24h Le Mans
This coming weekend, the European Le Mans Series competitors will be at Spa-Francorchamps for the second round of the 2017 season set to take place under sunny skies despite the region's reputation for unpredictable weather.
Weather uncertainty is a part of the enigma that is Spa-Francorchamps, but this time the 35 cars on the starting grid should be competing in favorable conditions, good news for the often large crowds of spectators in Belgium.
There are no notable changes relative to the teams, but the same cannot be said for the driver line-ups, though some modifications were announced quite some time ago, such as the return of Rio Hirakawa in G-Drive Racing's ORECA. After remaining in his country, the Japanese driver was replaced by Nicolas Minassian at the two previous rounds of the season. Additionally, Olivier Pla has been replaced by Paul-Loup Chatin at the wheel of IDEC Sport Racing's Ligier, and Eric Trouillet's spot will be taken by Jonathan Hirschi, sixth in the LMP2 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with CEFC Manor TRS Racing.
In LMP3, the BySpeed Factory trio will become a duo with Tim Müller and Jürgen Krebs, and M. Racing-YMR's #19 Norma will be driven by Yann Ehrlacher - the nephew of previous World Touring Car Champion (WTCC) Yvan Muller - will be joined by Australian driver Neal Muston.
The action on the track will kick off on Friday with the now traditional session reserved for Bronze drivers (basically newcomers), followed by the first 90-minute free practice at 3:20 p.m. local time. The drivers will hit the track again the next day for a second free practice at 9:55 a.m. before heading into - just after the pitwalk during which spectators can access pit lane from 12:30 p.m. to 1:20 p.m. - a 12-minute qualifying session (instead of the typical 10) at 1:35 p.m.
Entrance is free of charge, and fans will once again be able to rub elbows with their favorite drivers and teams on Sunday morning starting at 9:15 a.m. during the 55-minute pitwalk. Major players in the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) will be available to sign autographs (9:25 a.m. to 9:55 a.m.) before the starting grid for the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps set to start at noon local time on Sunday, September 24th.
PHOTO (Copyright - Gabi Tomescu/AdrenalMedia.com/ELMS): Aerial view of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit during the 2016 ELMS round.
