ELMS Paul Ricard Pre-Race Setup
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Key Notes
» DragonSpeed will start 1-2 on the grid after a dominant display in qualifying. Nico Lapierre took pole for the #21, whilst super silver Leo Roussel qualified second in the #22 G-Drive sponsored car.
» The highest non-ORECA was the SMP Dallara in 4th. The championship contending United Autosports Ligier lines up 5th, with Cetilar Villorba Corse 6th.
» 360 Racing take their first LMP3 pole in 2017. Despite the expected advantage of the Normas, Ligier locked out the top 3 slots.
» A chicane will be added to the Mistral Straight for the 2017 ELMS event. It’s thought that the increased power of the LMP2 cars is the catalyst for the decision.
» 35 cars on the entry list, 1 down from the Red Bull Ring. 6 in GTE-Am, 17 in LMP3 and down to 12 from 13 in LMP2.
» The missing car from LMP2 is the Tockwith Motorsports Ligier. After the bizarre disagreement involving a music video filming, Phil Hanson decided to end his association with TMS.
» Ryo Hirakawa still does not appear on the entry list. The Japanese driver was replaced by DragonSpeed sporting director Nicolas Minassian for the Red Bull Ring, as Hirakawa was busy in Super GT. Minassian is listed in the car with Rojas and Roussel for Paul Ricard.
» The championship fight is close at the front with G-Drive by DragonSpeed on 62 points, leading United Autosports by 4. High Class Racing are third with 34, meaning 3 different chassis in the top 3 championship positions.
» Showing that the Red Bull Ring return was not a one off, SMP are fielding a Dallara P217 again. Egor Orudzhev and Matevos Issakyan will pilot the car again.
» The United Autosports disqualification from the Red Bull Ring puts them on level pegging with Ultimate for the LMP3 Teams Championship at 45 points each.
» Duqueine Engineering will enter 2 Norma M30s in the Paul Ricard event, dropping the Ligier JSP3 completely. The Norma has been the surprise of the LMP3 field, being fast everywhere it runs. Paul Ricard will see 4 Norma’s in the main event.
» The gap at the head of the GTE championship is just 6 points. With only 2 cars really in contention at this point TF Sport Aston Martin leads the JMW Ferrari 488.
