With the summer break in full flow and the Michelin Le Mans Cup teams and drivers enjoying a well-earned break before the next round at Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday 24 September we will take a look back at the season so far in LMP3.
PODIUM FINISHES
Ten different cars have finished in a podium position in the first five races of the 2022 season run so far.
The championship leading no10 Racing Spirit of Leman Ligier of Tom Dillman and Alexander Mattschull has finished on the podium four times from five starts, including three wins at Le Castellet, Road to Le Mans and Imola.
Cool Racing have taken two wins with different cars this season, with Malthe Jakobsen and Maurice Smith winning for the Swiss team at Imola. Cool Racing also claimed victory in race 2 at Le Mans with Duncan Tappy and Michael Benham but this was not a full season entry car.The 15 points for the win went to Freddie Hunt and Mads Siljehaug, who crossed the line in second place on the road, a few hours before the 90thedition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The no29 MV2S Forestier Racing Ligier of Jerome De Sadeleer and Louis Rousset have taken two second place finishes at Le Castellet and Monza and are currently lying in second place in the championship standings.The no23 United Autosports and no43 Racing Spirit of Leman have taken a second-place finish apiece, with the no43 Ligier also finishing third at Monza last time out.
The no7 Nielsen Racing, no53 RLR MSport and no22 United Autosport Ligiers have all scored one third place finish each at Le Mans (race 1), Le Castellet and Imola respectively.
POLE POSITIONS
Four different drivers have scored a pole position in 2022.Torsten Kratz is the only driver to have taken two pole positions this season, the German putting the no11 WTM Racing Duqueine at the front of the grid at Le Castellet and for Race 2 at Le Mans.
The pole in at Imola was claimed by Jerome de Sadeleer for MV2S Forestier Racing.For Road to Le Mans race 1 it was the pro drivers who competed for the top spot, and this was claimed by two-time MLMC champion Laurents Hörr for DKR Engineering.Freddie Hunt continued his good run of form after winning at Le Mans to claim pole at Monza.
FASTEST LAPS
The fastest laps in the five races have been set by three drivers with Laurents Hörr setting the fastest race lap times at Le Castellet, Imola and Monza, including a new lap record of 1m38.235 (179.9kph) at Imola.
Daniel Keilwitz set the fastest lap in the first Road to Le Mans race of 3m52.339 in the no66 Rinaldi Racing Ligier.In race 2 Malthe Jakobsen set a 3m46.938 lap around La Sarthe, just 0.564 seconds off the RTLM lap record.
RACE DISTANCES
Race 1: Le Castellet (5.773km) – 1 hour 50 minutes
Race 2: Imola (4.909km) – 1 hour 50 minutes
Race 3: Road to Le Mans 1 (13.626km) – 55 minutes
Race 4: Road to Le Mans 2 (13.626km) – 55 minutes
Race 5: Monza (5.793km) - 1 hour 50 minutes
The total distance covered by all competitors during the first five races of the 2022 Michelin Le Mans Cup is 33,033.70km
CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS
The no10 Racing Spirit of Leman Ligier is currently holding a 33-point advantage at the top of the table with 74 points, with the no29 MV2S Forestier Racing Ligier in second on 41 and the no69 Cool Racing Ligier and no11 WTM Racing Duqueine tied on 31 points in third and fourth respectively.
CLICK HERE to see the championship positions after Race 5 of the 2022 Michelin Le Mans Cup.
The next round of the series will be at Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday 24 September.
