Three days of pre-season testing for the European Le Mans Series package got underway today at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya, with today’s action dedicated to the Michelin Le Mans Cup, Wednesday and Thursday reserved for the European Le Mans Series.
You can read more about the on-track progress from the Le Mans Cup runners with our report from today.
Whilst the Le Mans Cup sessions were ongoing, DSC took the opportunity to catch up with goings on in the ELMS paddock, another hugely strong entry set to grace the series.
Aside from the recent calendar changes forced by Imola’s current lack of readiness, the biggest change for 2023 for the ELMS is the decoupling of LMP2 Pro-Am as a full fourth class, rather than the effective sub-class status it held in 2022.
That will include a fourth 15-minute qualifying session for the class, identified with light blue number panels, a point for pole for the first time for the class that still includes the proviso that each squad must field at last one FIA Bronze-rated driver.
LMP2 Pro-AM features 11 cars, with the LMP2 class adding a further seven ORECA 07s to the grid.
Amongst the Pro-Am contenders are returning ELMS stalwarts DragonSpeed, the #81 Oreca featuring Henrik Herman plus father and son racers Juan Pablo and Sebastien Montoya.
More family ties are on show at Proton where its ORECA sees Gianmaria Bruni joined by two second-generation sportscar racers, Giorgio Roda, son of Gianluca, and Jonas Ried, son of team co-owner Christian Ried.
Cool Racing, with an entry apiece in LMP2, P2 Pro-Am and LMP3 is sporting a new-for 2023 livery, as is Panis Racing with a very fetching pearlescent blue as the base colour for the #65 ORECA.
Also sporting a revised livery is the AF Corse LMP2 Pro-Am effort with Francois Perrodo again at the hub of a very strong driver line-up, the 2022 FIA WEC LMP2 Pro-AM Champ joined by Ben Barnicoat (seen below this morning with Perrodo, Guy Smith, and Matthieu Vaxiviere).
Nielsen Racing, which is running an LMP2 ORECA and LMP3 Ligier in the ELMS, and a pair of P3s in the Le Mans Cup is also here with updated colours. The team showcased them at a photocall yesterday.
The post ELMS Barcelona Prologue: Tuesday Paddock Notes first appeared on dailysportscar.com.