Benjamin Pedersen replaces Francesco Simonazzi for the remaining ELMS races

Duqueine Team will field a reshuffled trio from ELMS Spa-Francorchamps round in Belgium (August 22-24).

Francesco Simonazzi, who has made fine progress in all three first races, has been forced to end his season prematurely for physical reasons. Because of his size (1.92 m), the Italian driver was unable to maintain his level of performance throughout a stint, due to his difficult installation and back pain in the Oreca 07's cockpit. Duqueine Team would like to thank Francesco for his hard work and commitment during the early part of the season.

To replace him, Gilles Duqueine's team will be able to count on Danish driver Benjamin Pedersen. After single-seater racing, with a runner-up finish in F3 Americas in 2019 before turning to the IndyCar pyramid, the 26-year-old

discovered endurance racing last year in the ELMS LMP2 category at Spa, Mugelllo and Portimão, before competing in IMSA in 2025.

Pedersen will be able to draw on his experience of the Oreca 07 to be ready as quickly as possible with his new environment.

Francesco Simonazzi : I'm just really saddened to what happened after many years and preparation to reach this kind of level in motorsport. I wasn't able to continue in it. I just want to thank everybody who tried to make it work

for me. We worked all day and night just to get a result. In the end, it was not possible. I will try my best in another area of motorsport with the same attitude that I had to prepare for this one.

Benjamin Pedersen : I’m very excited to join Duqueine Team for the remaining of the 2025 ELMS rounds. I will do everything to try and give the team some strong results together with Reshad and Roy.

Jean-Karl Vernay (Sporting director) : We're sorry for Francesco who has to stop during the season. This was obviously not what everybody wanted. But after working hard on more than 20 seats, unfortunately, the pain was too great to have a good performance. Francesco was very fast right from the start of the season. We're delighted to be able to count on Benjamin, who has a great profile and solid experience in single-seaters. He showed his speed in IMSA this year and in ELMS in 2024, and will bring his experience to LMP2. We've put in some good performances, but we haven't managed to convert into results. That's what we're aiming for at the end of the season. We're looking forward to Spa.