Ginetta Chairman Lawrence Tomlinson claimed class honours in the G57-P2’s inaugural PFV season with the #57 car. He secured more victories than any other car in 2016, with four wins in seven rounds, plus pole position at six of the seven events.

For 2017, three cars head to the season opener, with Pegasus Racing and Simpson Motorsport each bringing a three driver team. Ginetta Factory Driver and last year’s PFV vice-champion Mike Simpson heads up a three driver line-up in the first Pegasus Racing car.

He will be joined by Neale Muston, who raced a Ginetta prototype in the Asian Le Mans Series, and Jordan Sanders, who raced the G57-P2 in last year’s V de V Championship at Mugello, Magny Cours and Estoril. Sanders also represents the first entry from the Ginetta Young Driver Programme.

The second Pegasus Racing entry features an all-French driver line up. Heading the entry is long-time customer Julian Schell, who raced as part of the team’s LMP2 programme in ELMS since 2014. Schell will be joined by Léo Roussel, who became the youngest Frenchman to have ever competed in the Le Mans 24 Hour when he was just 18. Completing the line-up is Stéphane Raffin, who raced as part of the V de V Endurance Proto series last season.

Simpson Racing returns to V de V with a single G57-P2 entry for the opening round. On driving duties is Charlie Robertson, whose entry into V de V last season saw him take a pair of class wins. Completing the line-up is former Ginetta Junior racer Sennan Fielding, and one other driver who is yet to be announced.

Neale Muston, driver; “The V de V category is an affordable yet highly competitive opportunity to race on some of the world’s best tracks with the latest in car technology and performance. Barcelona is a venue I have aimed to race at for many years and I am very much looking forward to the weekend.”

Jordan Sanders, driver; “I’m massively excited to be working with Pegasus Racing this year. They have competed at Le Mans four times and have won V de V before so I am confident we will get some good results. Driving with Mike and Neale gives us a strong driver line-up and I believe that we can get a podium to kick start the 2017 season!”

In the wake of a strong showing at the Thunderhill 25 Hours and the inaugural rounds of the Creventic Prototype series at Dubai, five of the eight cars which competed in the Middle East have been sold overseas, with a number of additional new car orders placed.

Adolpho Rossi – who already has one G57-P2 to his name – adds a brand new Ginetta prototype to his sizeable collection of G40, G50 and G55’s which his Ginetta USA team will race as part of the USA’s FARA series.

Heading to the same region is a car for Steve Cox. His G57-P2 will land in Florida in the next few weeks and he’ll be participating in a variety of races and track day events. In addition, his car will be available for interested buyers to test through Chris Hall.

A third G57-P2 is already headed to California and new customer Jon Van Canegham, who is tilted to race as part of the NASA series. Having been bit by the G57-P2 bug during his entry into the Thunderhill 25 hours with Ryno Racing, a brand new G57-P2 will be raced by Ethan Stone in the North California region, with appearances at Sonoma and Thunderhill.

Oliver Lee will import a car to Hong Kong where he’ll use it as a track day toy for himself and interested parties. Meanwhile, two cars head to South Africa with a likely entry into the South African Endurance series with two more cars headed to France for an ‘experience day’ business.

In addition, at least three G57-P2’s will feature in the opening round of the V de V Championship at Barcelona on 17 – 19 March. Pegasus Racing adds a second car to their previously announced entry, whilst Simpson Racing will return with their 2016 car.

Daniel Gibson, son of Paul Gibson, is one of the key figures in the chart of Gibson Motorsport, at once stable and manufacturer specializing in the development of prototypes. Having won many titles with their various cars in recent years, the company decided to focus on new projects, first GH-19 in 2014, and GH-20, approved by CN since 2016 .

Daniel, who is the man behind the name Gibson Motorsport and when she has company founded?

Daniel Gibson: My father Paul started racing in 1977 in the Clubmans series (reserved for prototype engines before) and then F2. He designed his first car in 1981, called Vision, which met with great success in the UK. He has subsequently designed many other cars. Exactly 20, which is why our latest creation was called GH-20.

What convinced Gibson Motorsport to develop a prototype CN?

With our experience of sports-prototypes acquired in Britain, the logical consequence was to join the European level. The logical choice was therefore the CN, to evolve in V de V Endurance Series where we could find a close friend, Robert Bicknell, who designed and runs its own CN (the Bicknell PS7) V V early 2000s with great success, too. He suggested this series, citing its excellent relations with the organizers of V V.

Tell us about the process of design and development of the new GH-20.

GH-19 was not approved by the FIA ​​as CN because of the absence of a metal structure at the front. At the moment of conception, we knew that a non-metallic structure would be an advantage, similar to the LM P2, but it did not meet the CN regulation. So the GH-20 is a profound change in the GH-19, which was able, in good hands, to fight for the victory in the European series, and make great lap in qualifying, as we were able to testify at the meeting of V V in Estoril in 2014. we just had to be approved by CN to score points. GH-20 was designed with the philosophy of a car for production, and to achieve this, we know what we need to improve.

What comparisons can be done with the GH-19?

They are visually very similar, but a trained eye can detect differences. The main changes in the hoop effect at the front and back, but also the area which covers the dampers. The latter was thought to facilitate change of the mechanical elements of the trains before. Under the body, although the locations are respected, it only shares some components with its predecessor. The front adopts such a third mechanical component driven by the anti-roll bar, while it was previously hydraulically. The grip on the front wheels is thus higher at low speeds in the hairpins, which was the low point of the previous. The team finally has designed its own system EPAS (electric steering assistance) because the high levels of support tire very quickly pilots.

Have you solved the problems inherent to the Honda engine vibrations, and what are the strengths of the GH-20?

The previous car was not suffering too much vibration, even though I was not very serene below 3500 rev / min! One of the areas that required improvement on the GH-19 was on the primary exhaust, which tended broke at its base, but also on the alternator. The latter is now set on vibration mounts and has so far suffered any technical failure. The exhaust has also been modified and the results are equally satisfactory.

What was, however, most notably with the GH-19 was the high speed grip compared to its competitors. GH-20 broadly shares the same aero platform and I think we could be to our advantage especially on tracks like Dijon.

Will you just find the gates of the V de V this year?

I‘d love that Gibson GH-20 short in the European Challenge Endurance Proto, but this requires a second pilot to share the driving with me. If we could find one, or two, we would come, for sure.

What is your view on CN tray proposed by V de V Sports? You he motivates find this competition?

This tray is extremely competitive, and the valuable teams. I think of TFT. I am confident we have a car capable of meeting the challenge of competition. I hope we can prove it in 2017!.

As announced, French Endurance World Champion and winner of the last 24 Hours of Le Mans with Porsche LMP1, Romain Dumas was the very first driver to take the wheel and he completed the very first tests of the Norma M30 LMP3. These ended up being very successful and clearly responding to the ambitious requirements of Norbert Santos (Norma Auto Concept Founder) and his team.

A first Norma M30 LMP3 was sent to Florida (USA), where it will prepare Sebring on different racetracks. Within a few days, additional other Norma M30 will be delivered to the teams preparing European venues, such as VdeV Championship and European Le Mans Series (ELMS).

Norbert Santos was happy and proud to see his “baby” on track:

Hi Norbert, so that’s it, the NormaM30 was finally born. Are you happy?

Most of all I am proud of the full Norma team that worked so hard in the last months and also happy for our partners who are engaged in that great project from the beginning.

You had said that the car was supposed to be finished at the end of 2016, but it came first on track last week. Why was it delayed?

When you build a brand new car from scratch, you have to be precautionary and respect the objectives of quality you have set to start with. Ours were very important. Yes, we are a little late compared to our initial calendar, but we did respect our ambitious objectives… At Norma Auto Concept, we have always privileged quality, performance and safety to quantity of cars to be sold. It’s true, we wanted to put the car on track earlier, but our will to reach the highest level of performance and reliability and to offer a car that rapidity suits the exigencies of the teams was stronger. Romain Dumas completed the first test sessions, and it clearly looks like we are on the right path to obtain competitiveness and consistency, thus matching our goals, in the very near future.

