2014 European Le Mans Series

The 2014 European Le Mans Series season was the eleventh season of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest's European Le Mans Series. It was the third 24 Hours of Le Mans-based series created by the ACO, following the Asian Le Mans Series and the FIA World Endurance Championship. The five-event season began at Silverstone Circuit, in conjunction with the FIA World Endurance Championship, from 18–19 April and ended at Autódromo do Estoril on 19 October.[1]

2014 European Le Mans Series
Previous: 2013 Next: 2015

In the lead LMP2 class, five different teams won the five races that were held during the 2014 season. However, it was Signatech Alpine and their triumvirate of Paul-Loup Chatin, Nelson Panciatici and Oliver Webb that won the respective titles; they won the race at the Red Bull Ring, and ultimately won the championship by four points from the Jota Sport trio Filipe Albuquerque, Simon Dolan and Harry Tincknell, who won at Imola. Third place in the championship went to Le Castellet winners Gary Hirsch and Christian Klien for Newblood by Morand Racing. Other race winners included Pierre Ragues – who was part of the Hirsch-Klien Le Castellet entry – having joined the team mid-season, Sébastien Loeb Racing duo Vincent Capillaire and Jimmy Eriksson were winners at Estoril, while the opening race at Silverstone was won by Thiriet by TDS Racing, with their drivers Ludovic Badey, Tristan Gommendy and Pierre Thiriet.

In the GTE class, SMP Racing and their drivers Andrea Bertolini, Viktor Shaytar and Sergey Zlobin took their respective titles with a final round victory at Estoril while the pre-race championship leaders AF Corse, with drivers Duncan Cameron and Matt Griffin struggled in the race; having led by 21 points going into the race, Cameron and Griffin eventually lost the title by 3.5 points to Bertolini, Shaitar and Zlobin. The teams shared all five wins during the season; SMP Racing won two races, while AF Corse won three, with Cameron and Griffin being joined by Michele Rugolo for the victories; however, as Rugolo missed the Imola event, he finished six points behind them in the championship.

SMP Racing also took the honours in the GTC class, as Olivier Beretta, Devi Markozov and Anton Ladygin finished all five races on the podium – with a victory at Le Castellet – to take class honours by 15.5 points ahead of Formula Racing duo Johnny Laursen and Mikkel Mac, who won with Andrea Piccini at Imola. Third in the class championship went to another SMP Racing entry, with drivers Kirill Ladygin, Aleksey Basov and Luca Persiani, who won the race at the Red Bull Ring. Other race victories went to Team Ukraine at Silverstone with drivers Andrii Kruglyk, Sergey Chukanov and Alessandro Pier Guidi, and BMW Sport Trophy Marc VDS at Estoril, with their trio of Bas Leinders, Markus Palttala and Henry Hassid.

Regulations

The top class continued to be LMP2, where a car of 2–3 drivers had to include at least one silver or bronze-ranking driver. GTE and GTC cars had to include one bronze and silver driver or two bronze drivers. Finally, LMPC was not a part of the 2014 season. Unlike in 2013, tyre warming was allowed in the 2014 season.[1]

Calendar

The provisional calendar was announced during the final round of the 2013 European Le Mans Series season at Circuit Paul Ricard. However, to avoid date clashes with the FIA World Endurance Championship, a revised schedule was released, with rounds 2 and 5 being moved back one week. The first round was held alongside the first round of the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship season at Silverstone Circuit.[2] Additionally, all races lasted an hour longer than in 2013, from three hours to four.

Rnd Race Circuit Date
1 4 Hours of Silverstone Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, United Kingdom 19 April
2 4 Hours of Imola Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola, Italy 18 May
3 4 Hours of Red Bull Ring Red Bull Ring, Spielberg, Austria 20 July
4 4 Hours of Le Castellet Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet, France 14 September
5 4 Hours of Estoril Autódromo do Estoril, Estoril, Portugal 19 October

Entry list

The entry list was announced on February 13. It featured 42 cars, comprising 13 LMP2, 13 GTE and 16 GTC:

  • LMP2 featured four Orecas (Boutsen Ginion, Sébastien Loeb, Race Performance and Murphy), three Zyteks (Greaves, Jota and Caterham), three Morgans (Pegasus, Morand and Larbre), two Alpines (Signatech) and a Ligier (Thiriet by TDS).
  • GTE featured 8 Ferraris (AF Corse, AT Racing, JMW and Kessel), four Porsches (IMSA, Gulf and Crubilé) and an Aston Martin (Gulf).
  • GTC featured 11 Ferraris (AF Corse, SMP, SOFREV-ASP, Formula and Ukraine), two McLarens (ART), a Porsche (Pro GT by Almeras) and a BMW (Barwell).

