The European Le Mans Series descends on the Hungaroring this weekend and our writer @James_Newbold previews the action. Wins at Imola and the Red Bull Ring see Pierre Thiriet top the driver’s standings heading into the fourth round of the ELMS season at the Hungaroring. Teaming up once again with WEC regular Mathias Beche – fresh from scoring an outright podium in Brazil with Rebellion Racing – the Frenchman and his TDS Racing outfit are in a rich vein of form, but will find renewed opposition this weekend from their rivals in LMP2. Murphy Prototypes have confirmed that Jonathan Hirschi will see out the season alongside Brendon Hartley after an impressive debut at the Red Bull Ring, which was sadly cut short by starter motor problems at his first pitstop. Team-owner Greg Murphy is optimistic that the team’s bad luck would soon turn. “Brendon set ten consecutive fastest laps in Austria, so as always we have the speed, we just need to put the final pieces together. I expect Jonathan to do a great job, the same job as he did for us at the Red Bull Ring and between himself and Brendon hopefully get the podium, or even the win we deserve. We’ve had some bad luck this year, but if we can have a trouble-free run this weekend we’ll be a real force to be reckoned with.” Signatech-Alpine almost snatched the win from their Gallic rivals in Austria with a spirited recovery drive from Nelson Panciatici and won’t want to play second fiddle again in Hungary. Panciatici, who has raced at the Hungaroring several times in junior single-seaters, has his sights set on a first win of the season. “Physically you have to be very well prepared because there is often very stifling heat. We want to win to reward all those who follow us; second places were good results, but we must look higher.” Qualifying demon Oliver Turvey made it three poles in as many races in Austria before a penalty dropped the McLaren tester and team-mate Simon Dolan out of contention. Despite that setback, the Silverstone winners are still in title mix and if Turvey can replicate his qualifying form of previous rounds, the Jota Sport Zytek should be somewhere near the sharp end. Morand Racing has moved quickly to replace lead driver Franck Mallieux by capturing the services of ex-Formula 1 driver Christian Klien alongside Natacha Gachnang. The Austrian – who finished on the outright Le Mans podium with Peugeot in 2008 and competed in the V8 Supercars Bathurst 1000 endurance race last year – tested the Morgan-Judd at Snetterton, declaring himself happy to be back in “a proper racing car” and expects to be competitive from the offset. Meanwhile the GTE battle that has raged all season between the RAM Racing and JMW Motorsport Ferrari squads looks set to continue at the Hungaroring, with Matt Griffin and Jonny Mowlem looking to follow up their wins at Imola and the Red Bull Ring for the former. But don’t count out Nick Tandy and the Prospeed Porsche team either, with highly-rated Porsche junior driver Klaus Bachler joining the Briton – who may be bound for LMP1 next season as the German marque returns to prototype racing – and team boss Christian Ried.
Posted on: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 10:28:07 +0000
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