[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

[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.

[TheMightyM]

Originally Posted by 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.

I find just the reverse is true — that ELMS is compelling while the WEC is simply tedious to watch. The Pro-Am classes in ELMS are simply better (more cars) than those in the WEC and there’s more at stake as well — ELMS P2 and GTE-AM teams are effectively auditioning for invites to Le Mans, and the consequences for not getting an invite could include a team being forced to shut down.

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by TheMightyM

I find just the reverse is true — that ELMS is compelling while the WEC is simply tedious to watch. The Pro-Am classes in ELMS are simply better (more cars) than those in the WEC and there’s more at stake as well — ELMS P2 and GTE-AM teams are effectively auditioning for invites to Le Mans, and the consequences for not getting an invite could include a team being forced to shut down.

Yeah but the invites have sort of lost their worth because you can just buy yourself Le Mans garagw slot by entering WEC next year, zero effort... also as Risi showed this year, just because you receive automatic invite doesn't mean you actually get one (okay Risi's Krohn Racing camourflage thingie was different was but the point still stands)

And again as for me, it's just wrong to have ALL categories as pro-am. Yes I can understand the (soon to be resurrected) junior proto class and GTs, even what was GT2, but when you have your premiere class limited to proam-costcap-privateers as well it just kinda makes it have more club feel to it...

I mean just think of it, six years ago:

Le Mans - 4 classes without restrictions in drivers, budget, factory/privateer (technically not even P2)
Le Mans Series - 4 classes without restrictions in drivers, budget, factory/privateer (technically not even P2)
American Le Mans Series - 4 classes without restrictions in drivers, budget, factory/privateer

And now:

Le Mans / FIA WEC - out of 4 classes 2 are proam (of which one is cost capped and privateer-only and the another one exists to artificially split the class in two for 'amateurs') + separate sub class for P1 privateers only
Le Mans Series - all 3 classes are proam (of which one is cost-capped) and all -in truth- privateer only
United Sportscar Championship - out of 4 classes 2 are proam (of which one (or two in truth) is privateer only)) + some cars in another category are cost-capped
Asian Le Mans Series - all 3 classes are proam (of which one (or two?) is cost-capped)) and all -in truth- privateer only

Next year we'll (re-)get another proam category for ELMS, but hopefully - by the look of things - LMP2 goes back to unlimited in terms of drivers in WEC/LM

[bella]

Originally Posted by TheMightyM

I find just the reverse is true — that ELMS is compelling while the WEC is simply tedious to watch. The Pro-Am classes in ELMS are simply better (more cars) than those in the WEC and there’s more at stake as well — ELMS P2 and GTE-AM teams are effectively auditioning for invites to Le Mans, and the consequences for not getting an invite could include a team being forced to shut down.

i agree.

i think you're mostly all missing the point. you're all so absorbed in the minutae of detail that you're not looking and seeing the big picture. i think in any form of the sport comparisons to the past are pointless, what you have to look at is the position of a series within the existing scene and whether it's making the most of the available potential market.

and even on a basic level... the races are absolutely superb. i'm disappointed that so many people can't look past their own opinion to just watch the racing. that is, after all, what we're there for.

[Maelochs]

I second Bella's idea.

I don't care if someone tells me the cars aren't "relevant" or the class structure is not "correct" or any of that.

Saturday's race was extremely entertaining, with good battles in all classes, plenty to watch, and some really pretty cars that were quite fast.

Apparently ELMS is doing okay with this format---I can't understand how,. but the evidence was on my computer screen.

Not to dismiss anyone's arguments or complaints, just stating that personally I am exceedingly glad that I can watch this series.

[SpikerJack]

Yes but no gentleman means no money.. Except for the factory teams!!

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by SpikerJack

Yes but no gentleman means no money.. Except for the factory teams!!

My stock response

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by Chiana

My stock response

The world is not the same as it was back then, so that point of view doesn't seem valid to me any longer tbh. Class wins for gentleman drivers give them better return on their investment than running around in a pack behind the all-pro squads in the same class, and right now without RoI... everyone bails out in the end and everything dies. People (by which I mean richer petrolheads) don't have the same amount of money to burn on racing that they had 6 years ago FFS.