European Le Mans Series
This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2014) |
Category | LMP3 |
---|---|
GT Classes | LMGT3 |
Tyre suppliers | Goodyear, Michelin |
Drivers' champion | LMP2: James Allen Alex Lynn Kyffin Simpson LMP2 Pro-Am: Matthieu Vaxivière François Perrodo LMP3: Adrien Chila Alex García Marcos Siebert LMGTE: Ryan Hardwick Alessio Picariello Zacharie Robichon |
Teams' champion | LMP2: Algarve Pro Racing LMP2 Pro-Am: AF Corse LMP3: Cool Racing LMGTE: Proton Competition |
Official website | europeanlemansseries.com |
Current season |
The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European
History
When he was allowed to bring the rules and racing formulae of the
Europe had lacked a major sports prototype series since the demise of the
The European Le Mans Series was launched for 2001 with five races, including a premier 1000 km race at
To aid in the development of the ELMS, the 2001 season shared some races between both ALMS and ELMS. The
The series was unable to earn much attention from European sportscar teams, especially since the final FIA Sportscar Championship and FIA GT Championship series used similar cars, but different rules which would require teams to modify their cars or buy new cars to comply with ELMS rules. For the ELMS events that included ALMS teams, very few teams actually bothered to make the trip across the Atlantic to participate in races that appeared to have very few serious competitors. Thus the entry lists for each race fell from 25 at the beginning of the season to a mere 14 at season's end, with some classes only having one or two competitors.
With a lack of involvement from teams, and less interest from the media due to the lack of teams, the European Le Mans Series folded following the 2001 season.
The ACO was not completely satisfied with the fact that IMSA did not fully comply with the ACO's regulations in order to help attract privateer teams, as well as the failure of the FIA Sportscar Championship to succeed in Europe. Seeing the success of the American Le Mans Series, the ACO decided that a series run by themselves would be a better alternative for Europe. The ACO would instead attempt to attract factory backed teams with longer endurance races than ALMS and FIA SCC ran. The series would also be European based instead of international, thus it could be closer to the factories of many sportscar teams to help attract them to the series.
In 2003, the ACO announced their intentions to create their own European-based series, named the Le Mans Endurance Series, which would be similar to the original European Le Mans Series, but feature only 1000 km races instead of the shorter, 2 hour 45 minute races used by the ELMS, and fewer races in a season than the ALMS and FIA SCC to help keep costs down. Winners of the LMES championship would go on to earn automatic entries in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, similar to the American Le Mans Series.
The series was initially previewed in an open race run under the LMES banner in 2003 at the
For the
In
In 2010, the
As the FIA World Endurance Championship was reestablished in 2012, the ELMS had a reduced car count including officially dropping the LMP1 Prototype class from the category and its calendar was reduced to three rounds in Paul Ricard, Donington Park and Road Atlanta (Petit Le Mans).
For 2013, a twenty-nine car field was announced, with eleven in the LMP2 class, ten in the LM GTE class, and five in the new GTC class, which used GT3 technical rules.[1] The calendar featured five races with a duration of 3 hours.
In 2014, the LMPC class was dropped and all races were expanded to 4 hours.
The 2015 season saw the introduction of the new LMP3 prototype class with cars built from
In 2016, the GTC class was dropped from the series and moved to a new support series, the
In 2017, it was established by ACO that the lower teams from LMP3 would drop to the year's
In 2020, with the season heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 4 Hours of Silverstone race would be dropped from the calendar due to a date not being able to be found. The 4 Hours of Barcelona would also be replaced by a second 4 Hours of Le Castellet race at Circuit Paul Ricard.[3] New ACO Generation II LMP3 ruleset regulation built cars were also eligible for the LMP3 Class in the category featuring manufactured chassis's such as the Ginetta G61-LT-P3, Ligier JS P320, Duqueine D-08, and the ADESS-03 Evo all of which use a VK56DE 5.6L Nissan V8 naturally aspirated engine.
In the 2021 season of the ELMS a LMP2 Pro-Am Cup Trophy was introduced aimed at teams who have bronze rated contracted drivers.[4]
In the 2023 season of the ELMS, it marks as the last season of the
Champions
See also
- FIA Sportscar Championship
- World Sportscar Championship
- FIA World Endurance Championship
- Asian Le Mans Series
- IMSA SportsCar Championship
References
- ^ "European Le Mans Series Announces 29 Car Field For 2013 - The Checkered Flag". thecheckeredflag.co.uk. 8 February 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
- ^ "LMP3 Cars Added to Michelin Le Mans Cup for 2017 – Sportscar365". sportscar365.com. 23 October 2016. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
- ^ "Second ELMS Race At Le Castellet Replaces 4 Hours of Barcelona | dailysportscar.com". www.dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 2022-06-10.
- ^ "2021 Regulations See Changes For ELMS & Michelin Le Mans Cup | dailysportscar.com". www.dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 2022-06-10.