ELMS 4Hrs Mugello
D.Tolson and Sons athlete, Jonny Edgar and his AO Racing by TF Sport team extended their championship advantage with a top 5 finish in the penultimate round of the European Le Mans Series at Mugello.
Following an impressive run of 3 consecutive podium appearances, including a win last time out in Spa-Francorchamps, the aim for Jonny and his teammates was to keep their momentum and try to extend their championship lead, as coming into the 5th round of the season, the crew were only 2 points ahead of their nearest rivals.
A drama-free testing session put the #14 Oreca in a competitive position, and the team subsequently set the 4th fastest time in Friday’s FP1 session. Heading into qualifying, the team were confident of a strong showing, and following another productive practice session in the morning, Jonny’s teammate and 2023 FIA World Endurance Champion in LMP2, Louis Deletraz took the reins of their Oreca for the 15 minute session. The team decided to use just one set of tyres, prioritising the race over qualifying, but Louis put in a great performance meaning Jonny would take the start on Sunday from 6th position.
The Motorsport UK Academy Team UK racer once again proved his racecraft and his calm composure behind the wheel helped him to navigate the start successfully and keep the car out of trouble. Jonny maintained his position in the opening stages but only 20 minutes later a safety car neutralised the race. Once underway again, Jonny continued to lap consistently and keep the car within the top 10 during his stint. After 1 hour and 18 minutes of driving Jonny handed the car over to Robert Kubica from 4th place, during a pit stop cycle. Unfortunately, upon rejoining the track, Kubica made contact with the Iron Lynx #9 machine and had a brief spin, dropping him down the order. However, he was soon back up to racing speed.
With 1 hour and 40 minutes to go, the red flag was brought out following a massive accident for an LMGT3 Porsche which neutralised the race for a significant amount of time. Kubica restarted in 7th, after having made up some ground following his spin, and immediately got to work pouncing on the cars in front to move up to 5th position. The safety car would make one more appearance shortly after, but Kubica kept the car out of trouble, as did Deletraz, who then brought the car home in a solid 5th place, having run as high as 4th during the closing stages of the race.
Jonny: “The race was quite challenging in the end with the safety car interventions and clearly we didn’t quite have the speed to challenge at the very front of the field but nevertheless the team did a great job as always and the car did feel good over the weekend. A fifth place finish is still a very respectable result and it helps that we’ve now extended our lead in the championship heading to the final round in Portugal.”
By securing 10 valuable championship points with their 5th place finish and outscoring their nearest championship rivals, Jonny and his team enter the season finale 6 points ahead of the #43 Inter Europol Competition team and have their sights firmly set on claiming the 2024 ELMS title in LMP2. The title decider will be broadcast live on the ELMS YouTube channel on 19th October.
© Photography: AO Racing by TF Sport