LMP2

Entrant/Team Car Engine Tyre No. Drivers Rounds
Sébastien Loeb Racing Oreca 03 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 M 24 Vincent Capillaire 1–2, 4–5
Jan Charouz 1–2
Arthur Pic 4
Andrea Roda 4
Jimmy Eriksson 5
Greaves Motorsport Zytek Z11SN Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 D 28 James Littlejohn 1
James Walker 1
Anthony Wells 1
Luciano Bacheta 3–5
Mark Shulzhitskiy 3–5
41 Matt McMurry All
Tom Kimber-Smith 1–3
Chris Dyson 1
Mark Patterson 3
Johnny Mowlem 4
Miguel Faísca 5
James Fletcher 5
Pegasus Racing Morgan LMP2 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 D 29 Jonathan Coleman All
Nicolas Leutwiler All
Julien Schell All
Race Performance Oreca 03 Judd HK 3.6 L V8 D 34 Michel Frey All
Franck Mailleux All
Patric Niederhauser 5
Signatech Alpine Alpine A450 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 M
D
36 Paul-Loup Chatin All
Nelson Panciatici All
Oliver Webb All
Jota Sport Zytek Z11SN Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 D 38 Filipe Albuquerque All
Simon Dolan All
Harry Tincknell All
Newblood by Morand Racing Morgan LMP2 Judd HK 3.6 L V8 D 43 Gary Hirsch All
Christian Klien All
Romain Brandela 1–2
Pierre Ragues 3–5
Thiriet by TDS Racing Morgan LMP2[N 1]
Ligier JS P2[N 2]
Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 D 46 Ludovic Badey All
Tristan Gommendy All
Pierre Thiriet All
Murphy Prototypes Oreca 03 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 D 48 Rodolfo González 1–2, 4
Karun Chandhok 1–2
Alex Kapadia 1
Nathanaël Berthon 2, 4
Pipo Derani 4–5
James Littlejohn 5
Anthony Wells 5
Larbre Compétition Morgan LMP2 Judd HK 3.6 L V8 M 50 Keiko Ihara 1
Gustavo Yacamán 1

LM GTE

Entrant/Team Car Engine Tyre No. Drivers Rounds
AF Corse Ferrari F458 Italia Ferrari 4.5 L V8 M 54 Marco Cioci All
Michael Lyons All
Piergiuseppe Perazzini All
55 Duncan Cameron All
Matt Griffin All
Michele Rugolo 1, 3–5
Mirko Venturi 2
65 Lorenzo Casè 2
Raffaele Giammaria 2
Peter Mann 2
70 Emmanuel Collard 3–5
Yannick Mallegol 3–5
François Perrodo 3–5
AT Racing Ferrari F458 Italia Ferrari 4.5 L V8 M 56 Pierre Kaffer All
Alexander Talkanitsa, Sr. All
Alexander Talkanitsa, Jr. 1–3, 5
Mirko Venturi 4
Team Sofrev ASP Ferrari F458 Italia Ferrari 4.5 L V8 M 58 Soheil Ayari All
Fabien Barthez All
Anthony Pons All
JMW Motorsport Ferrari F458 Italia Ferrari 4.5 L V8 M 66 Daniel McKenzie All
George Richardson All
Daniel Zampieri 1–2, 5
Rob Bell 3
James Walker 4
IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche 911 GT3 RSR Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 M 67 Éric Hélary All
Erik Maris All
Jean-Marc Merlin All
76 Nicolas Armindo All
Raymond Narac All
David Hallyday 1–2
Christina Nielsen 3–5
SMP Racing Ferrari F458 Italia Ferrari 4.5 L V8 M 72 Andrea Bertolini All
Viktor Shaytar All
Sergey Zlobin All
Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 RSR Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 M 77 Horst Felbermayr, Jr. 3
Horst Felbermayr, Sr. 3
Richard Lietz 3
Kessel Racing Ferrari F458 Italia Ferrari 4.5 L V8 M 80 Michał Broniszewski 1–2, 4–5
Giacomo Piccini 1–2, 4–5
81 Matteo Cressoni 1–4
Thomas Kemenater 1–4
Crubilé Sport Porsche 997 GT3 RSR Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 M 82 Emmanuel Collard 1–2
Sébastien Crubilé 1–2
François Perrodo 1–2
Gulf Racing UK Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE Aston Martin 4.5 L V8 M 85 Daniel Brown All
Roald Goethe All
Stuart Hall All
Porsche 911 GT3 RSR[N 3]
Porsche 911 RSR[N 4]
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 86 Adam Carroll All
Michael Wainwright All
Ben Barker 1–2, 4–5
Michael Meadows 3

