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Le Mans / ALMS
ELMS: TDS Oreca-Nissan Wins At Paul Ricard
Mathias Beche, Pierre Thiriet score top honors in European Le Mans Series season-opening Six Hours of Le Castellet...
TDS Racing scored top honors in Sunday's European Le Mans Series season-opener at Paul Ricard. (Photo: DPPI/ELMS)
TDS Racing kicked off the new-look European Le Mans Series in dominant fashion, winning Sunday's Six Hours of Le Castellet.
The No. 46 Oreca 03 Nissan of Pierre Thiriet and pole-sitter Mathias Beche took a one-lap victory over the newly formed Sebastien Loeb Racing team, giving the Oreca-Nissan package a 1-2 finish in the ELMS season-opener.
Beche and Thiriet didn't have clear sailing throughout the six-hour enduro, though, as the No. 41 Greaves Motorsport Zytek Z11SN of Tom Kimber-Smith, Lucas Ordonez and Alex Brundle also enjoyed time out front until falling back in the fifth hour after suffering bodywork damage and a subsequent two-minute penalty for a pit lane infraction.
It promoted Loeb Racing's Stephane Sarrazin, Nic Minassian and Nicolas Marroc to a runner-up finish, ahead of the No. 17 Status GP Lola B12/80 Judd of Yelmer Buurman, Dean Stirling and Alexander Sims in third, which led early on.
“I made a good start but then I was surprised to see the light going from red to blank and I lost my lead," Beche said. "I did my best to stay in contact with the Status GP Lola, which had a higher top speed, so I wasn’t able to pass it on the straight."
Sims held off a hard-charging Greaves Zytek of Brundle for the final podium position, with the second-generation driver coming within 11 seconds of the Lola after rebounding from the late penalty.
JMW Motorsport capitalized on fuel strategy to claim back-to-back GTE-Pro class victories at Paul Ricard.
Jonny Cocker edged his No. 66 Ferrari F458 Italia across the line 1.07 seconds ahead of the No. 83 JMB Racing Ferrari of Jaime Melo, who was forced to make a late-race splash and dash and relinquish the top spot.
It marked Cocker's first class victory in his debut with co-driver James Walker.
“Over the last three laps we knew that the gap to Melo‐Frezza was tiny," Walker said. "I’d like to thank the Dunlop tires that played a major role in our race strategy and in our victory today.”
Melo and Marco Freeza, a late entry to this wekeend's 21-car field, settled for second after leading the majority of the race.
In GTE-Am, Marc Goossens and Maxime Soulet steered their Prospeed Competition Porsche 911 GT3 RSR to the class victory, despite losing power steering midway through the race, while Curtis Racing Technology grabbed top honors in LMPC.
“We started off with a good scrap with the GTE-Pros," Goossens said. "Unfortunately, we had a voltage problem in the battery that deprived us of our power steering for 75 percent of the race and made driving in traffic very difficult."
Eighteen cars were classified at the finish.
RESULTS: Six Hours of Le Castellet
John Dagys is SPEED.com’s Sportscar Racing Reporter, focusing on all major domestic and international championships. You can follow him on Twitter @johndagys or email him at
The No. 46 Oreca 03 Nissan of Pierre Thiriet and pole-sitter Mathias Beche took a one-lap victory over the newly formed Sebastien Loeb Racing team, giving the Oreca-Nissan package a 1-2 finish in the ELMS season-opener.
Beche and Thiriet didn't have clear sailing throughout the six-hour enduro, though, as the No. 41 Greaves Motorsport Zytek Z11SN of Tom Kimber-Smith, Lucas Ordonez and Alex Brundle also enjoyed time out front until falling back in the fifth hour after suffering bodywork damage and a subsequent two-minute penalty for a pit lane infraction.
It promoted Loeb Racing's Stephane Sarrazin, Nic Minassian and Nicolas Marroc to a runner-up finish, ahead of the No. 17 Status GP Lola B12/80 Judd of Yelmer Buurman, Dean Stirling and Alexander Sims in third, which led early on.
“I made a good start but then I was surprised to see the light going from red to blank and I lost my lead," Beche said. "I did my best to stay in contact with the Status GP Lola, which had a higher top speed, so I wasn’t able to pass it on the straight."
Sims held off a hard-charging Greaves Zytek of Brundle for the final podium position, with the second-generation driver coming within 11 seconds of the Lola after rebounding from the late penalty.
JMW Motorsport capitalized on fuel strategy to claim back-to-back GTE-Pro class victories at Paul Ricard.
Jonny Cocker edged his No. 66 Ferrari F458 Italia across the line 1.07 seconds ahead of the No. 83 JMB Racing Ferrari of Jaime Melo, who was forced to make a late-race splash and dash and relinquish the top spot.
It marked Cocker's first class victory in his debut with co-driver James Walker.
“Over the last three laps we knew that the gap to Melo‐Frezza was tiny," Walker said. "I’d like to thank the Dunlop tires that played a major role in our race strategy and in our victory today.”
Melo and Marco Freeza, a late entry to this wekeend's 21-car field, settled for second after leading the majority of the race.
In GTE-Am, Marc Goossens and Maxime Soulet steered their Prospeed Competition Porsche 911 GT3 RSR to the class victory, despite losing power steering midway through the race, while Curtis Racing Technology grabbed top honors in LMPC.
“We started off with a good scrap with the GTE-Pros," Goossens said. "Unfortunately, we had a voltage problem in the battery that deprived us of our power steering for 75 percent of the race and made driving in traffic very difficult."
Eighteen cars were classified at the finish.
RESULTS: Six Hours of Le Castellet
John Dagys is SPEED.com’s Sportscar Racing Reporter, focusing on all major domestic and international championships. You can follow him on Twitter @johndagys or email him at
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