Road to Le Mans

The Road to Le Mans is a sports car racing held annually at the Circuit de la Sarthe, in Le Mans, France. It serves as a support event for the main race, the annual 24 Hours of Le Mans. The race was first run in 2016, as a one-hour event, forming part of the Michelin GT3 Le Mans Cup, in its inaugural season.[1]

Road to Le Mans
Michelin Le Mans Cup
VenueCircuit de la Sarthe
First race2016
First MLMC race2016
Duration2x 55 Minutes
Most wins (team) DKR Engineering

History

The race was announced on 13 November 2015, a support race for LMP3 cars, competing in series sanctioned by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest, and GT3 cars competing in the Michelin GT3 Le Mans Cup. It would by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest with the collaboration of Le Mans Endurance Management (promoter of the Michelin GT3 Le Mans Cup Series)[2] It was announced to be a non-championship race for the LMP3 cars, while all full-season entrants of the GT3 Le Mans Cup would receive automatic invitations to the race.[2] For the inaugural race in 2016, a total of 39 cars were entered, with 22 LMP3 and 17 GT3 cars. [3] The race was the first time that GT3 and LMP3 cars had competed on the full Circuit de la Sarthe.[4]

In 2017, the race was announced to be returning on the Le Mans support calendar, albeit with a number of changes. The event was expanded to comprise 2x 55 minute long races, with up to 46 cars competing, instead of 42 in the previous year.[5]

Race Winners
Year Race Drivers Team Car Duration/Distance
2016 Alexandre Cougnaud

Thomas Laurent

 DC Racing Ligier JS P3 13 laps
2017 1 Sean Rayhall

John Falb

 United Autosports Ligier JS P3 13 laps
2 Alexander Toril

Jean Glorieux

 DKR Engineering Norma M30 13 laps
2018 1 Mikkel Jensen

Kay Van Berio

 EuroInternational Ligier JS P3
2 Michael Benham

Duncan Tappy

 Lanan Racing Norma M30
2019 1 Adrian Chila

Nicolas Schatz

 GRAFF Norma M30
2 Francois Kirmann

Laurents Horr

 DKR Engineering Norma M30


gollark: The 3D-printed grid was designed by GTech™ Manufactories and Assemblages™.
gollark: Some people use swap partitions. Some people use swap *files*. Cool people use swap *USB sticks*.
gollark: `fallocate`
gollark: Can you compress it with zstd or something instead?
gollark: mekanica is not receiveing updates.]

References
  1. Dagys, John. "ACO Launches Michelin GT3 Le Mans Cup for 2016 – Sportscar365". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  2. "Road to Le Mans as a curtain-raiser to the 2016 Le Mans 24 Hours". www.europeanlemansseries.com. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  3. "Entry List For The Road To Le Mans Race Revealed – dailysportscar.com". www.dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  4. Kilshaw, Jake. "39 Cars on Road to Le Mans Entry List – Sportscar365". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  5. Kilshaw, Jake. "Updated Road to Le Mans Format Revealed; Extra Race Added – Sportscar365". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.