In the Michelin Le Mans Cup the dominant LMP3 team, since the class became part of the series in 2017, has been DKR Engineering with the Luxembourg based team winning four team titles in a row.
While DKR Engineering has also run a car in the ELMS, the team has not enjoyed the same level of success, until 2021.
The season got off to a modest start for DKR Engineering, with reigning MLMC Drivers Champion Laurents Hörr sharing the Duqueine D08-M30 with Alain Berg in the opening round in Barcelona. The German-Luxembourg pairing brought the car home in 5th place and a credible 10 points on the score sheet.
At the Red Bull Ring the team ran three drivers for the first on only time in 2021, with Hörr being joined by Jean-Philippe Dayraut and Leonard Weiss. The weekend in Austria started well with Laurents Hörr taking the first of four pole positions.
However, in the race Jean-Philippe Dayraut had a problem on the first lap and the French driver headed to the pits at the end of the opening lap. The car rejoined but was two laps down and finished 8th in class for the worse result of the year.
At Le Castellet the team bounced back. It was just Laurents Hörr and Jean-Philippe Dayraut in the car for the 4 Hours of Le Castellet and after starting from pole position they came through to take the chequered flag for the first win of the season.
Another victory from pole position followed at Monza, with Laurents Hörr being joined by yet another driver, 17-year-old French Matthieu de Barbuat, who had only raced a car on one other occasion prior to taking the win in Italy.
The team kept the same line up for the final two races of the season, with a third win in a row from pole position at Spa-Francorchamps meaning the no4 DKR Engineering Duqueine was just 5 points behind the no19 Cool Racing Ligier of Matt Bell, Nicolas Maulini and Niklas Kruetten for a last showdown at the season finale in Portugal.
The no4 DKR Engineering Duqueine took the chequered flag in Portugal but was given a 30s stop and go converted to a 1minute 5 second time penalty for the left rear lights not functioning for part of the race. This dropped the car down to 4th place, but it was still ahead of the no19 Cool Racing Ligier, which had finished in 8th spot.
DKR Engineering claimed their fifth LMP3 title in a row and their first in the ELMS by just one point, finishing the season on 105 points, to 104 points for Cool Racing. It was also the first ELMS drivers title for Laurents Hörr, adding to his two MLMC titles, and also the first championship for Duqueine.
CLICK HERE for the 2021 LMP3 Championship Standings
