2022 was a great year for Cool Racing, with young Dane Malthe Jakobsen becoming the first driver to secure six pole positions in six races in a single ELMS season.
However, the Swiss team didn’t expect to take the title in Portimao until fate stepped in and their championship rivals, Inter Europol Competition, failed to finish the race in Portugal and victory for the no17 Ligier put Malthe Jakobsen, Michael Benham and Maurice Smith at the head of the points table when it mattered most.
LE CASTELLET
Starting from Pole Position, Maurice Smith spent the first 20 minutes of the race fending off the challenge from fellow American Charles Crews in the no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier, with Crews passing the no17 Cool Racing Ligier in the last corner after 22 minutes of racing.A drive through penalty for abusing track limits dropped the no17 Ligier further down the order.
After a solid stint by Michael Benham, Malthe Jakobsen was on a charge in the final part of the race, moving up the order to pass the no13 Ligier for the lead in the final laps of the race to claim the victory.
IMOLA
A second start from pole for Maurice Smith saw the American fending off some determined challenges from his rivals at Imola.The no17 Ligier did drop back down the order, with Malthe Jakobsen taking over the car in 5th place to fight his way back up to 4th.However, a spin off the track for the no14 Inter Europol Competition Ligier promoted Jakobsen up to third at the chequered flag, finishing five places ahead of the no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier, with Guilherme Oliveira crossing the line in 8th.
MONZA
After Michael Benham and Malthe Jakobsen took the win in the Road to Le Mans race on Saturday morning ahead of the 90th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, it was back to the ELMS in July and the 4 Hours of Monza.Jakobsen took his third ELMS pole on Saturday afternoon but the no17 Ligier recorded its first DNF of the 2022 season on Sunday after an incident at T1 involving the no7 Nielsen Racing Ligier of Tony Wells and the no17 Cool Racing Ligier of Michael Benham brought out the first and only Full Course Yellow of the race.
Their championship rivals in the no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier scored their first win of the season.
BARCELONA
Another pole for Jakobsen saw the no17 Ligier start at the head of the LMP3 grid once again.In the race Charles Crews moved to the head of the field in the no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier but was challenged by the no2 United Autosports Ligier of Josh Caygill, with the no17 Cool Racing Ligier of Maurice Smith keeping pace in third.
The no13 Ligier of Guilherme Oliveira crossed the line 15.205 seconds ahead of the no4 DKR Engineering Duqueine, which was reduced to 5.205s when a 10 second penalty for track limits was applied.The no17 Cool Racing Ligier took another podium finish but was one lap behind the two leading cars.
The no17 Cool Racing Ligier was still leading the championship after 4 rounds but the no13 Inter Europol Competition crew were now just 5 points behind.
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS
A win for the no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier and a second DNF for the no17 Cool Racing Ligier in Belgium saw the Polish crew head to the final event in Portugal with a comfortable 19-point lead over the Cool Racing crew.Malthe Jakobsen, Michael Benham and Maurice Smith knew nothing short of a win in Portimao was going to keep their championship hopes alive and even then, the no13 Ligier had to finish outside of the top six.
PORTIMAO
History was made on Saturday afternoon when Malthe Jakobsen took his sixth ELMS pole from six attempts, the first driver to do this in ELMS history.The single point closed the gap to the no13 crew to 18 points, but it seemed to be an impossible mountain to climb, but the Cool Racing crew were going to go all out in an incident packed final race.
The 4 Hours of Portimao began with a familiar pattern with Maurice Smith holding his position at the head of the LMP3 field in the no17 Cool Racing Ligier ahead of Charles Crews in the no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier.The two Americans were battling hard, with Crews eventually able to take the class lead after 15-minutes of racing.
The no13 Ligier was involved in a collision with the no31 Oreca at T11 that put the LMP2 car in the gravel and saw the Inter Europol Competition car heading to the pits, re-joining quickly as a Full Course Yellow was declared.
In the final hour of the race the no17 Cool Racing Ligier of Malthe Jakobsen was 71 seconds ahead of Nico Pino in the no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier, which meant the LMP3 title looked destined to be going back to Poland as Guilherme Oliveira climbed aboard the no13 Ligier, but then disaster struck the Portuguese driver.With just 12 minutes left on the clock Oliveira came into the pits with a suspected puncture, dropping the team down to 7th, which would’ve given the title to Cool Racing.However, on emerging from the pitlane, the no13 Ligier didn’t turn in, it went wide at Turn 1 and then came back across the track, collecting the no95 Aston Martin of John Hartshorne and putting both cars in the gravel and out of the race.
Malthe Jakobsen finished over a lap ahead of the rest of the LMP3 field in the no17 Cool Racing Ligier, with the no2 United Autosports Ligier in second place, in turn a lap ahead of the no27 Cool Racing Ligier.Jakobsen claimed the LMP3 title for Cool Racing and for his teammates Maurice Smith and Michael Benham at the end of a dramatic race.
In addition to claiming the 2022 ELMS LMP3 title, Cool Racing also secured the automatic invitation to the 100th anniversary 24 Hours of Le Mans in June 2023.
CLICK HERE for the 2022 ELMS Points Standings
