ELMS 4H Spa

D.Tolson and Sons supported athlete, Jonny Edgar and his AO Racing by TF Sport team secured a spectacular win in the 4 Hours of Spa and took the lead of the championship.

Jonny and his teammates, Louis Deletraz and Robert Kubica came into the weekend motivated to make it a hat-trick of visits to the podium following impressive performances at Paul Ricard and Imola. The collective test sessions took place on Wednesday, enabling Jonny and his teammates to get their Oreca LMP2 machine dialed into the long and fast Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

Following two more drama free practice sessions for Jonny and the #14 crew on Friday and Saturday morning, the team moved onto qualifying on Saturday afternoon with high hopes. Jonny’s teammate and reigning WEC LMP2 champion, Louis Delétraz was elected to qualify the car and secured the team’s first outright pole position of the season.

For the second time this year, Jonny was given the honour of taking the start of the race and made a fantastic get away to cover off any potential threat from the chasing pack, lead by the #65 Panis Racing and the #43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca. However, it only took 15 minutes for the first of four safety car appearances to bunch up the field again. Once the action resumed Jonny had no problem in keeping the lead and he kept his nose clean to hand the car over to former Formula 1 Grand Prix winner, Robert Kubica. Robert and Louis then avoided any chaos during their stints and successfully fended off the challenge from the #43 machine to win the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. The result meant that Cumbria’s finest and his AO Racing by TF Sport team and made it a hat-trick of podium finishes.

Jonny: “I made a good start, I was a bit worried about the cold tyres on the start but it was all okay. In one of the pit stops we got jumped by the Inter Europol car but we had a different strategy and it put us in a better position in the end but yeah it was crazy all the safety car interruptions we had and it was difficult to warm the tyres up again and get them ready to go. I am very happy with the result today though, the team did an amazing job as it was very close between us and the #43 car and my teammates did an amazing job as always.”

The result means the AO Racing by TF Sport team are now the overall championship leaders, with just two rounds left. Jonny Edgar and his teammates have a two point margin over their nearest rivals from Inter Europol Competition. Round 5 of the season will see the team return to Italy, to the iconic Mugello circuit in Tuscany on the 29th September. One week prior to the resumption of the ELMS, Jonny will be back with the Sean Creech Motorsport team for the Battle on The Bricks in Indianapolis, at the fourth round of IMSA’s Endurance Cup (22nd September). Both races can be live streamed on YouTube via their respective championship channels.

© Photography: AO Racing by TF Sport