The no37 Cool Racing Ligier of Antoine Doquin and Josh Skelton finally stood on the top step of the Michelin Le Mans Cup podium after two pole positions in the opening two rounds of the season didn’t end up in the winner’s circle.
The young Anglo-French duo, with a combined age of just 36 years, dominated the race from the start, with Skelton crossing the finish line 34 seconds ahead of teammate Matt Bell in the no69 Cool Racing Ligier-Nissan and a further 5 seconds ahead of the third placed no11 WTM Powered by Phoenix Duqueine of Leonard Weiss.
The race started later than planned and with an 18h00 noise curfew at Spa the race was likely to be cut short.At the first corner the no5 Phoenix Racing Ligier of Hamza Owega, which had started on pole position, and the no11 WTM Powered by Phoenix Duqueine of Thorsten Krantz were fighting for the lead of the race.The no37 Ligier of Antoine Doquin saw his opportunity and took it to take the lead as they headed down to Eau Rouge for the first time, with the no11 Duqueine in second and the no5 Ligier in third.
There was chaos in the mid field as several cars tripped over each other at La Source with the no32 United Autosports Ligier, the no30 Frikadelli Racing Team Ligier and the no77 Team Thor Ligier all losing places.There was another spin on the opening lap for Daniel Schneider in the no32 Ligier.
Back at the front the no66 Rinaldi Racing Duqueine of Alexander Mattschull was moving up the order and overtook the no5 Phoenix Racing Ligier for third on lap 5.
Doquin was moving ahead of the chasing pack and by lap 10 was 5.3 seconds ahead of the no11 WTM Powered by Phoenix Duqueine while Alexander Mattschull was holding off a determined challenge from a resurgent Hamza Owega in the no5 Phoenix Racing Ligier.
At 50 minutes of the race gone a Full Course Yellow period was declared to recover the stricken no18 Muehlner Motorsport Duqueine of Andres Latorre, the Australian stuck against the barriers at T13 after going across the track.The timing allowed the leading cars to perform their first mandatory pitstop and get back on track with the second drivers at the wheel.After six minutes under FCY the race went back to green.
On lap 24 there was contact on the run up to Raidillon between no12 Black Falcon Ligier of Donar Munding and the no20 Grainmarket Racing Duqueine of Alex Mortimer, which saw both cars spinning off at speed but luckily missing the barriers at this high speed corner.Mortimer was later served a drive through penalty for causing the contact.
The no32 United Autosports Ligier ended up in the gravel after contact with the no66 Rinaldi Racing Duqueine. Andy Meyrick couldn’t extract the car and the second FCY period was declared.Nicolas Varrone in the no66 Duqueine was later given a drive through penalty for causing that incident but not before the no69 Cool Racing Ligier of Matt Bell had passed the Argentine driver for third place.
After the race went green again, Bell was 15 seconds behind the second placed no11 Duqueine, which now had Leonard Weiss behind the wheel. But the British driver started to close the gap, setting the fastest lap of the race on Lap 31.
The no16 Team Virage Ligier of Sacha Lehmann was the next casualty as the rear suspension collapsed at the start of the lap, forcing Lehmann to complete a while 7km loop to get back to the pits with smoke pouring from the rear of the car.The French driver got back to the pits only to discover he had to retire.
Josh Skelton was holding a 30 second lead over Leonard Weiss, the German driver watching the gap to Matt Bell close at an alarming rate.With 20 minutes left on the clock the two cars were side by side into La Source and on the run down to Eau Rouge.It looked like both drivers were going to keep their foot down, but Weiss gave way and Bell took second place.
The final pitstops then started with 18 minutes left on the clock, with the leaders coming in five minutes later.
After the final stops had been completed the Last Lap board was shown and the chequered flag came out to declare the no37 Cool Racing Ligier the winners of the Spa-Francorchamps Round of the 2021 Michelin le Mans Cup.
The no69 Ligier and the no11 Duqueine claimed the other podium positions, with the pole position holders Hamza Owega and Finn Gehrsitz finishing 4th, just 1.6 seconds off the podium.Championship leaders Colin Noble and Tony Wells finished 5thin the no7 Nielsen Racing Ligier to extend their championship lead to 11 points over the 6thplaced no66 Rinaldi Racing Duqueine heading into the final race of the season in Portimão next month.
CLICK HERE for the result from the race at Spa-Francorchamps, Round 5 of the 2021 Michelin Le Mans Cup