The first official competitions in which the Norma M30 LMP3 will race, are not long away, and the teams announced to run a Norma, still don’t have their car. You must have a huge pressure from them…

To be honest, this situation is not very comfortable for sure, and we work hard to deliver the cars that have been ordered as soon as possible. It was very important for us to validate the results of our work on the car, before we would deliver any car to any team. This is now done, and we are entering a new challenge for the Norma team as well as for our suppliers and sub-contractors. On the other hand it is also a new challenge for the teams that have trusted us in the past months; they were present even if the car did not exist yet. We really respect their attention and their patience, as we know, this time of the year is stressful for them too. At the same time, we are now sure that the Norma M30 will respond to their expectations. One car is already in Florida, USA, to prepare the IMSA Championship. The other M30s will be delivered in the coming weeks; we have been paying attention to the different calendars of course. Be sure, we do our best!

What are your production objectives for the coming months?

As of today, we have more requirements than that what we can produce in the short term. Our priority is therefore to deliver the cars that have been ordered first, of course, for now we have more than ten cars to deliver before the end of April. Since the M30 was on track last week, we have confirmed a lot of orders, but we also had new requests. We will have to deal with this with a great attention, but at the same time since we announced the M30, we have built our production team to respond to this future demand. At the end of the day, our goal is to see the Norma M30 on the podiums in all the championships and on all the continents.

Don’t forget we also built the Norma M20FC for the CN races, and our car has been the great reference in this category for quite a few years now. We are also very much involved in the building of this exceptionally competitive car, several tenths of which come out of our workshops every year. It will be exactly the same in 2017.

What kind of team assistance have you set up for the LMP3 Norma M30?

In 2017 we will be on each ELMS and VdeV races with our Norma structure. For the other championships we have organised our assistance with the teams involved in order to supply a quality service, to meet customer’s expectations in the best possible conditions.

What is your main goal in 2017?

I want the Norma M30 to be competitive and win races, to become a key player and the new LMP3 reference.

Romain Dumas tested the car in France on the Nogaro and Pau racetracks in the South of France last week:

Hi Romain, what can you say after you tested the Norma M30?

These tests were great and very positives, I can’t say any other way. The car’s reliability is just exemplary and impressive. We run without any stops in order to find possible youthful mistakes. In addition, even if I knew the full project and the ambitions of Norma, I was really impressed and surprised to see the high quality of finish of the car.

And how did it feel?

I must admit again, that I was stunned! The car feels really great. The front-end of the M30 reminded me the one of the LMP2s a few years ago. It has a wonderful mechanical grip and we did not experience any traction issues, whether with new or old tires.

You are an endurance world champion and you have won Le Mans 24 Hours, this means that you have run the best endurance cars in the world. What is your feeling about being the first one to drive the brand new LMP3?

Surely I am very very happy to have been able to discover Norbert’s car. He has said so much about it, and we have talked it over and over, that I feel very close to it too. The long awaited baby (laughs) is now here and I am sure the car will have the success it deserves. You know, when a newborn car is fast from the beginning, it means everything is in the right place to succeed.

Soon the Norma M30 will meet its competitors. Do you think we will know quickly how it stands compared to the others?

Certainly the competitiveness will continue growing in the next weeks and months. Sincerely with what I have experienced these days and the on growing hard work of the Norma team and drivers, I trust the M30 will soon win races…

The Norma M30 LMP3’s first official race will take place in Sebring, Florida (USA) and soon after in Barcelona Spain on the first VdeV championship.

The atmosphere in the paddock and on track was studious and calm, as teams tested various set ups, and drivers perfected their laps on the glorious Magny-Cours circuit. Several members of the V de V family were pleased to reunite with one another and discuss their plans for this coming season. Whether in LMP3, GT, Proto CN, Funyo SP05 or F5, the year ahead looks bright for each of V de V’s championships and Inter Europol Competition look set to defend their title.

The team that assisted Polish driver Jakub Smiechowski and German driver Martin Hippe in obtaining the LMP3 championship win in 2016 were able to test and tweak their cars in ideal conditions over the two-day test, with Smiechowski and new teammate Hendrik Still in one car, and Paul Scheuschner in the other, whose teammate is soon to be revealed.

Team Visiom, equally crowned champion in last season’s European GT/Touring car/LMP/PFV Challenge never miss V de V’s traditional Winter Tests and they too made significant progress on Saturday with regards to preparations for the meeting in Catalunya in a few weeks’ time. The team and drivers Jean-Paul Pagny, Thierry Perrier and Jean-Bernard Bouvet – (read their fun-filled interview here   ) spent a great deal of time working on their Ferrari 488 GT3’s various settings while Porsche Alméras, several garages down the pit lane, focused on their Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S. Steven Palette, the team’s professional driver, was heavily relied on for feedback during these two test days, while he continued to coach teammates Pierre Martinet and Gérard Tremblay. The team also decided to run their rare Porsche 996 GT2 on Saturday, after having spent a long period of time in storage.

Several cars destined for this year’s edition of the European Proto Endurance Challenge were also present at Magny-Cours, notably CD Sport, who had drivers Gérard Faure and Kevin Bole Besançon on board their Norma M20 FC on Saturday. Daniel Bassora’s team, DB Autosport, also made an apperance, with drivers Damien Delafosse, Jarno and the boss himself present behind the wheel of one of their Norma prototypes.

The French team pulled together their forces last year and produced several impressive results between their 3 entrants. Team SRT 41 managed to take to the track at the end of the day, with the Le Mans 24 Hours hero Frédéric Sausset and loyal friend Christophe Tinseau behind the wheel of their Ligier.

In the Funyo camp, Franck Dalmasso (Fransyl Compétition), Christian Camboulive and Didier Berrezai (HMC Racing) produced several fantastic lap times – they also managed to give a few bits of advice to a Funyo novice – Eric Van de Vyver – who couldn’t resist the temptation to test one of the new SP05!

The track is now closed, but the season has begun! Rendez-vous in Barcelona on the 17th March for the first round of the year!

The former V de V champions make the step up into the G57-P2 for 2017, after witnessing an impressive debut season for the car, which saw Ginetta owner Lawrence Tomlinson take class victory. The team also intend to dovetail their V de V campaign with an entry into the Creventic 24H Proto Series.

Julien Schell; “I’m very proud to be involved in this new and exciting challenge for the team. We are all ready to fight for plenty of podiums in the V de V Championship this season with our Ginetta G57-P2.”

Nick Portlock, Ginetta Commercial Director; “We are delighted to welcome Pegasus Racing to the Ginetta family. They have an incredibly successful history in all levels of motorsport and as previous V de V class winners, we are confident the G57-P2 will put them on the top step once again.”

Founded by Claude and Julien Schell in 1998, the team has forged an illustrated history in motorsport. Starting with single seaters, which included numerous championship titles in their seven year tenure as part of the Formula Ford and Formula Renault series, the team made their Le Mans debut in 2009 with an LMP2.

In recent years, the team has entered six seasons of the European Le Mans Series (ELMS), the Shanghai round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the fabled Le Mans 24 Hours no less than four times.

A new engine… 

From 2017 the 1.6L Peugeot turbo engine, homologated by the FIA and prepared exclusively by RDM, will be accepted in the European Proto CN Endurance Challenge, offering competitors and alternative engine choice to the current Honda 2L. The goal isn’t to get rid of the Honda engine, but rather to introduce a more modern option to the field which V de V hopes will increase the level of competition. The 1.6L turbo Peugeot engine has been used for the last 3 years by competitors in the V de V Funyo Challenge – also prepared by RDM – which pollutes less than the Honda engine, despite it being just as powerful.

One more class, making four classes in total

The arrival of a new engine in the championship meant there has been a reshuffle in the class layout. Before, the CN1 class was reserved for CN prototypes built after 2010 using an aspirated engine, however from 2017, this class will be split in 2: the CNA class unites cars still choosing to run the Honda engine, whereas the CNT class will be reserved for cars using the new turbo engine.

V de V Sports equally has two other classes : the CN2 class – reserved for CN cars built before 2010, including Norma M 20 F, Ligier JS 49 (with the 2008 aerodynamic evolutions), Ligier JS 51, Juno 2009 and so on… Finally the CNF class includes CN prototypes built before 2007 (Norma M 20 & M 20 Evo, Ligier JS 49 without the 2008 aerodynamic upgrades, lesJuno SSE…) however the class is also open to Radical SR 3, SR 5, SR8 RX, Funyo 4, 6, 7 & Funyo SP05 – the elegant prototypes constructed by Yves Orhant’s company Y.O. Concept which are still faster than a Porsche Cup car!

Two constructors are back !

