European Le Mans Series – ELMS 2013 – Round 3 – Red Bull Ring

Maranello 21 July – It was the best possible result for Ferrari at yesterday’s European Le Mans Series round at the Red Bull ring in Austria. The 458 Italia’s featured first, second, third and fourth in the GTE category and first and second in the GTC.

Leading the heard of Prancing Horses was the #52 Ram Racing car of Johnny Mowlem and Matt Griffin who took to the top step of the podium after the three hour race. Following closely behind was the #66 car entered by JMW and driven by Andrea Bertolini and Joël Camathias. In third place was the second Ram Racing car #53 driven by Gunnar Jeannette and Frankie Montecalvo – an amazing achievement for Jeannette especially after breaking his leg in a horrifying sky diving accident just two months ago. He even appeared on the podium on crutches in his leg brace. To complete the domination of the class the AF Corse car #55 of Piergiuseppe Perazzini, Marco Cioci and Federico Leo finished in fourth place.

This result means that Mowlem and Griffin take a comfortable lead in the championship with 70 points, Montecalvo and Jeannette follow with 45 and Bertolini and Camathias and complete the top three with 42 points.

Not to be outdone the SMP Team took the win in the GTC class with the #69 car driven by Fabio Babini, Viktor Shaitar and Kirill Ladygin. AF Corse followed a close second with its #62 car driven by Andrea Rizzoli, Stefano Gai and Lorenzo Casé.  This means that Rizzoli, Casé and Gai stand second in the drivers’ championship with 54 points just 1 point behind the leading pair. Babini, Ladygin and Shaitar are third with 50 points.

The next round of the ELMS championship will be a Hungaroring on the 13th and 14th of September.