Two Vantage GTEs and a Vantage GT3 visit Imola for the next round of ACO rules racing

Tuesday, May 10, 2022

 


ACO rules race series, the European Le Mans Series and the Michelin Le Mans Cup both make their way down to the latest re-discovered classical racetrack that is the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola for the second round of their 2022 season.

Having kicked things off at Paul Ricard this time last month, it was a corresponding sides of the racing coin for the two Oman Racing with TF Sport entered Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTE’s as one exited stage right on the very first lap whilst the other returned the best result for their gentleman driver so far since his return to topflight GT racing.


For the #69 car of Ahmad Al Harthy, Sam De Haan and Marco Sorenson, their quick fire out of the box gave them a P2 start for that opening race but sadly their hard work was quickly undone after a rash move from an LMP3 car avoiding another LMP3 car led to front end contact for the black and silver livered Aston Martin and broken steering just after the pit lane exit on the opening lap.

In contrast, the #95 car of John Hartshorne, Jonny Adam and Henrique Chaves progressed their red machine up from a P12 start out of twelve GTEs to finish the four hours of Paul Ricard sixth in class.


Forty-two cars are listed for the 4H of Imola with twelve GTE cars again taking to the grid around the 4.9km circuit on Sunday.

Free Practice 1 and a Bronze driver test will take place Friday with a further Free Practice and Qualifying on Saturday ready for a green flag at 11:30hrs local on Sunday.


Joining them in Italy will be the Spanish based Bullitt Racing team who compete within the ELMS supporting Michelin Le Mans Cup Series with their black and red Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3.

Also having auditioned in the series with their Aston Martin at Paul Ricard last month, the #99 was unlucky not to have overcome significant frontal damage after an incident during Free Practice to come back with a podium finish within the GT3 class by the end of their 110-minute race.

Generous inter AMR team support from the PROsport Racing team in Germany furnished the team with the necessary spares to allow team boss Stephen Pattrick and Theo Nouet to compete in the race that eventually saw a mix up in timing to have us believe that a last lap pass from the young Frenchman was enough for them to steal P3 at the death. Only later was it confirmed that the race had finished the lap before and that the #99 car had missed out on P3 by just 0.3 of a second.


Like Paul Ricard, Nouet again deputises for listed co-driver Valentin Hasse-Clot who is again preoccupied with his GT4 racing duties within the FFSA GT4 Series second round this weekend at Magny-Cours.

Photo credits – Teams / ELMS / Le Mans Cup
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