In 2017 we’ll see two new CN manufacturers return to the V de V starting grids – one Portuguese and one British team. Juno Racing Cars, 2007 overall champions, will return with a few “factory” run cars in order to pursue their development before they launch the new carbon chassis cars in 2018. Gibson Motorsport is the second candidate to appear in V de V this year after a brief pause, which will mark the arrival of their new and much awaited GH-20, developed over the last 2 years by a group of engineers with F1 level experience. We should have more news regarding this car this week… so hold on to your hats – war is declared in CN!

The company had been founded by Ewan Baldry, now Ginetta Technical Director after the purchase of Juno by Ginetta.

Since then, Juno has been sold by Ginetta last year in August and is now a Portuguese make, Juno Racing Cars, based in Maia, near Porto. Juno was at Birmingham early in the year for the Autosport International Show to present the Juno CN16.

So, this company is going to bring back Juno on the tracks and has plans for the future, as Nuno Magalhaes, Juno Racing Cars CEO, has told Endurance-Info.

Nuno, could you please give me some details about the car? Is it the previous model? If so, has it been upgraded and to what extent? 

Regarding overall looks, the car is essentially the same as the one that was seen on the tracks in 2015. The aerodynamics were slightly upgraded and the main difference is on the front splitter to enable the removal of the aluminium stay bars and to cope with the increase in front aerodynamic forces.  We also managed to save 5 kg with these changes.

In terms of the chassis, we are testing the usage of carbon plates on our honeycomb, and the tests are going extremely well. We should be testing them on the 3rd race of the VdeV this year.

A few other bits and pieces were upgraded, and we are pretty confident that our car is going to be on the pace with the rest of the grid.

Our plans for this year are to do only 4 races to test the new changes on the car and compare our pace with the competition. We will also be using this car for extensive testing in other circuits in Europe to prepare the engine and gearbox package for our new carbon car that should be available for purchase in the middle of 2018. 

How many Junos can we expect to see on the VdeV grids (or elsewhere) in 2017? 

We are considering the possibility of having a second factory car for the last Portuguese round of the VdeV but obviously this is still just a thought. 

We (factory team) do not have plans to race in any other championship this year. But there are Junos racing all around the world in 2017. From the top of my head, I can think of Alex Kenny and his dad in Australia, trying to get the tittle again this year; Dean McCarrol, David Glasson and John Ryall fighting for the win in New Zealand; Scott Cooper has a new car for the OSS in the UK; this is just to name a few of the people that keep driving Juno’s and winning championships all over the world.

 Have you already some ideas of the teams and of the drivers? 

In terms of drivers, we decided to look inside the Juno Racing Cars family to choose the drivers. Our Juno Agents for Australia and New Zealand, Alex Kenny and Dean McCarrol will be the main drivers of our factory team and they will team up in different rounds with drivers known to the Juno panorama like Sarah Reader (below on the Bugatti circuit in 2014), Joe Tucker, Gonçalo Araújo and others.

More pictures here

Norbert, the 2016 season has come to an end. Could you say that it was a successful season for Norma?

2016 was an exceptional year for Norma. It will go down as one of the most notable years in our history, which has gone on for over 30 years. We met and even exceeded the majority of our objectives, and for their respective disciplines, our cars continued to be very strong on every continent.

Historically, hill-climbing competitions have also played a big part in Norma’s history. With the development of Norma circuit programmes, could we say that hill-climbing has gone down to second place in the company?

Absolutely not, and that will never be the case. Hill-climb racing has been in the DNA of Norma since its creation. Not a day goes by in the workshop where the subject of “hill-climb racing” is not discussed. We continue to work hard on our programmes in this discipline and we are always aiming to strengthen Norma’s presence everywhere these races are held. We have many projects in this eld…

Italian driver Simone Faggioli has earned his ninth title as FIA European Hill Climb Champion and for the third consecutive year with his Norma car. What do you have to say about that?

Simone is a fantastic driver. I think that his fame in world car racing does not reach the level of his accomplishments. We are very proud to work with him and we will certainly be by his side in 2017 to help him earn his tenth European title.

Hill-climbing is a spectacular and extremely di icult discipline, which requires a high-performing car. And it’s for all these reasons that Norma always invests in many di erent amateur and semi-professional drivers throughout Europe that inspire our con dence. In every place where our cars have been raced this year, we have earned victories and nearly as many national titles as international ones. It’s not by accident.

You cannot truly talk about hill-climbing without talking about Pikes Peak, Romain Dumas and the second success of Norma in this event that has become legendary, and which celebrated its 100th anniversary this year.

Pikes Peak is an event unlike any other. It’s a unique event that in the media has been highlighted in the past by the presence of important car manufacturers such as Audi and Peugeot. Everyone remembers the images of Vatanen in his Peugeot 405. Today with the drive of Romain, we bring to this venture our resources, our ideas and as always, our ambition to show that our cars are successful in any circumstances. Of course, supporting a great champion like Romain is a considerable plus, but this year saw yet again the great manufacturers come with their electric prototypes. They were clearly thinking of winning the 100th race, and we won it a er many uncertain nights spent hard at work. It is enormous pleasure to share this with Romain and his team.

Could you say that Norma reached its goal at Pikes Peak?

What can I say… Yes, of course, we have won it twice. We had the second-best performance of all times behind Sébastien Loeb and his Peugeot and major logistical resources. A lot of people say that the record cannot be reached today. Perhaps that’s true. No nal decision has been made concerning our participation in 2017. It also depends a lot on what Romain wants to do, or even another Norma driver. At this stage, I can only say that we have assessed all the positions where we are likely to improve. But the road is long and nothing has been decided yet.

Circuit racing is also a eld where the Norma M20 FCs have excelled upon this season…

The M20 continues its fantastic rise through the success of the teams and drivers that have chosen it. This year, the M20 won more than 10 national titles for both sprint and endurance competitions. We are approaching 450 production units with versions adapted for di erent competitions that take place in the four corners of the world. For this year, we have won for the rst time two American championships, the NASA and the SCCA. In 2016, as it has o en happened in the past few years, we were forced to refuse sales in order to maintain the quality standards at the level we’ve set it.

How do you explain the consistency of these performances for a car that was designed several years ago?

I obviously think that the initial design of the M20 responded e ectively to the speci cations that we set for ourselves. And then each year we took into account all the comments from our clients in
order to continue developing the car and o er upgrades to improve performance. The most important for us is to o er to each team a high- performing and reliable car that does not require days and days of tests. This is the case with the M20. Today, when I look at VdeV, four, ve or even six teams are ghting for victory on each race, it’s an obvious proof that the car is quite e icient. This will be the case again in 2017, believe me.

We can clearly not talk about the 2016 season without discussing the announcement of Norma’s arrival in the LMP3 eld…

Of course. It’s a new, intense challenge that mobilizes all or part of the team to work for the past 18 months. It took us a long time to build towards our arrival in this discipline. Obviously, we would have liked to start o more quickly, given the success of the discipline, but the number of manufacturers initially limited to four forced us to be patient. Furthermore, I can only praise the work of the ACO, who understood the needs of the market. I also want to congratulate Ligier who managed to corner the important aspects of the market by responding so quickly. It was well played. Today, Norma is entering the game and will join the other manufacturers by o ering a car that we think will immediately become a contender on the starting grids in 2017.

There is quite a lot of expectation for the car. Its release was announced for the end of the year. Will it be so?

That was the initial plan, yes. But it will now be ready in January. We had to incorporate regulatory upgrades related to the driver’s safety. That was not planned and we had to perform a series of calculations over several weeks. Today, we are very happy with the results that we got in simulation. The lights are all green now. Not only will the M30 be the only LMP3 on the market that meets the new safety standards imposed on the new LMP2s, but it will also be even more successful. This delay strengthened our determination to put out a car that we see as immediately reliable and of course high performing. This will be the case. The mobilisation of our sta as well as the technical partners who participated in the design of the P3 is exceptional. The M30 will be the fruit of this considerable work.

But still, the rumours say that the car has already been on track for several weeks…

(Smile). I’ve also heard that. It must be a Ligier, an Adess or a Ginetta disguised as a Norma. No, I’m joking. The #1 chassis is in our workshop since last week. The other chassis are coming. Each day we still receive parts from our sub-contractors. We are setting up the production of the rst series of 10 cars, which will be followed by a larger second series. The rst laps will be made in January and the rst deliveries to the teams will come immediately a er that.

CD Sport has just announced the acquisition of a M30 a er TDS Racing, which appeared in your press release, as well as Brooks Racing several weeks ago. What about your objectives?

