The top step of both the LMP3 and GT3 podiums were filled by British teams and British drivers as the no79 Nielsen Racing Ligier of Tony Wells and Colin Noble secured victory in LMP3 at Monza while the no7 Mercedes AMG of Lee Mowle and Phil Keen won the GT3 class when the leading Optimum Racing Audi was handed a penalty for a pitstop infringement six minutes before the chequered flag.
The start of the race was under blue skies, the sun shining and an air temperature of 24 degrees.
The race got underway but a safety car was deployed when the no43 KEO Racing Ligier of Mori Yoshiharu collided with the no5 RAM Racing Mercedes of Ramon Vos, the LMP3 car stopped on track and the Mercedes made it back to the pits but was retired with damage to the rear left part of the car.
At the restart the no3 DKR Engineering Norma of Jean Glorieux led from the no79 Ligier of Tony Wells.
Flick Haigh took the lead in the no75 Optimum Racing Audi to lead GT3 from the no46 Ebimotors Lamborghini.
The no22 United Autosports Ligier of James McGuire joined two laps down after suffering a fuel leak before the start.
The no14 RLR M Sport Ligier of Alex Kapadia moved swiftly up the order from 14th on the grid and was second by lap 12 and challenging the no3 DKR Engineering Ligier for the lead.
The no46 Ebimotors Lamborghini made an unscheduled pitstop to replace a suspected slow puncture.
After the pitstops the no75 Optimum Racing Audi had a healthy 20 second lead over Phil Keen in the no7 Lee Mowle Mercedes and Fabio Babini in the no46 Ebimotors Huracan.
The no79 Nielsen Racing Ligier of Colin Noble had a good lead over the no3 DKR Engineering Norma of Alex Toril but Toril was catching up, setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 53 with a 1m47.029
With 20 minutes of the race remaining the no3 DKR Engineering Norma is given a drive through penalty for speeding in the pitlane followed by a further stop-go penalty because the engine was started using an external source during the mandatory pitstop. Alex Toril rejoined the track after serving both penalties still in second place.
The no75 Audi of Joe Osborne was holding an 17 second lead to Phil Keen in the no7 Mercedes, with Fabio Babini in the no46 Lamborghini challenging for second place.
The no75 Audi is handed a drive through penalty for a pitstop infringement with six minutes remaining on the clock. Osborne serves the penalty and rejoins in third place behind the no7 Mercedes and the no46 Lamborghini.
The chequered flag is shown to Colin Noble in the no79 Nielsen Racing Ligier, the Scot slowing to take the chequered flag as the clock hit zero so he didn’t have to do another lap.
The no3 DKR Engineering Norma M30 finishes second, Alex Torvil taking the chequered flag 52 second behind the lead car.
The no55 Spirit of Race Ligier Nissan of Claudio Sdanewitsch and Maurizio Mediani take the final LMP3 podium place.
.jpg)
The no7 Lee Mowle Mercedes of Phil Keen takes the chequered flag to win by just two seconds from the no46 Ebimotors Lamborghini of Fabio Babini.
However the no46 Ebimotors Lamborghini was given a 41 second penalty because the pitstop time was 1m54.039 instead of the required 2 minutes (Stewards Decision 14). This dropped the Lamborghini down to third behind the no75 Optimum Racing Audi R8.
CLICK HERE for the result from Round 1 of the 2017 Michelin Le Mans Cup
