result. i'm pretty sure it's more pronounced than last year, but happy to be corrected.

[TheMightyM]

Free Practice 2 results are here. Highlights by class:

P2: Newblood by Morand Racing fastest by .008 ahead of Race Performance. Thiriet by TDS Racing, Jota, and Signatech all within a half second of Morand's time.

GTE: SMP Rcaing fastest by nearly a half second over the #55 AF Corse car. Ferrari were 1th through 3th and then 6th through 9th — the non-prancing horse interlopers were the Proton Competition Porsche in 4th and the Gulf Racing UK Aston-Martin in 5th.

GTC: A SMP Racing Ferrari also lead the way here (#71 car of Ladygin, Basov, and Persiani). Secong was the Team Russia by Barwell BMW Z3. Six of the top eight positions went to Ferraris, the exceptions being the Team Russia by Barwell BMW and the Prospeed Competition Porsche, which was 4th fastest during the session.

[Maelochs]

Sunday morning will be tough ... I guess I will tape the Tour de France, watch F1 on the TV and ELMS on one monitor with T&S form ELMS and F1 on the middle screen.

Weeks without a race and then everything at exactly the same time.

[TRspitfirefan]

Looking forward to catching the ELMS race tomorrow.
Unfortunately, the Pirelli World Challenge race #2 from Toronto will overlap, so I'll miss a little in the middle.

Abundance of great racing is a good problem to have!

[bella]

starting grid here: http://elms.alkamelsystems.com/Resul..._Grid_Race.PDF

another impeccable qualifying session from jota, aside from a spin on the lap before tincknell's fastest. really good show from the ligier too, though it looked a bit of a handful compared to the other cars. bertolini (smp racing) and magnussen (formula racing) are the other polesitters.

race start in 50 minutes

[MitchZ06]

Is there a VLC link for this?

[tux]

Have Gulf changed over to the 991 RSR yet?

[J Jay]

Gary Hirsch isn't having a great day at the office, is he?

[bella]

ragues drove a blinder in that first stint though...

[TheMightyM]

Too many penalties.

[Maelochs]

Plenty of excellent racing.

[TheMightyM]

The Gulf colors don’t look as good on a Porsche as they do on an Aston Martin. And the Porsches in general are doing horrible in GTE -- 9th, 10th, 12th, and 13th of 13 cars.

[Deleted]

I see a gradual decline in ELMS specific race thread interest here

2014 R3 - 15 posts
2014 R2 - 60 posts
2014 R1 - 148 posts

Then again the post-LM depression happens every season

[carbon_titanium]

Originally Posted by Chiana

I see a gradual decline in ELMS specific race thread interest here

2014 R3 - 15 posts
2014 R2 - 60 posts
2014 R1 - 148 posts

Then again the post-LM depression happens every season

Speaking for me, the interest for ELMS dropped since the end of 2011 season.

[Deleted]

Same here. 2011 was still awesome with LMP1 (Rebellion-Pesca was rather epic), no forced proam crap in every single class, and the integrated ILMC grids.

2012 was terrible
2013-2014 have been pretty okay but really not much to talk home about

It's just that they admitted themselves being second tier series which makes the championship appear less important. It doesn't seem to matter as much who won the 2014 Red Bull Ring 4 Hours as it did Portimao 1000km in 2010.

... yet I still find it less problematic than the other three series And I guess they have good sized grids, even with the non compliant filler class there, so it's not too bad

[Maelochs]

They should encourage some teams to buy TUSC-style Daytona Prototypes---that would get the boards active again.

[Simmi]

It is second-tier but it's actually producing some of the best and most intriguing sportscar racing this year.

The Pro-Am element ensures the races are open right until the end and there's a great tactical element. There's more wheel-to-wheel racing than we've seen in previous years. Some great drivers and guys who also will be WEC stalwarts in future years.

I enjoy the races infinitely more than what it feels like I'm enduring while watching TUSC. It just doesn't have that "must-watch" buzz to it which I only really get for the WEC.

I could have watched it live yesterday but opted not to and now I'm watching it back on delay, same as Imola. So I can't bemoan the lack of posts.

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by Maelochs

They should encourage some teams to buy TUSC-style Daytona Prototypes---that would get the boards active again.

Sure. But as a twist ACO would only allow DPs into GTC to be performance balanced with GT3 cars

[Pandemonium]

The race was awesome. Much better than any TUSC race. It is sad how strong headed americans are. Maybe the safety car could be a DP instead of the Nissan Z xD

[Maelochs]

"It is sad how strong headed americans are."

Hey, I resent that. I am American and plenty of people have told me I am weak in the head.

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by Pandemonium

Maybe the safety car could be a DP instead of the Nissan Z xD

But one of the functions of SC car is not to collide with other cars, such task would be impossible for DP