The press releases cannot always be taken as the only true version of the facts. Today, I can tell you that we will not be able to supply more than een M30s before the start of the European season, while the demand is much higher. It’s also a choice that we have imposed on ourselves. We didn’t want in any way to sacri ce the quality of the nished product for the quantity. Norma has never chosen volume over performance. Of course, that causes us to lose some sales, on the short term only, but for 30 years, I think that this way of doing things has been right for us. I can only add that beyond what has already been announced, we have also sold M30s in the U.S. and to other teams in Europe. In the last ten days, three other established European teams have placed orders. And advanced discussions are underway with some others, including in Asia.

The M20 continues down its path of success and the M30 is on its way to join it. How is Norma Auto Concept going to grow in the coming months?

It is our biggest challenge and probably the most di icult. We are in an intense development phase. We have just hired 10 new employees and we haven’t nished with that. We are currently structuring the team management in such a way that we will be able to reach the goals we have set for ourselves in the years to come. There are a lot of them and they’re ambitious. It’s a complicated work that require constant re ection every day. I am also lucky to have solid, reliable partners. Action plans have been carried out that are going to allow Norma to reach a new milestone. We want to be a major player in all of our markets. And always with the same passion that drives us.

A nal word. Could Norma become involved in additional ambitious programmes in the future?

One thing at a time. For the moment, we have an enormous amount to do and it’s not a short-term project. Furthermore, we are working on the regulatory upgrades for the LMP2 as well as the future private LMP1. We are even being asked about this. But in the immediate future we remain and will remain focused on the performance of our cars for both hill-climbing and the di erent circuit racing championships with the Group CN cars and of course the new LMP3. These are the fundamental concerns of Norma and our projects never stray from this focus. Quite the contrary, in fact.

At Estoril, BE Motorsport was looking to end 2016 season in style with a strong performance in spite of the entry list included no less than 20 prototypes cars in LMP3 and PFV classes. After weekend´s free practice sessions, Bakker took qualifying duties in his BE Motorsport-entered Ligier-Nissan JSP3 LMP3 and, in a tough wet qualifying session the Dutchman clocked a time of 1:57.652, which was 9th- fastest in class. The 6-hour race needed to begin behind the safety car. Under such conditions, the trio of BE Motorsport spun off in the wet – and suspected oil- into the gravel trap, losing more than seven minutes. As a result, BE Motorsport was ruled out of podium contention but the Spanish team still put a good recovery drive in to finish 5th in LMP3 class and 8th overall.

“It was a particularly challenging race due to heavy rainy conditions. We spun off and lost seven minutes as a result of a mix of oil and water when we were setting lap times in the top five scratch.  Our podium chances were gone there”, Ibrán explained and also underlining “we still secured a five place in class and we felt confident enough to be in triumph contention without the spin. We are already looking forward to racing next year once again.”

Fielding a strong new line-up for the momentous occasion, the multiple race and championship winning outfit welcomed the services of Ben Green, Euan McKay and Rik Breukers, ensuring the team had a good blend of youth, speed and experience.

The team’s on-track debut came on Friday morning with the first of three free practice sessions. With the exception of Rik Breukers who had LMP3 experience from the final European Le Mans Series race just a couple of weeks previous, it was a voyage of discovery for the rest of the crew. However this lack of experience certainly didn’t show from the outside, all three drivers putting on a fine display and the team clearly getting up to speed with their new Ginetta G57-P2 very quickly. Through the day and night running, the team were placing themselves well inside the top five overall, giving them plenty of confidence ahead of Saturday morning’s qualifying.

Run over an aggregate of two drivers times added together, Euan McKay and Rik Breukers were selected to take care of qualifying duties. Taking to a wet Estoril circuit, Euan lit up the timing screens, initially setting the fastest time overall before slipping to second as he brought the car into the pits for Rik to take over. Just as he started into his first flying lap, Breukers was forced to take some avoiding action into the first corner, cruelly sending him across the gravel and into the barriers, wiping out any chance of a good starting position for the afternoon’s race.

With their Ginetta G57-P2 now fully repaired, starting from the back of the field for the six hour race on a heavily soaked track, Euan McKay got proceedings off to a superb start. Communication between the car and the pitwall became a challenge when the car’s onboard radio became water damaged. Despite the dramas around him, Euan put in a faultless stint as one of the fastest cars on circuit for the most part of his run before pitting to hand over to Ben Green for his first race stint. With the track rapidly drying out, Ben opted for slick tyres and despite a brief trip to the gravel, got his car to work very well in the improving conditions. After one hour in the car, now it was over to the experienced Rik Breukers to continue the team’s charge up the order. In the car for one of the most challenging stints of the race with the track continuing to dry out and the sun starting to set impeding his visibility, Rik showed the strength of his endurance experience to put in a superb sint over the course of his two-hour run, taking the car into the pits just into the final hour and now inside the top five.

Taking over for the final stint in the dark, Ben Green complimented the efforts of the whole team up to that point with a superb maiden prototype stint in the dark to take the chequered flag in third place overall.

Ben Green – #99 Century Motorsport Ginetta G57-P2:
“I had a great weekend! The team was fantastic, learning the car every session. The conditions were changing all the time but ultimately I felt the pace was there. We started from the back and had to work through the field with great driving from Euan in the first stint. Rik also drove really well and I brought the car home in the final stint. Thanks again to Century Motorsport and to M25 Business Centre, Jelf Insurance, Justot and Duncan Phillip for their support! A big thanks also go to Ginetta and Ewan Baldry for sorting out the drive this weekend and letting me loose in one of their top quality cars!”

Rik Breukers – #99 Century Motorsport Ginetta G57-P2:
“For me it was a really exciting weekend and a great experience to drive in this car. I was really happy with the team they did a fantastic job on the car the whole weekend. I think our line-up was really strong I was really happy with my teammates as we were all around the same speed. We can be happy with a P3 but I think there was even more potential. Our strategy wasn’t perfect and we had problems with the windscreen, but in general I had a great weekend and I really enjoyed racing with this team in this car!”

Euan McKay – #99 Century Motorsport Ginetta G57-P2:
“First of all, to come away with a podium despite the lack of experience both from the team and the drivers was a great achievement, and testament to the hard-working nature of the team. Everyone was easy to get on with and it was apparent that they too had a determination to succeed. The race didn’t necessarily go to plan but that was perhaps to be expected given the task we all faced. It was always going to be tough competing against the teams that had been racing all year, but I believe that Century proved themselves very capable of fighting at the front.”

Nathan Freke – Team Principal, Century Motorsport:
“What an amazing first experience of running prototypes. We got the car a week before hand, learnt it and headed off to Estoril. It was hard work, but the car never missed a beat all weekend. The guys worked so hard and we were rewarded with a third place finish after six hours of racing. The race itself was stressful due to the radio getting wet and having almost no communication with the car, so it made things extremely hard! The drivers all put in absolutely fantastic efforts and on more than a few occasions we were lapping as the fastest car on track. They were all really great guys to work with, and made the weekend a pleasure. Now it’s a quick turn around and pack the car up into a container to head to Dubai for the prototype race in January. If anyone is interested in participating with us, please get in touch! Finally, a credit to Ginetta for producing what is nothing short of a work of art. The car is fabulous and the performance is undeniable. Here’s to more prototype races, and more trophies!!”

Not only fielding an exciting new car for the team, Century will also welcome three impressive new drivers to it’s illustrious portfolio in the form of Ben Green, Euan McKay, and Rik Breukers.

Green has plenty of Ginetta experience, having raced in both Ginetta Junior and this season the Ginetta GT4 Supercup. With the support of M25 Business Centre, Justot, Duncan Phillips and Jelf Insurance, Green will make his prototype debut in Estoril this weekend and is relishing the opportunity following his first taste of Ginetta’s flagship racer at a recent test day.

Joining Green will be Porsche Carrera Cup GB Pro-AM1 Champion Euan McKay. A relative newcomer to motorsport who didn’t follow the traditional route to success via Karting, McKay started racing in Legends in 2013 before moving up to Porsche’s for 2016. Impressed by Ginetta’s high-downforce prototype, Euan is hoping he can showcase his talent even further this weekend thanks to the support of his major supporters Edmundson Electrical.

Completing the new trio will be Dutch driver Rik Breukers. The Endurance specialist is no stranger to Estoril or prototypes, having raced in the LMP3 class at the final round of the 2016 European Le Mans Series at the same venue. Looking forward to stepping up to the faster Ginetta G57-P2, Breukers is hoping he can take full advantage of his experience in Portugal.

