ELMS and Le Mans Cup head for Spa Francorchamps and their 4th rounds to their seasons
Sunday, August 17, 2025
Having started in Spain before travelling to France (with a brief interlude thereafter for those competing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans) before returning at Imola in early July, this second half to the ELMS will see next weekend’s round in Belgium before a return to Silverstone in a months’ time before the usual season finale from Portimao in mid-October.
The entry list for Spa again just features the sole Aston Martin Racing LMGT3 from the Racing Spirit of Leman team and their all-French driver line up of Clement Mateu, Erwan Bastard and Valentin Hase-Clot within their #59 car.
Early rounds have seen Mateu step up to the mark in qualifying with an ‘at worst’ performance of P3 on the grid ahead of each of the three four-hour races ran so far and including a pole position at Le Castellet, but the longevity of their overall performance has seen them finish in either P6 or P7 at the end of each race to rest in seventh within the LMGT3 Drivers Championship table.
Since the start of the season in Barcelona, all six available LMGT3 platforms have had a change in Balance of Performance at each of the subsequent rounds so far (excluding success ballast) but the data for Spa has yet been made available but all three drivers will arrive at the circuit with a good racing knowledge of the circuit in an Aston Martin.
The forty-four strong LMP2/LMP3 and LMGT3 grid will hit the track for the first time on Friday before Qualifying on Saturday and the start to this four-hour race at 13:00hrs local on Sunday.
Then within the similarly sized Le Mand Cup Series we will see forty-three LMP3 and GT3 powered crews compete in what will also be their fourth round of the season after visits to Barcelona, Paul Ricard and Le Mans with the #11 Code Racing Development Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 of Philipp Sager and Rory Van Der Steur amongst the eight strong GT3 class.
A P2 start and P2 debut finish together in Barcelona before a race win at Paul Ricard were not sadly backed up with the series annual visit to the Circuit de La Sarthe and its two Road to Le Mans races where a lowly P9 finish in class was the best that they could offer over the course of that weekend.
The teams results from June sees the driver duo slip to second within the GT3 Drivers Championship, but just two points behind the new leading pair with three races still to go.
Running a short programme again to the ELMS, the Le Mans Cup grid will also hot the track for the first time on Friday before both Qualifying and the race on Saturday.
Photo credits – Teams / Series /social media
