2024 ELMS

The 2024 European Le Mans Series was the twenty-first season of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest's (ACO) European Le Mans Series. The six-event season began at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on 14 April and concluded at Algarve International Circuit on 19 October.

The series was open to Le Mans Prototypes, divided into the LMP2 and LMP3 classes, and grand tourer-style racing cars in the new LMGT3 class. The season was the first for the LMGT3 class, replacing LMGTE.

Calendar

The provisional calendar for the 2024 season was announced on 12 September 2023. Mugello Circuit was added to the calendar for the first time, replacing the round at MotorLand Aragón, and the Imola Circuit round returned after being cancelled the previous year.

Entries

LMP2

All cars in the LMP2 class use the Gibson GK428 V8 engine and Goodyear tyres. Entries in the LMP2 Pro-Am class, set aside for teams with a Bronze-rated driver in their line-up, are denoted with icons.

* Filipe Albuquerque was scheduled to compete for United Autosports, but withdrew prior to the start of the season.
* Gabriel Aubry was scheduled to compete for Vector Sport, but withdrew prior to the start of the season.
* Rob Hodes and Ian Rodríguez were scheduled to compete for Team Virage, but withdrew prior to the start of the season.
* Tom van Rompuy was scheduled to compete for DKR Engineering, but withdrew prior to the start of the season.
* Carl Bennett was scheduled to compete for Duqueine Team, but departed to take up his Hypercar opportunity at the Duqueine-run Isotta Fraschini squad in the FIA World Endurance Championship. He was replaced by Niels Koolen. Bennett later rejoined the ELMS with Cool Racing, taking Alex García's seat after two rounds.

LMP3

All cars in the LMP3 class use the Nissan VK56DE 5.6L V8 engine and Michelin tyres.

* Horst Felbermayr Jr. was scheduled to compete for RLR MSport, but withdrew prior to the start of the season.

LMGT3

All cars in the LMGT3 class use Goodyear tyres.

* Jeff Segal was scheduled to compete for JMW Motorsport, but withdrew prior to the start of the season.

Results and standings

Race results

Bold indicates overall winner.

Season report

Barcelona

The ELMS season began with the 4 Hours of Barcelona, for which Ben Hanley took the overall pole in the #22 United Autosports Oreca. The lead was lost in the opening hour, as Lorenzo Fluxá in the #37 Cool Racing entry caught #22's Filip Ugran napping at the end of a Full-Course Yellow period. Though Cool Racing (then driven by Ritomo Miyata) briefly lost the lead to the Algarve Pro Racing #25 piloted by Olli Caldwell, a quicker stop allowed the Swiss team to retake the lead with Malthe Jakobsen. He later crossed the line first, with Alex Lynn in the #25 holding off Hanley's #22 for second. In the LMP2 Pro-Am class, the #83 AF Corse crew ( Perrodo/ Rovera/ Vaxivière) triumphed over the #29 of Richard Mille by TDS thanks to a superior pit strategy, whereas the #8 Team Virage ( Gerbi/ Pinheiro/ Henrion) won in LMP3. Though GT was dominated by the #85 Iron Dames outfit, a stray wheel nut during its final stop terminally damaged the car, handing the victory to Formula Racing's #50 Ferrari 296 GT3 of Nicklas Nielsen, Johnny Laursen and Conrad Laursen.

Le Castellet

Le Castellet yielded chaos at the front of the LMP2 field, as the leading #37 Cool Racing and later #34 Inter Europol Competition squads both retired with mechanical problems inside of the final hour. That left Tom Dillmann, who had previously passed polesitter Job van Uitert (#28 IDEC Sport) with a daring move at Signes, to inherit the win in the remaining #43 Inter Europol (alongside Vladislav Lomko and Sebastián Álvarez). Cool Racing's #47 and the #14 AO by TF completed the podium, while Richard Mille by TDS won Pro-Am after the #83 fell down the order late on due to high tyre wear. Despite incurring a starting infringement penalty, the #15 RLR MSport won LMP3 with a fuel saving final stint from Gaël Julien; LMGT3 was won by the #55 Spirit of Race team led by David Perel.

Imola

Charles Milesi in the #65 Panis Racing Oreca took pole for the 4 Hours of Imola and later recovered the lead in the pits from the #14 AO by TF driven by Louis Delétraz. Milesi drove out a gap of 11 seconds and took the checkered flag from Delétraz and Vector Sport driver Felipe Drugovich, who held off advances from the pit lane-starting #43 of Dillmann. Algarve Pro took victory in LMP2 Pro-Am ( Lendoudis/Bradley/ Quinn), the #11 Eurointernational of Matthew Richard Bell and Adam Ali beat the #8 Team Virage entry in LMP3, and Michelle Gatting was able to resist the pressure of Valentin Hasse-Clot to triumph in LMGT3 with her Iron Dames teammates Sarah Bovy and Rahel Frey.

