G-Drive Racing Take First Win of 2021 at Le Castellet

Roman Rusinov, Franco Colapinto and Nyck De Vries had to work hard for the victory with De Vries taking the chequered flag just 6.3 seconds ahead of the no22 United Autosports Oreca of Tom Gamble.

The LMP2 Pro-Am win went to the no34 Racing Team Oreca with Harry Tincknell crossing the line in 6^th overall.

1. Roman Rusinov started at the front of the field thanks to the qualifying performance of Nyck de Vries on Saturday afternoon. The Russian driver had to defend his position from the no22 United Autosports Oreca of Phil Hanson and this allowed the no41 Orlen Team WRT Oreca of Yifei Ye to take the lead.
2. Paul Lafargue got a good start in the no28 Idec Sport Oreca to move up from 6^th to 3^rd at the start ahead of Antonin Borga in the no37 Cool Racing Oreca.
3. The no41 Oreca pulled out a gap to the no26 Aurus of 10 seconds in the first 30 minutes of the race, with Rusinov also pulling out a similar gap to the no22 Oreca of Phil Hanson, who was being challenged closely by the chasing cars lead by Lafargue, Borga and Will Stevens in the no65 Panis Racing Oreca.
4. Roberto Mehri in the no25 G-Drive Racing Aurus, which had started at the very back of the grid, was up to 9^th in the first 30 minutes.
5. Lap 21 saw Borga overtake Lafargue for 4^th and then Stevens in the no65 Oreca move ahead of Lafargue for 5^th.

On lap 22 a Full Course Yellow was declared when the no18 Ligier stopped on track and had to be recovered. Five minutes later the race went green again but not before most of the leaders had taken the opportunity to pit, with some changing drivers.

1. Yifei Ye had stayed in the no41 Orlen Team WRT Oreca and was 10 seconds ahead of the no26 G-drive Racing Aurus, which now had Franco Colapinto at the wheel.
2. On the hour the Safety Car was sent out on track when the no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier stopped after contact with the no60 Iron Lynx Ferrari.
3. The Safety Car lasted 14 minutes before the race went back to green.
4. The next set of pitstops saw the no22 Oreca, with Jonathan Aberdein in the driver’s seat, take the lead when the leading cars came in. The South African stayed out for another 10 minutes before making his stop to hand over to Tom Gamble.
5. The no26 G-Drive racing Aurus lost some time in the stop and lost places to the front runners.
6. Robert Kubica was now leading in the no41 Orlen Team WRT Oreca from Rene Binder in the no30 Duqueine Team Oreca and Julien Canal in the no65 Panis Racing. Nico Jamin and Tom Gamble were 4^th and 5^th in the no32 and no22 United Autosport respectively.
7. This status quo lasted for the next 20 minutes when Gamble moves up the field to third and led the race when the next set of pitstops came around.
8. ·Gamble led from the no32 Oreca of Job Van Uitert with Nyck De Vries in the no26 Aurus coming back on track after his stop ahead of Louis Deletraz in the no41 Oreca.