Oman Racing with TF Sport make the history books after ELMS thriller

TF Sport celebrated their most successful weekend in the European Le Mans Series during the 4 Hours of Imola, as Oman Racing with TF Sport made history with a sensational 1-2 finish in LMGTE and Racing Team Turkey scored back-to-back victories in the LMP2 Pro Am class.

It was a lights-to-flag victory for the #69 crew of Ahmad Al Harthy, Sam De Haan and Marco Sørensen in LMGTE. Al Harthy stormed to pole position by 0.383s and then followed this by opening the race with a phenomenal first stint, and despite his lead being reduced by a safety car period, he managed to hand over to De Haan with a comfortable gap to P2. Between De Haan and Sørensen, they managed to keep their noses clean and keep #69 ahead, to cross the line victorious and making them the first Omani team in history to win an ELMS race. 

The #95 sister car of John Hartshorne, Henrique Chaves and Jonny Adam finished in P2 after a huge push through the LMGTE class. Bronze driver Hartshorne drove his strongest ever opening stint in the ELMS, as he fought from P11 to P5 before handing over to Adam. It was then in the hands of Jonny who made it up to the top end of the class, before passing the reins to silver ace, Chaves. Henrique then continued to build the gap between #95 and third place, to take the flag for their debut ELMS podium.

All six Oman Racing with TF Sport drivers now sit joint first in the ELMS LMGTE standings with 26 points each.

Salih Yoluç, Charlie Eastwood and Jack Aitken repeated their stellar performance from the opening round in Le Castellet, to take the TF-run LMP2 the top step of the podium at Imola.

Strong, clean stints by all three drivers, as they fought hard and kept the #34 machine out of trouble. This resulted in their championship lead being extended and they now sit 17 points ahead of TDS Racing in second, and 22 points ahead of AF Corse in third.

“I’m immensely proud of every member of the team this weekend. It was a huge effort to get all three cars onto the podium. All drivers drove strong stints, with John making superb improvements and Ahmad and Sam once again making a great impression during their debut LMGTE season. It’s a wonderfully rare sight to see all three of your team’s cars at the top of their class standings, and the aim is to keep them up there, going into the final round of the season” said Team Principal Tom Ferrier.

The third round of the European Le Mans Series sees the team return to Italy, for the 4 Hours of Monza on July 3.

Source material – TF Sport
Photo credits – Andrew Lofthouse