ELMS: Two Geneva drivers at the top of the sports car field 🎥
SECOND VICTORY FOR DELETRAZ AND MAULINI At the Red Bull Ring, Louis Delétraz and Nicolas Maulini and their teams celebrated their second victory of the season in the 2021 European Le Mans Series against strong competition. The highlights of the second 2021 ELMS round, which started in sunshine and ended in rain. Delétraz's advance to the top is as of [...]
The highlights of the second ELMS round of 2021, which started in sunshine and ended in rain. Delétraz's push to the top can be seen from 1:55.
One is aiming for the overall classification with an Oreca-Gibson V8 from the top LMP2 class in the European Le Mans Series (ELMS), the other for the LMP3 sub-classification with a Ligier-Nissan. And for both Louis Delétraz and his Geneva Canton colleague Nicolas Maulini, the still young 2021 racing season is going absolutely according to plan.
Both prevailed in the second race at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg with their respective teammates. The task was a difficult one, with a heavy downpour of rain hitting the GP circuit in Styria during the four-hour race.
From fifth on the grid to second place
After the best preliminary work by Yifei Ye and former Sauber GP driver Robert Kubica in the delicate phase of the weather change, Louis Delétraz made the second victory of the season perfect after a successful overtaking maneuver at the long leading team of G Drive Racing.
Although the Chinese driver, coached by Neel Jani and his father Mukesh, had lost a few positions in the starting scrum, after the first driver change to the Pole, Orlen Team WRT's Oreca 07-Gibson was soon in third place and, before the last refueling stop 45 minutes before the end of the race, in second.
Delétraz makes the team success perfect
After several lead changes, Louis Delétraz managed the decisive maneuver 20 minutes before the end on a wet track (see video).
The renewed 25 points for the second victory after Barcelona in April give the trio a lead of already 23 points over the first chasers.
Louis Delétraz: "The conditions were really tricky. Robert drove with slicks from the dry into the rain and I then drove with intermediates first on a drying track and then again on a wetter track towards the end. We all had good pace and made no mistakes. It was nice for me to finish the car in P1, but in the end it's a great team effort. It can continue like this."
Change of scene pays off for Maulini
The Ligier JS P320 of the Swiss-flagged Cool Racing team crossed the finish line in 16th position overall. Nicolas Maulini was also able to celebrate his second win of the season with Briton Matt Bell and German Niklas Kruetten.
The 40-year-old from Geneva, winner of the 2004 Swiss Renault Speed F2000 Trophy, is the bronze driver in the team, the other two have a silver classification. Last year, Maulini captured third overall in the Michelin Le Mans Cup for LMP3 drivers and switched to the ELMS, the highest rated for amateurs and semi-professionals, for 2021 with team runner-up Cool Racing.
His LMP2 car, manned by Franco-Swiss professional Nicolas Lapierre and Genevese Antonin Borga and Alexandre Coigny, brought Cool Racing to the finish in tenth position.
Bitter end for Rahel Frey
That this is not a matter of course despite all the caution in the treacherous conditions had to be experienced by Rahel Frey as the final runner in the Ferrari 488 GTE. The professional driver from Solothurn slid into the gravel bed at the end of the four hours with the chequered flag in sight.
Instead of a well-deserved fourth place in the LM-GTE, the all-female Iron Lynx team got a zero for retirement. There's no question that Rahel was heartbroken - because she has often proven that she can do better and bring top results in the dry.