GTC

Entrant/Team Car Engine Tyre No. Drivers Rounds
Sébastien Loeb Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra Audi 5.2 L V10 M 51 Henry Hassid 1
Olivier Lombard 1
Mike Parisy 1
SMP Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 Ferrari 4.5 L V8 M 57 Maurizio Mediani 2–5
Boris Rotenberg 2–5
Mika Salo 2–5
71 Aleksey Basov All
Kirill Ladygin All
Luca Persiani All
73 Olivier Beretta All
Anton Ladygin All
Devi Markozov All
Team Sofrev ASP Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 Ferrari 4.5 L V8 M 59 Jean-Philippe Belloc All
Christophe Bourret All
Pascal Gibon 1–2, 4–5
Jean-Luc Beaubelique 3
Formula Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 Ferrari 4.5 L V8 M 60 Johnny Laursen All
Mikkel Mac All
Jan Magnussen 1, 3–5
Andrea Piccini 2
AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 Ferrari 4.5 L V8 M 62 Jean-Marc Bachelier 1–2
Howard Blank 1–2
Yannick Mallegol 1–2
63 Mads Rasmussen All
Dennis Lind 1
Ilya Melnikov 2–3
Filipe Barreiros 4–5
Francisco Guedes 5
94 Francesco Castellacci 2, 4
Thomas Flohr 2, 4
Andrea Rizzoli 4
95 Adrien De Leener All
Cédric Sbirrazzuoli All
Prospeed Competition Porsche 911 GT3-R Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 M 75 Gilles Vannelet All
Maxime Soulet 1–2, 5
Paul van Splunteren 1–2
Max van Splunteren 3–5
Mike Parisy 3–4
Team Russia by Barwell BMW Z4 GT3 BMW 4.4 L V8 M 78 Jonny Cocker All
Leo Machitski All
Timur Sardarov All
BMW Sport Trophy Marc VDS BMW Z4 GT3 BMW 4.4 L V8 M 87 Henry Hassid 5
Bas Leinders 5
Markus Palttala 5
Ombra Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 Ferrari 4.5 L V8 M 92 Mario Cordoni 4–5
Andrea Montermini 5
Marco Zanuttini 4–5
Pro GT by Alméras Porsche 997 GT3-R Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 M 93 Franck Perera 1–4
Eric Dermont 1–2, 4
Lucas Lasserre 1–2, 4
Henry Hassid 3
Matthieu Vaxivière 3
Team Ukraine Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 Ferrari 4.5 L V8 M 96 Sergey Chukanov 1
Andrii Kruglyk 1
Alessandro Pier Guidi 1
ART Grand Prix McLaren MP4-12C GT3 McLaren 3.8 L Turbo V8 M 98 Grégoire Demoustier All
Yann Goudy All
Kevin Korjus All
99 Karim Ajlani All
Alex Brundle All
Ricardo González All

Season results

Rnd. Circuit LMP2 Winning Team LMGTE Winning Team GTC Winning Team Results
LMP2 Winning Drivers LMGTE Winning Drivers GTC Winning Drivers
1 Silverstone No. 46 Thiriet by TDS Racing No. 55 AF Corse No. 96 Team Ukraine Report
Ludovic Badey
Tristan Gommendy
Pierre Thiriet
Duncan Cameron
Matt Griffin
Michele Rugolo
Sergey Chukanov
Andrii Kruglyk
Alessandro Pier Guidi
2 Imola No. 38 Jota Sport No. 72 SMP Racing No. 60 Formula Racing Report
Filipe Albuquerque
Simon Dolan
Harry Tincknell
Andrea Bertolini
Viktor Shaytar
Sergey Zlobin
Johnny Laursen
Mikkel Mac
Andrea Piccini
3 Red Bull No. 36 Signatech Alpine No. 55 AF Corse No. 71 SMP Racing Report
Paul-Loup Chatin
Nelson Panciatici
Oliver Webb
Duncan Cameron
Matt Griffin
Michele Rugolo
Aleksey Basov
Kirill Ladygin
Luca Persiani
4 Paul Ricard No. 43 Newblood by Morand Racing No. 55 AF Corse No. 73 SMP Racing Report
Gary Hirsch
Christian Klien
Pierre Ragues
Duncan Cameron
Matt Griffin
Michele Rugolo
Olivier Beretta
Anton Ladygin
Devi Markozov
5 Estoril No. 24 Sébastien Loeb Racing No. 72 SMP Racing No. 87 BMW Sport Trophy Marc VDS Report
Vincent Capillaire
Jimmy Eriksson
Andrea Bertolini
Viktor Shaytar
Sergey Zlobin
Henry Hassid
Bas Leinders
Markus Palttala

Notes

  1. Rounds 1–2.
  2. Rounds 3–5.
  3. Rounds 1–3.
  4. Rounds 4–5.

References

  1. "Changes of the European Le Mans Series in 2014". European Le Mans Series. 5 November 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-12-27. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
  2. Dagys, John (5 November 2013). "Revised 2014 ELMS Schedule Released". Sportscar365. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
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