The circuit

The Autodromo Nazionale Monza is gearing up to host the second round of the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) on Sunday, May 13th. It is one of the most famous circuits in the world, as well as the second oldest still in use today, after Indianapolis. The circuit measures 5.793 km and is known to be extremely fast. Last year, Memo Rojas was clocked going 313 km/h at the wheel of G-Drive Racing's ORECA 07-Gibson!

Last year's winners

The top step on the podium at the 2017 4 Hours of Monza was claimed by G-Drive Racing's #22 ORECA 07-Gibson driven by Léo Roussel, Memo Rojas and Ryo Hirakawa. Yvan Muller Racing's #19 Norma M30-Nissan won the LMP3 class, and JMW Motorsport gave the Ferrari 458 Italia the final victory of its career, in LMGTE, and in Italy on top of that.

Entries

LMP2: Dallara with the home field advantage

Forty-three cars will compete at the 4 Hours of Monza (two less than in France) in a country where the tifosi (fans) will only have eyes for Dallara (three cars), the transalpine LMP2 chassis constructor, namely Ferraris! 

In LMP2, Spanish team Racing Engineering and its #25 ORECA 07-Gibson (Norman Nato, Olivier Pla and Paul Petit) will take the start in the lead of the championship thanks to its win at Le Castellet a month ago.

There will be a few notable driver changes compared to the first round of the season. Filipe Albuquerque will return at the wheel of United Autosports' #22 Ligier JS P217 (Bruno Senna replaced him at Le Castellet). As announced, Felipe Nasr will make his debut sharing Cetilar Villorba Corse's #47 Dallara P217-Gibson with Italian drivers Roberto Lacorte and Giorgio Sernagiotto before taking on the 24 Hours of Le Mans (June 16-17).

Signatech Alpine Matmut (Alpine A470) will not be participating in this race. After TDS Racing's (#28 ORECA 07-Gibson) second place finish at Le Castellet, once again the team will participate in this round with 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Loïc Duval, sharing the wheel with Matthieu Vaxivière and François Perrodo.

LMP3: one additional car

At the first race of the ELMS season, victory went to RLR MSport's #15 Ligier JS P3-Nissan shared by Job van Uitert, John Farano and Rob Garofall. The starting grid at Monza will see the arrival of Racing Team Poland's Ligier JS P3 driven by Alex Fontana, Henning Enqvist and Tomasz Blicharski.

LMGTE: a previous 24 Hours of Le Mans winner joins Porsche's ranks

Ferrari and Porsche will be equally represented in the LMGTE class by three 488 GTEs and three 911 RSRs. The winner last year, British team JMW Motorsport will attempt a repeat, especially after its victory over Proton Competition's #88 Porsche 911 RSR in the last lap at Le Castellet.

A couple of notable changes in the class: at the wheel of Proton Competition's #88 Porsche 911 RSR, none other than official Porsche GT Team driver in the World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC), Gianmaria Bruni, forming a 100% Italian driver line-up with the son/father duo of Gianluca and Giorgio Roda. In the German team's other car, the #77, Christian Ried will join forces with Marvin Dienst and 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Marc Lieb!

ENTRY LIST

Program:

Free Practice 1: Friday, May 11 at 11:45 a.m. (90 minutes)

Group Test – Bronze Drivers: Friday, May 11 at 4:15 p.m. (30 minutes)

Free Practice 2: Saturday, May 12 at 9:15 a.m. (90 minutes)

Qualifying – LMGTE: Saturday, May 12 at 1:40 p.m. (10 minutes)

Qualifying – LMP3: Saturday, May 12 at 2:00 p.m. (10 minutes)

Qualifying – LMP2: Saturday, May 12 at 2:20 p.m. (10 minutes)

Race: Sunday, May 13 at 12:30 p.m. (4 hours)

NOTE: All times are local. One hour earlier in the U.K.

 

PHOTO (Copyright - MPS Agency): Cetilar Villorba Corse's #47 Dallara P217-Gibson will be competing on its home turf this weekend! 

VIDEO: YouTube - ELMS Official