Unlucky race for Joel Camathias at the Hungaroring, in the fourth round of the European Le Mans Series, which was characterized by bad weather. The pre-conditions to do well, though, were there, as the Swiss driver’s team mate, Andrea Bertolini, conquered the pole position under heavy rain. Unfortunately, in the race, started with a wrong tire choice, an alternator failure dashed all the hopes of the JMW Racing Ferrari F458. The car retook the track after a very long stop for repairs, but finished not classified, as it only covered 68 of the 99 laps.

With this setback, Camathias and Bertolini, slide down to the sixth position in the overall standings, losing their title chance. The last round of the 2013 ELMS will take place at the Paul Ricard on 28th September.

Joël Camathias: “We are clearly disappointed by how things went, especially after having obtained the pole position in difficult conditions under heavy rain. Shortly before the start, the rain stopped and the track started to dry up slowly. The team opted for intermediate tires, which was a logical choice but proved to be a wrong one because of the very low temperatures. I took the start but I was almost immediately in trouble to keep the pace not only of the drivers that started on slicks but also of those who were on rain tires. Shortly after giving the wheel to Andrea, the alternator broke and it caused further electrical problems. We had a very long stop for repairs, almost one hour. We were able to go back to the track for the last twenty minutes of the race, and we had a good pace then. It’s a pity that this year we cannot have one race free of technical troubles. I hope we can revert the trend at least at the last round in two weeks.”