AF Corse Win GT3 Title on Home Soil; R-ace GP Victorious in Italy

It was also 1-2 for Ferrari at their home circuit as the no88 AF Corse 296 finished 2.2 seconds behind the leader and well ahead of the no18 High Class Racing Porsche in third.

The LMP3 race was won by the no85 R-ace GP Duqueine-Nissan of Fabien Michal and Hadrien David, the all French team taking a lights to flag victory and regain the championship lead with one race remaining in Portimao next month.

Spa winners Bretton Racing finished in second with the Nielsen Racing taking the final podium place ahead of championship contenders Adrien Chila and David Droux in the no97 COOL Racing Ligier.

The race began on a dry track, with blue skies and some clouds.The no34 Inter Europol Competition Ligier had to start from the pitlane after a suspected gearbox issue delayed the team.

At the start the no85 R-ace Duqueine got a good start to lead the large field through the first corner, with the no2 CD Sport Ligier of Shahan Sarkissian slotting in behind the lead car. In the GT3 class the no51 AF Corse Ferrari moved ahead of the pole sitting no90 Blackthorn Aston Martin at the start, with the no88 AF Corse Ferrari also moving ahead of the Aston Martin.

The no10 Racing Spirit of Leman Ligier was the first retirement of the race after just 15 minutes of racing, Christophe Lapierre bringing the car in to the pits.After some investigating by the team, the car was retired.

Meanwhile the battle for third in GT3 was getting pretty hot with the no24 Steller Motorsport Audi and the no83 Iron Dames Lamborghini getting ahead of the no90 Blackthorn Aston Martin. The three cars were soon joined by the no18 High Class Racing Porsche and this four car train were fighting for the final podium place as the two AF Corse Ferraris pulled ahead.

The no29 MV2S Ligier stopped on the pit entry road and the first of three Full Course Yellows was deployed to recover the car.After just three minutes the race went green again. Unfortunately, the second Full Course Yellow was used 7-minutes later when the no59 Team Virage Ligier went off into the barriers at T13 and this car also had to be recovered under a FCY.

As the race went green the pitstop window opened and the cars started to come in for their mandatory stops.Celia Martin in the no83 Iron Dames Lamborghini stayed out until end of the pitstop window and briefly led the GT3 race but after everything had played out the no83 Lambo was still in 4thplace.

While Hadrien David continued to stretch the lead of the no85 R-ace GP Duqueine, the no62 Bretton Racing Ligier of Theodor Jensen moved up to third ahead of the no2 CD Sport Ligier of Willyam Gosselin and was closing on his teammate in the no26 Ligier in second place. It took a couple of laps before Jensen moved ahead into second place but was now over 25 seconds behind the lead car.

In GT3 Alessandro Balzan had recovered from an earlier scare in the pitstops when an LMP3 car was released right in front of him and he had to brake hard. Balzan had continued to lead in GT3 and was nearly 10 seconds ahead of the no88 Ferrari of teammate Riccardo Agostini.Sennan Fielding in the no24 Audi was 17 seconds further back in third place.

The no6 ANS Motorsport Ligier was unsighted while trying to negotiate some GT3 traffic and Nicolas Schatz ended up in the gravel at T10 and had to be recovered under the third and final FCY.

The no26 Bretton Racing Ligier had an unseen moment when the race went green again and dropped from third to seventh, with Wayne Boyd in the. no7 Nielsen Racing Ligier moving up to the final podium position. David Droux in the championship leading no97 COOL Racing Ligier moved ahead of the no2 CD Sport to take fourth place, and he soon closed the gap to Boyd.However, catching is one thing, passing is another, and the no7 Nielsen Racing Ligier defended for lap after lap.

In GT3 Sven Muller in the no18 High Class Racing Porsche finally made it past the no24 Steller Motorsport Audi to move up to third in GT3.

At the chequered flag Hadrien David took the chequered flag to record the second win of the season for the R-ace GP Duqueine and moved him and his teammate into the championship lead with one race in Portimao remaining. The no62 Bretton Racing Ligier was second, 42.4 seconds behind the lead car and 5 seconds ahead of the third place no7 Nielsen Racing Ligier.

The R-ace GP team hold a slender 5.5 point lead at the head of the championship standings, with the no97 COOL Racing Ligier of Adrien Chila and David Droux in second place.

Alessandro Balzan brought the no51 AF Corse Ferrari home 2.7 seconds ahead of the no88 AF Corse Ferrari to claim the third win of the season and the 2024 MLMC Team and Driver titles.The two Ferraris were nearly 60 seconds ahead of the rest of the field, with the no18 High Class Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R in the final podium position.

The season finale of the 2024 Michelin Le Mans Cup will take place in Portimao on Saturday 19th October.

Results are HERE