Ben Green – Century Motorsport Ginetta G57-P2:
“I’m really looking forward to having my race debut in the Ginetta G57-P2 Prototype. The car offers incredible amounts of grip and is completely different to drive compared to the Ginetta G55 that I currently race in the Ginetta GT4 Supercup class. I tested the car in Donington at the Ginetta taster day, it was fairly easy to get up to speed in and I felt comfortable pushing the cars grip limits from early on in the day. It’s great to be joining Century Motorsport for the race as they have a lot of Ginetta racing experience and I know are looking forward to running the new car this coming weekend! I’d like to thank M25 Business Centre, Justot, Duncan Phillips and Jelf Insurance for their support for this weekend’s event.”
 
Euan McKay – Century Motorsport Ginetta G57-P2:
“This weekend presents an exciting opportunity, with a chance to further my racing experience and showcase my abilities in what is a brilliant car and team. I’m thoroughly looking forward to getting in the car and can’t wait to get to work with the team and see what we can do. A massive thanks to Ginetta and Century Motorsport for this opportunity, and to my sponsors for their continued support.”

Rik Breukers – Century Motorsport Ginetta G57-P2:
“I am really looking forward to this race. For me it will be the second time at the fantastic Estoril circuit. The first time was a few weeks ago at the 4 Hour ELMS race. I was racing an LMP3 that weekend. I am curious about the Ginetta G57. I have heard a lot of positive remarks about the car. It will be some seconds faster than the LMP3 I drove, but at least I know the circuit now. I love endurance racing and if that can be done in a Prototype it makes it all just better!”

Nathan Freke – Team Principal, Century Motorsport:
“This is a fantastic time for Century Motorsport and stepping up to a new type of car is something we’ve all worked very hard to achieve. Prototype racing is becoming increasingly popular now so this is the perfect way for us to dip our toe in the water ahead of a planned increased effort for 2017. What makes it even better is that we have three brilliant new drivers coming into the team, all of whom are proven racers who I have no doubt will make a big impression in Estoril this weekend.”

For the sixth and penultimate round of the 2016 VdeV Endurance Series BE Motorsport entered its Ligier-Nissan JSP3 LMP3 to be driven by Javier Ibrán, Toni Castillo and Mathijs Bakker and Spain´s team again matched those of the best European outfits in terms of speed and competitiveness. Following its maiden podium finish at Mugello last month, it gave that little extra lift to push for the front despite they are competing against ever fiercer field.

In both free practice sessions, the trio of BE Motorsport completed forty-seven laps and gained further valuable mileage ahead of Saturday´s qualifying session. There, BE Motorsport clocked an average lap of 1:38.268 and its Ligier-Nissan JSP3 LMP3 ranked 8th in LMP3 class. BE Motorsport made a nice start to the 4-hour race and with one hour into the race its drivers were leading overall and had a nearly 30 second lead over the first PFV car and the second LMP3 car was almost a minute behind. As the race continued, BE Motorsport was in podium contention and its pit strategy should have paid off at the end. However, a safety car period following pit stop for BE Motorsport dashed its chances. Finally, BE Motorsport came seventh in class.

“Our race was running superbly just like at Mugello and BE Motorsport was performing excellently. They made most of strategy. Unfortunately Lady Luck wasn´t on our side this time and that safety car period after our last pit stop ruined our chances at the very end”, Ibrán commented. The Spanish racer added that “our sights are set on season finale at Estoril, which takes place on 5-6 November. We will push hard again”.

Jakub Smiechowski: “The race went well but it was not easy for us. We had a good strategy with tires and fuel and some luck during the safety-car-periods  and made maximum use of that. We had lots of cars on and off the track and lots of action. It was important for us to do a faultless race to get the maximum result we archieved today.”

Martin Hippe added: “The Ginetta was no real competitor for us, as it starts in the PFV-category and has 100HP more and we were just focussed in winning our class. At the end that was a bit in doubt as I had a collision with a Ferrari resulting luckily just in minor damage. With the car behind us, the N-Race-Ligier, it became tight, but we finished 12s before them. Now the title is within reach at the last race in Estoril.” 

more infos due soon…

BE Motorsport will carry such memories at Mugello with them as the Spanish-based team finished second at the 6 hours of Mugello counting towards the VdeV Endurance Series. The Ligier-Nissan JSP3 LMP3, acquired by BE Motorsport to contest several endurance championships all over Europe, achieved a milestone by securing second place at historic Mugell circuit, located in the outskirts of Florence. Such a brilliant result rewards effort and encourages drivers, engineers and mechanics at BE Motorsport to make further improvements for the upcoming races.

BE Motorsport made a good start to the weekend as it took fifth and sixth spots in both free practice sessions on Friday. In qualifying session, Ibrán, Castillo and Bakker set one timed lap each and the average of their lap was 1:47.580, fifth among LMP3 cars and proving how well-balanced the driver line-up is. In fact, Bakker emerged fastest with a lap time of 1:46.677, slightly faster than his teammates. With this in mind, BE Motorsport headed into the 6-hour race with a cautious approach. The Spanish team was particularly competitive in race trim and, following an incident-free first stint, the trio gained several positions. At the halfway point, BE Motorsport was running 6th overall and 5th in class and finally in the last two hours managed to be in podium contention. After six hours of close racing, Ibrán, Castillo and Bakker finished second.

“It was a new track for everybody. Mugello is particularly fast and technically-demanding and you has no room for mistakes. Despite we struggled to set competitive lap times at the beginning, our competitive and solid race pace was the right strategy this time”, Ibrán underlined.  He added that “BE Motorsport has proven how professional the pit crew is. Everybody was struggling with temperature due to rubber in air ducts. But BE Motorsport manage to do a tremendous work and we nursed the car home in second both overall and in class. We scored valuable points and our result also shows that the path we are pursuing is the correct one.”

The VdeV Endurance Series will head to Magny-Cours on 7-9 October.

6 Hours V de V Endurance GT / Touring cars / LM P3

GT / Touring cars : Visiom has the final word

Four wins in five races. That’s the score Jean-Paul Pagny, Thierry Perrier and Jean-Bernard Bouvet will take home from Mugello thanks to a stunning performance in their Ferrari F488 GT3 prepared by team Visiom. The result was not set in stone however as the long 6 hour race was rich in action and suspense on all levels.

After five hours of racing, victory seemed to belong to one of AB Sport Auto’s Renault R.S. 01. The n°45 machine driven by Thybaud, Proust and Jousse and sister car n°11 with Van de Vyver, Carugati and Wegelin at the wheel continued to trade first place until a problem caused the n°45 contender to be pushed back to fourth, while the n°11 GT finished second after pit stops during a safety car period. Once in the lead, the n°1 machine pulled ahead of the AB Sport Auto/V de V car – leaving them in second overall and winners in the Prestige class. Thanks to their strong efforts, the n°70 Dodge Viper GT3-R of ANTeam, entrusted to Stucky / Yerly managed to repeat their result at Le Mans and were recompensed with a well-earned third place finish. Technical issues unfortunately came around for Ferrari n°51 – prepared by AF Corse (Montermini / Cordoni / Zanuttini) and Porsche n°76, managed by IMSA Performance (Narac / Cornac), who were both strong contenders for this weekend’s race. Finally, GTV2 saw the Porsche 991 GT3 Cup n°56 of team RMS sail to victory.

LM P3 / PFV : Inter Europol Competition win at last

The circuit of Mugello proved to be the perfect playground for the Ligier JSP3 chassis. Inter Europol Competition showed off their consistent pace throughout the race and drivers Jakub Smiechowski and Martin Hippe brought the car home in first to take their first well-deserved win in the LMP3 category.

In the end, the final fight for victory was even tighter than in the GT race, between the n°13 machine and drivers Tomlinson, Lancaster and Sanders – at the wheel of Ginetta G57 n°57 prepared by Simpson Motorsport. However, due to unfortunate circumstances, notably during a safety car intervention, the then leaders – overall and in the PFV class – were forced to abandon the race. This left the road wide open for Smiechowski and Hippe, who finished ahead of Be Motorsport’s n°14 Ligier, entrusted to Ibran-Pardo, Bakker and Castillo. First to cross the line among the PFV runners – Race Performance’s n°59 Ginetta – who made their maiden appearance in V de V this weekend with drivers MacKinnon and Jackson. The PFV podium was completed by Simpson Motorsport’s n°50 prototype (Smith / Deguffroy / Rupp) and Italian team Nova Race’s n°75 Ginetta G57 (Malavasi / Speakerwas / Lequeux).

