ELMS at Le Castellet – Facts and Figures

The French track is also the only one in the history of the ELMS to have two races in the same season, when in 2020 the circuit hosted Round 1, the 4 Hours of Le Castellet, and Round 3, Le Castellet 240, the second race replacing the event due to be held at Barcelona but was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Here are some facts and figures from the nine races held at Le Castellet since 2013.

1. The first race in 2013 was the season finale (Round 5). This was a 3-hour race and was won by the no18 Murphy Prototypes Oreca 03-Nissan driven by Jonathan Hirschi and Brendon Hartley.Hartley went on to a works drive with Porsche in 2014 and going on to win two FIA World Endurance Championship titles (2015 / 2017) and the 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans.
2. Only one team has taken two overall wins. United Autosports scored the first win of the 2020 season with the no32 Oreca and then took the second race at Le Castellet, with the no22 Oreca taking the chequered flag.

1. Oreca have won six of the nine overall races, with Morgan (2014), Gibson 015S (2015) and Dallara P217 (2017) winning one each.
2. Gary Hirsch has also won the 4 Hours of Le Castellet twice, both in LMP2.In 2014 he won in the no43 Newblood by Morand Racing Morgan-Judd and in 2015 in the no41 Greaves Motorsport Gibson-Nissan.
3. In 2013 Matt Griffin and Johnny Mowlem won the 3 Hours of Le Castellet in the no52 RAM Racing Ferrari.
4. Matt Griffin has won the LMGTE class in Le Castellet four times (2013 / 2014 / 2017 / 2020 Rd3).Three of the wins were with Duncan Cameron.
5. Two drivers have won in Le Castellet in two different classes.Job Van Uitert won the 4 Hours of Le Castellet in LMP3 (2018) with RLR MSport and LMP2 (2020 Rd1) with United Autosports.Paul Petit also won in LMP3 in 2016 with Graff alongside Eric Trouillet and in LMP2 in 2018 with Racing Engineering.

1. LMP3 was introduced in 2015 and the first 4 Hours of Le Castellet winners were Chris Hoy and Charlie Robertson in the Team LNT Ginetta.
2. Ligier have won five of the seven LMP3 races at Le Castellet, with Ginetta taking 1 win in 2015 and Norma in 2019 with the French team Ultimate taking victory with Jean-Baptiste Lahaye, François Heriau and Matthieu Lahaye.
3. United Autosportsis the only LMP3 team to have won two races at Le Castellet, with John Falb and Sean Rayhall winning in 2017 and Tom Gamble, Rob Wheldon and Wayne Boyd winning in Round 1 last season.
4. Ferrari have won 8 of the 9 races in Le Castellet. Spirit of Race and JMW Motorsport have won two each, with Luzich Racing, Formula Racing, AF Corse and RAM Racing taking one win each.The exception was in Round 1 of the 2020 season, which was won by the no77 Proton Competition Porsche.

1. The current official lap records were all set at the opening round of the 2020 season on Sunday 19 July.Nyck de Vries set a 1m40.139 (207.5kph) lap during the race in the no26 G-Drive Racing Aurus. Tom Gamble is the current LMP3 lap record holder with a 1m49.683 (189.4kph) lap in the no2 United Autosports Ligier.Andrea Piccini holds the LMGTE lap record with a 1m52.098 (185.3kph) in the no60 Iron Lynx Ferrari.
2. The fastest overall lap is held by Filipe Albuquerque, with a 1m38.268 (211.4kph) lap in LMP2 qualifying on 18 July 2020.

The 4 Hours of Le Castellet is Round 3 of the 2021 European Le Mans Series and it will held on Sunday 6 June.