Celebrating the 2015 ELMS Season
(ELMS/19.10.2015) At the end of an exciting 2015 European Le Mans Series season the endurance family gathered at the endurance family gathered at the Centro de Congressos in Estoril to celebrate a great year of racing and the crowning of the new European motorsport champions.
Six of the eight ELMS titles were decided a few hours before at the end of a dramatic 4 Hours of Estoril and
the names of the champions for 2015 are:
- LMP2 Team: Greaves Motorsport
- LMP2 Drivers: Gary Hirsch, Jon Lancaster, Bjorn Wirdheim
- LMP3 Team: Team LNT
- LMP3 Drivers: Chris Hoy, Charlie Robertson
- LMGTE Team: Formula Racing
- LMGTE Drivers: Johnny Laursen, Mikkel Mac, Andrea Rizzoli
- GTC Team: TDS Racing
- GTC Drivers: Eric Dermont, Dino Lunardi, Franck Perera
In addition to the champion trophies, three special awards were presented by Pierre Fillon, President of the
ACO. These were
- Rookie of the Year: Charlie Robertson
- Team of the Year: TDS Racing collected by Xavier Combet
- Man of the Year: Sam Hignett (JOTA Sport)
The 2015 ELMS season is now complete and the 2016 season will begin at Le Castellet on in March 2016 for the Official Test.
nach obenAutomobile Club de l'Ouest launches a new endurance GT3 series
(ELMS/18.10.2015) Pierre Fillon, President of the ACO, and Gérard Neveu, ELMS CEO, with Pascal Couasnon, Michelin Motorsport Manager, today announced the creation of a new series in 2016.
left to right: Pascal Couasnon (Michelin Motorsport Manager), Pierre Fillon (President ACO), Gérard Neveu (ELMS CEO)
The Michelin GT3 Le Mans Cup will be launched next season and will run on the European Le Mans Series meetings, completing the line-up of exciting race series for the race week-ends including ELMS, Formula Renault 2.0 and Renault Sport Trophy RS01.
The Michelin GT3 Le Mans Cup is reserved for GT3 category cars and will take part on five ELMS rounds :
Imola, Red Bull Ring, Le Castellet, Spa and Estoril.
A sixth round will place at Le Mans in June as the opening race of the weekend at the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans.
In order to optimise the sporting programme of these GT3 cars, an agreement has been reached with the French
FFSA GT Tour promotor with endurance staying with ELMS and sprint with GT Tour. There will be 2-hour endurance races at each
of the ELMS meetings and 1-hour sprint races on the GT Tour meetings.
The calendars of the two series have no clash in dates, which means the GT3 Teams will be able to enter both competitions,
keeping the same car number and the same tyre manufacturer, due to the fact that Michelin will be the title sponsor of the new
ACO series.
In each 2-driver crew in the new endurance race series, a bronze category driver will be mandatory for each line-up. Apart from
the race taking place on the 24 Hours of Le Mans circuit, the track programme in the ELMS meetings will be made up of two 1-hour
free practice sessions, one 30-minute qualifying session and one 2-hour race.
Important to note, as this will be the case in ELMS, the Michelin GT3 Le Mans Cup will also present 'prize money' to the
champions at the end of the season.
ELMS Gets Bigger and Better in 2016
The European Le Mans Series will expand in 2016 with a six race calendar, with an additional four hour race at Spa-Francorchamps, joining the now familiar events at Silverstone, Imola, Red Bull Ring, Paul Ricard and Estoril.
All circuits for the 2016 season
Europe's leading endurance race series will also be joined for the majority of the six races by the Eurocup
Formula Renault 2.0 and Renault Sport Trophy, giving the fans a regular support race package to enjoy throughout the 2016 season.
2016 will begin as always with The Prologue, the official two day preseason test, on March 29 and 30. The first race of the
season will be at Silverstone in the UK on Saturday 16 April. The 4 Hours of Silverstone will once again join the World Endurance
Championship for a fantastic festival of racing.
Round 2 will be at Imola for the now traditional mid-May visit to the Italian circuit. After Le Mans, Round 3 will take place
in Austria at the Red Bull Ring and the race at the Circuit Paul Ricard moves to the end of August. On the 25 September the 4
Hours of Spa-Francorchamps will become the new entry on the calendar, with the first visit by the ELMS to the Belgian circuit
since 2011. The 2016 season will conclude in Portugal as Estoril will once again host the season finale on Sunday 23 October.
European Le Mans Series Provisional 2016 Calendar
Prologue 29/30 March TBA - TBA
RD1 15/16 April Silverstone UK - WEC
RD2 13-15 May Imola ITALY - RST
RD3 15-17 July Red Bull Ring AUSTRIA - RST / FR2.0
RD4 26-28 August Paul Ricard France - RST / FR2.0
RD5 23-25 September Spa-Francorchamps BELGIUM* - RST / FR2.0
RD6 21-23 October Estoril PORTUGAL - RST / FR2.0
*to be confirmed
RST = Renault Sport Trophy FR2 = Formula Renault 2.0