Another unfortunate occurrence forced Ligier n°888 off the top spot, but the car prepared by team Graff and driven by Trouillet, Rosselo and Dagoneau managed to make it to third place after the six-hour trial. Their luck was not however present with sister car n°10 (Pasian / Gauvin / Chila) and even less so within team N’Race. The n°93 JSP3 car handled by Fontaine, Decultot and Perroy had lead the race for 3 hours before mechanical problems betrayed the French team.

6 Hours V de V Endurance Proto: DB Autosport: strike three

Encouraged by two consecutive pole positions (Paul Ricard and Motorland), then by the team’s first victory in Spain, DB Autosport gave their best performance in qualifying – taking pole for a third time this year. The dominating #22 Norma M20 FC of previous race winners Delafosse, Dannielou and Petersen will start alongside TFT’s #2 machine, currently ahead in the championship standings, entrusted to Vilarino, Ferté and Illiano. The second row is shared by Equipe Palmyr – the #40 prototype handled by Mondolot, Zollinger and Thuner who managed to improve on Friday’s practice times – and DB Autosport’s sister car, #21, driven by Bassora, Monclair and Perroy. Having missed out on pole position, TFT made sure at least three members of their fleet were inside the top 10: the #8 car with Capillaire, Lacoste and Dromedari at the wheel starts in 5th, ahead of drivers Bazaud, Thirion and Caillon in car #6. The following rows are made up of cars #30 (CD Sport – with drivers Accary, Dhouailly and Haezebrouck), TFT’s #5 Norma (Morales, Rihon and Cimadomo), then IDEC Sport Racing’s two Ligier JS 53 Evo 2: #17 (Patrice and Paul Lafargue) in front of F. and N. Da Rocha, accompanied by Delomier in car #15.

V de V Monoplace Challenge – Race 1 : Peroni won’t share first place!

Pole-sitter Peroni, currently at the head of the championship standings, didn’t miss the chance to take victory for his team TS Corse – at their home race this weekend. The Australian candidate lead from start to finish, managing to keep his position from Dutch driver Rinus Van Kalmthout, racing with MP Motorsport for the first time in V de V. Reigning champion David Droux (RC Formula) crossed the line to take third after an excellent start to the race and several intense battles with Alexey Chuklin (MP Motorsport) who just missed out on a spot on the podium. GSK Grand Prix – also at their home circuit – with driver Grégoire Saucy finished in a comfortable fifth place, while Peroni’s rival for the championship title Gilles Hériau (Formula Motorsport) took sixth, closely followed by Antoine Robert (RC Formula). Competitor “Lebreton” (Formula Motorsport) beat local hero Pietro Peccenini (TS Corse) in the face-off for the Gentleman driver’s class, ahead of Christophe Hurni (Sports Promotion), third. Finally, Class B was won by Gabriele Rugin.

BE Motorsport was third and fourth in both free practice sessions before heading into qualifying. The Spanish team clocked an average time of 1:49.204 after completing 18 laps around the track. On Sunday, Ibrán, Castillo and Bakker started up front on the grid and they had moved up to 4th in LMP3 class and 7th overall only one hour into the race. At the halfway stage, BE Motorsport was in podium contention running sixth overall and fifth in class and, in the second half, the crew decided not to take any risk. The trio of drivers drove a flawless race bringing the car home in fifth place after four hours of intense racing.

“It was a thrilling race weekend at home and close to a podium finish. To step onto the podium would have been great but anyway we drew positive conclusions from the weekend. Hot temperatures were particularly worrying and we worked on that. Finally it paid off as we overcame searing weather conditions with no problems at all”, Ibrán underlined, adding that “we delivered a good performance, but other rivals were slightly better and definitely it made up the difference. Now we have the summer break ahead but we have plenty of things to do! Our goal is a podium finish, and with that goal in mind we will work for Mugello”.

The Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello will play host to round five on 9-11 September.

BE Motorsport made its debut in the VdeV series, which kicked off the season at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya last weekend. As well as its first outing in the series, it also marked the first time that the Spanish-based team entered its brand new Ligier-Nissan JSP3 LMP3 after a long and productive preseason.

Javier Ibrán, Mathijs Bakker and Toni Castillo were hitting the track for the very first time on Friday with three free practice sessions, which were useful to work on setting the car up for Saturday´s qualifying and 4-hour race. They placed fourth with a time of 1:47.290 in free practice, which was en encouraging result for the season defining the positions on the grid. In the VdeV the average of the best lap of two drivers counts for the grid position. So, their 1:47.838 put the car 5th in LMP3 class and 9th overall in the “Endurance GT Tourisme LMP3”.

Weather played a role later in the race as, following dry conditions, it started in rainy conditions. In fact, weather would be very unpredictable and it was about interpreting and BE Motorsport mastered in such difficult conditions. Castillo made the first stint before pitting and handing over the car to Ibrán. The latter put in a solid middle stint before Dutchman Bakker took the wheel of the Ligier-Nissan JSP3 LMP3 for the end of the race. Still in podium contention before a last pit stop, Bakker finally brought home a fourth-place result among LMP3 cars and 6th overall.

“We are undertaking this new challenge, not just with a new prototype car but in a new series as well. Our team has been completely renovated but they have done a nice job even when our rivals are pretty strong”, Ibrán commented, adding “race wasn´t easy at all for us because we had both dry and wet conditions. We put valuable experience under our belt with the new Ligier-Nissan and we are cautiously optimistic for the season ahead. We are looking forward to the second round at Le Mans-Bugatti next month. We expect to continue on the same positive path”. 

Gibson Motorsport is about to enter a new prototype, the Gibson GH-20, an evolution of the GH-19 which has raced recently in the VdeV Series and in the SPEED Euroseries  and in the Supercar Challenge as well.

Only 15 per cent of the component parts have been carried over from the GH-19. The GH-20 has undergone an extensive aerodynamic development, with a better drag ratio. The aero balance of the car is changeable to the front thanks to a front element. The advanced suspension, inspired from the LMP technology, is new with both Ohlins 4 way dampers and a third roll bar driven damper.

The GH-20 is power by the 2.0 litre Honda K20 unit (255 bhp), mounted longitudinally with a dry sump system, which supports a SADEX six speed transaxle gearbox with paddleshift.    

The crash test of the GH-20 has been successful and will be able to start some testing. Gibson Motorsport has said to Endurance-Info that the GH-20 will likely make its debut in the VdeV Endurance Series at Paul Ricard, with some expectations : “We expect the GH-20 as a new player to the table to push the boundary of v de v due to its advanced aerodynamic design.”

The Yorkshire marque will join the 25-strong grid for the four hour endurance encounter on 18-20 March at the Circuit de Barcelona, Catalunya. Entered into the PFV Class, company boss Lawrence Tomlinson will head up the four car entry.

Lawrence will be sharing driving duties with long-time co-pilot, Ginetta Factory Driver Mike Simpson in the first of the four entries, whilst Mike’s fellow Factory Driver Charlie Robertson will be paired with Colin White in a CWS- entered car.

Meanwhile, Simpson Racing will field a further two cars, with Nick Jones, Craig Fleming and Adam Sharpe at the helm of the first, whilst Jonathan Colman will be joined by Adrian Watt and Gaëtan Paletou behind the wheel of a second.

Ewan Baldry, Ginetta Technical Director; “The V de V Championship has been on board with Ginetta’s prototype programme since its early days. The organisers provide an excellent championship which fits incredibly well with the racing ethos we have here at Ginetta. The tracks are ideal for the car, and we’re looking forward to a positive debut!”

V de V Series Boss, Eric Van de Vyver; “I’m pleased to continue working alongside a well-known, successful manufacturer as Ginetta. We look forward to welcoming them back to V de V this year in the LMP3/PFV category. The G57 has competitive price that reflects V de V’s philosophy, and thus remains open to motorsport enthusiasts and professionals alike.”

This will be the first time the Ginetta G57 turns a wheel in anger, but in line with V de V specifications the car will be running a restricted engine capable of 420bhp. Nevertheless, the team are looking forward to a positive weekend, with champagne and silverware at the forefront of their minds.

“We took a massive step forward in Barcelona. After testing at Estoril and Barcelona we have to continue to progress and work towards our goals. It has truly been a pleasure to work with Jan, because he is one of the most seasoned prototype drivers out there and we gained valuable experience with the car when he was driving. Besides, the V de V´s season opener takes place at this track next month”, Ibrán explained. He was confident about “season ahead. It will be a challenge for sure, because it´s an extremely professional championship and we are making our first outing with the LMP3 car. But I´m optimistic. We all have experience in endurance world and we shared the same car in the past”.