Following the race, the #65 Panis car of Milesi, Arthur Leclerc, and Manuel Maldonado received a 35-second penalty in lieu of a drive-through for a FCY-infringement, giving the win to the #14. However, the original result was reinstated weeks later following an appeal.

Spa-Francorchamps

Belgium saw a commanding performance from the #14 AO by TF: the team took pole with Delétraz and recovered its lead thanks to an overtake from Robert Kubica on the off-strategy #22 United. Delétraz narrowly won ahead of Dillmann's #43 Inter Europol, with IDEC Sport finishing third after the Panis car of Milesi dropped off in pace during the closing laps. A collision for Richard Mille by TDS driver Grégoire Saucy with a GT car gave a championship advantage to the #83 AF Corse crew, who won the race in dominant fashion. A dramatic collision occurred in LMGT3, where the championship-leading #63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini, damaged by prior contact with an LMP2 entry, heavily damaged the sister #85 Iron Dames entry. This allowed the #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Daniel Serra, Esteban Masson, and Takeshi Kimura to win ahead of GR Racing's #86 and the AF Corse #51 in a Ferrari 1-2-3. Eurointernational meanwhile completed a recovery drive from the Les Combes gravel trap to the win in LMP3, putting the #11 crew of Bell and Ali to the top of the standings.

Mugello

The first ELMS race at Mugello was controlled by the #9 of Iron Lynx – Proton. Led by Matteo Cairoli, the team took pole and, after an overtake from Macéo Capietto on Olli Caldwell, drove out to a victory ahead of the #25 APR and #34 Inter Europol. In LMP3, Gillian Henrion, helped by a slow final stop for the leading #15 RLR crew, was able to take Team Virage to victory again by stretching his fuel during a long final stint. Contact for Alessio Rovera with the #63 Iron Lynx meanwhile put the #83 AF Corse Oreca out of contention for the LMP2 Pro-Am win, which was taken by Mathias Beche's #29. The LMGT3 win was once again taken by the #57 Kessel Ferrari, as Serra made his way past the #97 Grid Motorsport Aston Martin of Lorcan Hanafin with six minutes to go.

The race was red-flagged following an incident between Rahel Frey and Claudio Schiavoni, the latter being tapped into the right-side wall in his Porsche.

Portimão

Going into the season finale in Portimão, there were three-way fights for the LMP2, LMP2 Pro-Am, and LMP3 championships, whilst LMGT3 included nine entries which had a mathematical chance of claiming the title. Aided by a falsely applied penalty to the #43 Inter Europol car, which ended up second in the standings, the #14 AO by TF crew of Jonny Edgar, Robert Kubica, and Louis Delétraz won the ELMS LMP2 drivers' title with a second place. They were beaten in the race by Cool Racing's #37, which became the only LMP2 squad to win multiple races throughout the campaign. They snatched third in the standings as Charles Milesi, the polesitter, caused a late collision with the #10 Vector Sport which gave the #65 Panis car a penalty.

The other three classes brought huge drama: in LMP2 Pro-Am, an audacious fuel saving strategy from Alex Quinn nearly gave the #20 Algarve Pro the title, before a last-lap overtake by race-winning Bent Viscaal of the #77 Proton team gave it to the #83 AF Corse outfit. In LMP3, Gaël Julien helped the #15 RLR MSport (co-driven by Michael Jensen and Nick Adcock) to win the title by overtaking Adam Ali in the #11 Eurointernational, which finished second overall; the race was won by the #17 Cool Racing led by Manuel Espírito Santo. LMGT3, in turn, was decided at the last turn, where the leading Iron Dames let the sister #63 Iron Lynx team of Hiroshi Hamaguchi, Axcil Jefferies, and Andrea Caldarelli through to take the victory and, by extension, the championship.

Drivers' Championships

Points are awarded according to the following structure:

LMP2 Drivers Championship

LMP2 Pro/Am Drivers Championship

LMP3 Drivers Championship

LMGT3 Drivers Championship

Teams' Championships

Points are awarded according to the following structure:

LMP2 Teams Championship

LMP2 Pro/Am Teams Championship

LMP3 Teams Championship

LMGT3 Teams Championship

Notes

References

External links

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{{European championships in 2024

European Le Mans Series
Le Mans Series
European Le Mans Series seasons