Italian outfit Prema Racing made it two wins from two starts in their debut season with Louis Deletraz taking the chequered flag 4.6 seconds ahead of the no22 United Autosports Oreca of Tom Gamble.
The win for the no9 Oreca didn’t come easily after two early penalties for a jump start and then crossing the pit exit line pushed Lorenzo Columbo down the order. However, a quick pitstop under Full Course Yellow put the Italian team back at the front.
Another penalty for Ferdinand Habsburg dropped the car back down the order again and a top five finish was on the cards before another fortuitous Full Course Yellow with 25 minutes to go put Louis Deletraz back to the front of the field following a quick pitstop.
The LMP2 podium was completed by the no37 Cool Racing Oreca, with Yifei Ye, who had been looking good for the victory prior to the FCY, finished just ahead of the no65 Panis Racing Oreca of Job Van Uitert.
The no34 Racing Team Turkey Oreca was the top LMP2 Pro-Am car for the second time in a row, with Jack Aitken crossing the line in 7thoverall, three places ahead of Mathias Beche in the no31 TDS Racing X Vaillante Oreca, which finished 2ndin Pro/Am after starting the race from the pitlane.
The LMP3 win went to the no3 United Autosports Ligier with Kay Van Berlo finishing well ahead of the two Cool Racing Ligiers, with the no27 Ligier of Antoine Doquin finishing ahead of the no17 Ligier of his Danish teammate Malthe Jakobsen.
The no14 Inter Europol Competition Ligier of Mateusz Kaprzyk was lying in second place but with just six minutes left on the clock, the Polish driver ended up in the gravel at Turn 3, promoting the two Cool Racing Ligiers that were behind him at the time.
History was made in the LMGTE Category with the first win for an Omani flagged team in ELMS history. The no69 Oman Racing with TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage of Marco Sorensen took the chequered flag after the car, which had been started by Ahmad Al Harthy, lead for almost the entire race distance.
It was a 1-2 for the team with the no95 Oman Racing with TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage AMR finishing second after Henrique Chaves took the flag nearly a minute behind his teammate.
CLICK HERE for the final results from the 4 Hours of Imola
The next round of the 2022 European Le Mans Series is the 4 Hours of Monza on Sunday 3 July.
LMP2
LMP3
LMGTE
Ferdinand Habsburg #9 Prema Racing Oreca 07-Gibson:“While we were racing in the lovely country of Italy, with a lot of obstacles in the way a lot of chicanes literally and metaphorically. Our car was extremely fast, our pace was incredible, and the team did a fantastic job; that's one of the reasons why we won.
“But on the other hand, we had some mistakes on the way we had a couple of drive throughs, things that we need to look at to improve. Then at the end, God came to save us, my prayers came true and he gave us a full course yellow, just when we needed to allow us to come back to where we felt we should be with our pace. In the end, we get to have champagne, we get to have trophies, we get to thank God and go to church today, for sure for the three of us, because a lot of luck was definitely involved today. But sometimes you need to take it and sometimes you need to earn it.”
Jack Aitken - #34 Racing Team Turkey Oreca 07-Gibson:“We knew traffic was going to be the main challenge coming to this track. Luckily, we managed to stay out of trouble kept our nose clean and didn't get involved in any of the accidents. I think we did a pretty good job, pace was good at times, but we also were a bit unlucky with some of the full course yellow timings. But that only really cost us in the overall standings. So, no big deal.”
Kay Van Berlo - #3 United Autosports Ligier JS P320-Nissan:“We are super happy with the result at the end, absolutely flawless race by the whole team, even though we started in P11 and we knew we had a bit of work to do.
“Andrew (Bentley) did an absolutely mega stint bringing us to P1, no mistakes, consistent lap times and staying out of trouble. The team did an amazing strategy, maximise everything off track, flawless pit stops, and so on.
“Once I jumped into the car, I just tried to feel how the pace was.I knew the pace was good, we had already a bit of a gap and it was all about being consistent, no mistakes, no track limits and staying out of trouble.
“As you've seen, it's relatively easy to make a mistake here, go off track, have contact with another car, track limits and so on. But we were able to just ride consistent lap times, extend and maintain the lead and bring it home in P1. So, we’re super happy with the result.”
Ahmad Al Harthy - #69 Oman Racing with TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage AMR:“Itwas a perfect qualifying and a perfect race win for us. To be honest, everybody in the team did a great job, and really opened up the strategy for us. It was great to know when I first talked about when we need to have a good run, a solid run.
“Obviously, we've been hoping for the win and now that we've tasted it, it really is an amazing feeling, it's just so beautiful. So once again, thank you to everybody at Oman Racing with TF, thanks to Sam (de Haan), thanks to Marco (Sorensen) and thanks to everybody in the team who did a great job.”