The V de V kicks off the 2016 season at Montmeló (18-20 March) and then visiting Le Mans-Bugatti (22-24 April), Paul Ricard (20-22 May), Motorland Aragón (1-3 July), Mugello (9-11 September), Magny-Cours (7-9 October) and Estoril (4-6 November).

Now the time has come for a new model that will debut towards the end of 2015: the first car meeting FIA regulations that will enter into force from 1 January 2016 and that will be pushed by a 1.6 liters turbo charged engine. The new car will inherit the past of the Wolf GB08 – Honda, that since the victorious debut in the Italian Prototypes Championship of 25 April 2010, when it dominated the race after setting the fastest lap of the race and the pole position, collected 52 absolute wins, 48 pole position starts and 45 fastest laps, winning six titles (Italian Prototypes Championship 2010, Speed Euroseries 2011, Speed Euroseries 2012, CNV 2014 in Portugal , SCC 2014 in Germany and BELCAR 2015).

Giovanni Bellarosa ( Team Principal Wolf Racing Cars) :
“We waited the publication of the new FIA regulations to announce the arrival of the new Wolf challenger. The current GB08 – Honda proved to be an exceptional car, as showcased by the various wins on track. Now we are looking at the feature with the Wolf GB08 Turbo: it is going to be very different from the current car, but definitely not less innovative and I believe it will award us with the same satisfaction. We have been waiting for an important evolution for some time now, but the Wolf GB08 has always been very competitive and we decided to wait this regulations change to introduce all the new elements in one step only. As in the past, all Wolf GB08 will have the chance to be updated to the new model.”

The Ginetta Prototype has been making waves on the international stage this year. In LMP3 trim it is still the only car to have turned a wheel in competition, and Team LNT are currently class leaders in both the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) Teams and Drivers Championships.

The four hour V de V endurance encounter will enable the team to continue their development of the Ginetta Prototype, as well as garner crucial data ahead of the ELMS visit to the same track next month.

Simpson, who is currently dovetailing a season in the European Le Mans Series with an entry in British GT said; “I am looking forward to being back alongside Lawrence for the V de V. We had some great success in the series in our Ginetta G55 GT3 car last year, where our development year saw us bring home a number of pole positions as well as some silverware.

“The track time will be crucial ahead of my ELMS race at the same venue in three weeks’ time, but will also provide some preparation for a full European race programme for Lawrence Tomlinson in 2016.”

A former class winner at the Le Mans 24 Hours, Tomlinson has been heavily involved in the development of the Ginetta Prototype. Making his first competitive appearance since taking a class podium at the Britcar 24 Hour in April, the Ginetta boss said; “This weekend is all about continuing the development of the car and having fun in a brilliantly run and friendly series.

“We have fantastic facilities available to us at Ginetta, but there’s no better place to get insight than at the track. This circuit time will inevitably assist us in our preparations for Round Five of the ELMS, but as always, Mike and I will be aiming to be on the top step of the podium once again.”

No stranger to V de V, Tomlinson and Simpson enjoyed much success in the championship in 2014. Running their factory Ginetta G55 GT3 car in the series, the team enjoyed more pole positions than any other marque and a race win at Dijon.

6 Hours Endurance Proto V de V : TFT, back on the right track

Since the first race of the year, the TFT Norma has been running the unluckiest races of its whole existence. Those dark times have come to an end, with a very disputed win at Motorland. Alain Ferté and Philippe Illiano, partnered in Spain by local hero Ander Vilarino, mastered the 6 hours enduro in a class of their own.

The pole sitting Norma M20 FC n°8 started despite lead driver Vincent Capillaire’s absence with an early best lap which would stand for the rest of the day.

All through the pit-stops sequences, they handed back the lead from time to time to the Graff Ligier JS53 Evo n°29 (Eric Trouillet / Yann Clairay / Jordan Perroy), the IDEC Sport Racing Evo 2 n°17 (Patrice and Paul Lafargue / Matthieu Lahaye), the Equipe Palmyr Norma n°41 (Fabien Thuner / Jens Petersen / François Belle) and the second Graff Racing Ligier n°91 (Franck Gauvin / Sergio Pasian / Garry Findlay) and all through the race they fought back their way to the lead.

The least you could say about the on-track battles, is that nobody was really willing to give up positions for free! If you ad to this the heavy rain shower that occurred two hours from the chequered flag, you can imagine how Alain Ferté’s leadership was complicated to retain and how his huge background was important in such circumstances. Nevertheless, one hour later, another pit-stop round for wets followed by another one for slicks and everything was back in the original order with Vilarino leading a brilliantPaul Lafargue. Behind him, the n°29 and 91 Ligier from Clairay and Findlay strive to join the battle for the lead. And 30 minutes from the flag, four cars are running in a 40 seconds gap. The final sprint? There would not be any as, minutes from the end, the safety car comes in for a slippery track, making a it a victory following two DNF for the TFT Norma.

« When it started raining, I had no idea what to expect and decided to rely on what they would tell me on the radio. This is to say more than ever, it is a team victory. A team and a car victory as our Norma was perfect in every way. A well deserved win, if you consider our last twoDNF, with technical issues while battling for the lead. A big relief for Philippe and a great result for our super-sub, Ander Vilarino. I know him well and knew what he was capable of.”

Behind them, the DB Autosport’s n°21 Norma of Daniel Bassora / David Monclair / Damien Delafosse coming home fifth, due to a 23” penalty for infringement to the compulsory « Drive Though » rules. Same effects for the n°7 TFT, n°32 CD Sport, n°35 Ultimate, n°40 Palmyr andn°84 SRT 41. The Palmyr n°41 Norma beats the CD Sport n°30 (Thomas Accary /Kevin Bole Besançon / Jean-Ludovic Foubert) n°31 (Sébastien Dhouailly / Gérard Faure / Rémi Kirchdoerffer) sister cars for sixth.

Mugello winners – their team mates at CD Sport – driving the n°33 Norma (Marc-Antoine Dannielou / Nicolas Maulini / Jacques Wolff) run out of luck this time with engine issues that sidelined them. Same story and same consequence for the Ligier n°15 IDEC Sport Racing (Frédéric and Nicolas Da Rocha / William Cavailhes).

Last but not least, in the Gentlemen Drivers trophy, the Scuderia Bi & Bi leading Tatuus PY012 had to give up the lead after the Safety car came in, giving way to the Team One Norma n°67 (Rémy and GrégoryStriebig / Ludovic André).

The rain washed the podium, but as usual in V de V it was a big fiesta! All of them had only one thing in mind: the next V de V Endurance Series meeting in Dijon, from June 26 till June 28. See you all there!

4 Hours Endurance GT / Tourisme : the Lafargue signature

Patrice and Paul Lafargue (IDEC Sport Racing) grabs their second Spanish success of the year at the Motorland Aragon venue. A commanding second win out of three attempts, almost from flag to flag.

“Racing with your father is obviously a lot of emotions, said a very emotional Paul Lafargue. The last half hour was a very close fight and a very physical time in the race as the cockpit was overheating. On top of this, we had the AF Corse Ferrari on our heels and they were not taking it easy!” “Thumbs up to the team. It is a real blessing to be able to rely on a crew like the one brought together by Jean-Claude Ruffier, confirms Patrice. “Paul did some amazing stints, even if we took advantage of our competitors misfortunes a little bit. But what a fantastic week-end we had”.  You need to know they stepped on the Saturday podium for the Challenge Endurance Proto.

The Visiom pole sitting Ferrari 458 GT3 n°2 led the field from the start for 20 minutes in the hands of Thierry Perrier, before handing the lead to Paul Lafargue. Then, while the Porsche extended its lead, the Ferrari was track sided because of a fuel shortage, two and a half hours into the race. Thierry Perrier / Jean-Paul Pagny / Jean-Bernard Bouvet finally rejoigned to finish a distant ninth. The AF Corse Ferrari 458 GT3 n°51 (Mario Cordoni / Marco Zanuttini / Andréa Montermini) ended the race second, in front of the Escuela Espanola de Pilotos’ Mosler MT 900 n°8 (Kostas Kanaroglou / Oliver Campos Hull) which started from the pits. They also grab the GTV2 class win ahead of sister car, n°9 Mosler driven byAlberto de Martin and Pedro Salvadore. The V de V / AB Sport Auto Audi R8 LMS n°11 (Eric Van de Vyver / Tiziano Carugati / Michel Wegelin) followed them, in front of the promising GC10-V8 n°20, S1 class winner thanks to a superb first stint by Alexander David, sharing driving duties with Alan Calari and Alexandre Coigny.

Challenge Single Seater – Race 1 : Droux, again…

Poleman David Droux (RC Formula) started from pole, raced in front and won the race. What else ? Behind him, the two remaining podium spots were fought like hell. Fourth on the grid, Julien Falchero (GSK Grand Prix) jumps to second from the start when his teammate Riccardo Cazzaniga gives up when attacked by Alexandre Jouannem (CPB Sport). Cazzaniga ended up fourth, in front of Charly Bizalion (CPB Sport), Gilles Heriau (Formula Motorsport). Oscar Arcila (SG Racing) wins the B class in front of Abdessalam Mzaiti (Zig Zag).

Challenge Single Seater – Race 2 : Droux, again and again…

Pole position, brilliant start and a commanding lead from flag to flag. There is very little to ad to this as David Droux drove in a class of his own. Behind the RC Formula driver, Julien Falchero (GSK Grand Prix) beats Alexandre Jouannem (CPB Sport) who knows he is under a penalty for « Drive Through Rules » infringement which sends him back in 6th position. Riccardo Cazzaniga (GSK) therefore inherits the third podium spot, in front of Gilles Heriau (Formula Motorsport), Pietro Peccenini (TS Corse), Gentlemen Drivers class winner. Ninth, Oscar Arcila (SG Racing) grows its string of successes in the B class, beating Grégory Choukroun (Lamo Racing Car) along the way.

Challenge Single Seater – Race 3 : Droux sets his sight

Another perfect start for David Droux (RC Formula) before the race is yellow flagged due to Jouannem’s CPB Sport accident. Almost the same story for Riccardo Cazzaniga (GSK Grand Prix), spinning about three minutes from the flag and loosing all hope of an almost certain podium on the way, which fell into Falchero’s hands. Behind him Gilles Heriau (Formula Motorsport) achieves the race of his life and gets the third final place. As usual, Oscar Arcila (SG Racing) gets the B top honour, beating Choukroun (Lamo Racing Car) and Thierry Aimard (Atom Formula). Fourth overall, Pietro Peccenini wins the Prestige class. Thanks to Julien Falchero, Riccardo and Nicolas Cazzaniga, GSK gets the teams trophy for this Motorland Aragon weekend.

Challenge Sprint CN – Race 1: Happy Birthday Gwenaël !

What a birthday present for Gwenaël Delomier, winner of the first heat !  At the start, poleman and car manufacturer Yves Orhant vanished and let the race occured without interfering. From then on and for ten laps, Romain Houllier and Gwenaël Delomier fought a fierce battle until the very last laps, when Delomier decided to raise his game. Houllier strived to keep in touch and committed a mistake that kept him at bay for the remaining few yards of the race, giving CédricGardin (SBD) a well-deserved second place finish. Behind them, Cyril Denis (Wintec) gets the better on teammate Julien Goupy, Sylvain Mercier (Prom-Auto Sport) climbs to 6th in front of Orhant and an amazing Jennifer Michel, whostarted 19th to finish 8th, with a B class victory on her bag !

Challenge Sprint CN – Race 2 : Houllier fights back

Third on the grid, Romain Houllier lost another position at the start before he really got to another level. From then onward, he battled his way to the lead and never gave it back to Delomier. The race ? Pretty much the same scenario as for the first heat, but the other way around, this time. The only difference – an intersting one for the rest of the championship – is that Cyril Denis also briefly took the lead at the third lap before a slump to fourth behind Houllier / Delomier / Cédric Gardin. Denis satisfaction camesfrom the fact a beat another time in a row team mate Julien Goupy. Behind them, the B class turns out to be a duel between Jennifer Michel and Christian Camboulive, Christian coming out on top of the class this time around.

Challenge Sprint CN – Race 3 : Delomier, on his own

Poleman Gwenaël Delomier beats the field to the first corner and from then on, consistentlyextended his lead. The only surprise came from behind, when Cyril Denis got to second in the first lap before Romain Houllier passes him a few laps later to … stop due to a mechanical failure, handing Cyril his second place back. Cédric Gardin is third, Marcel Sciabbarasi is fourth and the up and coming Jennifer Michel gets a brilliant fifth overall with a B class win, beating ChristianCamboulive on the way.

Challenge Sprint CN – Race 4 : Delomier comes back to the front

Kramer Racing’s Gwenaël Delomier makes a great start when Romain Houllier’s HMC Lohéac car slips down to 5th at the start. Cyril Denis Wintec, pictured) immediately seizes the opportunity andclimbs to second. Houllier ends up the race second which makes it two wins for each of Delomier and Houllier at the end of the meeting. Same story in the B class, with Christian Camboulive (HMC Lohéac) and Jennifer Michel (AGR/BleuMercure) both won twice the class. Jennifer could have made it 3 to 1, had she not committed a mistake in the last lap. First podium of the year for Jean-Marie Huet.

Álvaro Fontes is back in the spotlight with another exciting racing program at the international and national levels. The Spaniard, who was born in Málaga – Southern Spain-, is one of the main exponents of Andalusian motorsport and has confirmed his participation in the Spanish Endurance Championship and in the V de V, two series in which he will visit some of the most renowned racing tracks across Europe.

Besides, one of the most significant novelties is that Fontes will have a new teammate to team up with, Holland´s Mirco van Oostrum, who will make his motorsport debut with the Málaga-born driver. Known commonly as Speedy Gonzales, van Oostrum has already made considerable progress during private testing carried out at Ascari Race Resort in recent weeks.

Fontes and van Oostrum will share a new SEAT León Cup Racer for a full-season program, consisting of six rounds, in the Spanish Endurance Championship. Their car will be entered by PCR Sport, the Catalan outfit with which Fontes achieved brilliant results in the Supercopa SEAT León or the 24 hours of Barcelona. There are six meetings to be held at the following tracks: Valencia, Jarama, Motorland, Navarra, Estoril and Barcelona. Fontes will be another focus of attention in the V de V at the wheel of the new Ginetta-Nissan LMP3 prototype. The series will pay a visit to tracks such as Dijon, Paul Ricard or Magny-Cours.

“It is a real pleasure to announce this double program in 2015, competing at the highest level in Spain and in Europe. I am very excited starting this new venture working with Mirco, and I hope to be able to help him, always taking the right steps, something is not easy in motorsport”, Fontes stresses.

 17 year old Charlie will join Ginetta Chairman Lawrence Tomlinson and regular co-pilot, Factory Driver Mike Simpson in the G55 GT3 car as he continues his progression towards a career in international GT racing; having already been crowned the youngest ever Ginetta Junior Champion and currently leading the  Michelin Ginetta GT4 SuperCup.

 Fresh off the back of a race win in their last meeting, Tomlinson said; “The Ginetta G55 GT3 car has been on the pace since the start of the season, and we were delighted to take the win in Dijon. Comitted to aiding the progression of our drivers, it’s great to be able to offer Charlie the opportunity to join our factory team, experience the G55 GT3 and notch up another victory!”

 Robertson enjoyed a test day in the G55 GT3 at Rockingham on August 17, and said of the forthcoming race; “I’m relishing this opportunity to race the GT3 car at Aragon, huge thanks to Lawrence and everyone at Ginetta and Team LNT. It’s an amazing bit of kit, I got into it at Rockingham and was blown away to be honest by the sheer speed. I quickly got to grips with it, though, and really enjoyed my first experience.

 ”I’ve never seen Aragon before, I’m in the sim next week to learn as much as I can about the track, and it’ll be the first time I’ve ever raced in Europe. This is a great opportunity for me, it’s a real step-up into endurance racing. Ginetta has really helped me over the years with Juniors, the GT4 SuperCup and now the progression into GT3. I can’t wait to get out there and I aim to do the very best I can.”

 Team LNT have proven to be a force to be reckoned with in V de V, taking a win at the previous meeting in Dijoin with former Michelin Ginetta GT4 SuperCup champion Tom Sharp sharing driving duties, whilst Tomlinson and Simpson claimed front row starts at three out of the four rounds as well as fastest lap at the world famous Le Mans circuit, at which Tomlinson claimed victory in the 24hour race in 2006.