The 2023 season saw a new step for the LMP2 Pro-Am category with a separate identity in the form of a light blue door panel and the chance to win a place on the grid at the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans for the eventual champion.
Eleven of the eighteen LMP2 full season entries would compete for Pro-Am honours. A hard-fought season long battle saw the top three cars split by just 3 points going into the final race of the season, with the no83 AF Corse Oreca-Gibson winning the 4 Hours of Portimão to take the title.
With five podium finishes from six starts, including wins in Aragón and Portimão, François Perrodo and Matthieu Vaxiviere were crowned 2023 Driver Champions. Ben Barnicoat and Alessio Rovera shared the third seat during the season, taking a win apiece and finishing 5th and 10th overall respectively.
In qualifying François Perrodo put the no83 AF Corse Oreca on the third row of the LMP2 Pro-Am grid, five places behind the no34 Racing Team Turkey of defending champion Salih Yoluç.
After the start was interrupted by a Safety Car caused by a multi car crash on lap 1, Salih Yoluç in the no34 Racing Team Turkey was leading the LMP2 Pro/Am category in 7th overall ahead of the no24 Nielsen Racing Oreca of Rodrigo Sales and François Perrodo in the no83 AF Corse Oreca.
This battle continued when Matthieu Vaxiviere took over the driving duties, with both he and Charlie Eastwood in the no34 Oreca moving up the overall order, with the no37 COOL Racing Oreca of Nico Lapierre joining in the fight for the LMP2 Pro-Am honours.
In the final stint Louis Delétraz in the Racing Team Turkey Oreca went into the lead ahead of the no30 Duqueine Team Oreca of Neel Jani, which was leading the LMP2 class. Ben Barnicoat, now at the wheel of the AF Corse Oreca, was ahead of Malthe Jakobsen in the no37 COOL Racing and at the chequered flag secured second in the LMP2 Pro-Am class and third overall.
François Perrodo qualified the Oreca-Gibson in 5th overall for the 4 Hours of Le Castellet, just 1.2 seconds behind Salih Yoluç’s pole position time.
In the first hour of the race Perrodo made up ground to finish his stint in third place behind Yoluç’s no34 Racing Team Turkey and Alexandre Coigny’s no37 COOL Racing Oreca. Mathieu Vaxiviere went up to second place during his stint before handing over to Ban Barnicoat for the final part of the race.
Barnicoat and Jakobsen were fighting for the final two podium positions as they were in Barcelona, with this time the upper hand going to the Dane, while Louis Delétraz claimed the second LMP2 Pro-Am win of the season for Racing Team Turkey in third overall.
The first ever visit to Motorland Aragón saw the crew of the no83 AF Corse get their championship bid back on track. Alessio Rovera joined François Perrodo and Mathieu Vaxiviere for the first of two races for the Italian.
In qualifying Perrodo made it on to the second row, finishing 4th and 0.5 second behind Salih Yoluç, the Turkish driver claiming his third pole position in a row.
At the start of the night race on Saturday evening, there was a change for the lead in the LMP2 Pro/Am, where Giorgio Roda in the no99 Proton Competition Oreca got ahead of Salih Yoluç. A good stint by Perrodo and Vaxiviere saw Alessio Rovera take over the no83 Oreca at the sharp end of the LMP2 Pro-Am field. The no24 Nielsen Racing Oreca of Ben Hanley was ahead of the no34 Racing Team Turkey of Charlie Eastwood, with the no83 AF Corse Oreca of Alessio Rovera in 4th behind Gianmaria Bruni in the no99 Proton Competition Oreca.
Rovera moved up the field to challenge for the lead, getting to the front in the final hour of the race. However, the battle for the LMP2 Pro/Am lead only came to an end when a problem in the pitlane for Racing Team Turkey meant the team had to push the car into the garage to solve the issue.
Rovera took the chequered flag in 5th overall to take the first win of the season for the no83 AF Corse Oreca and 14 seconds ahead of the no24 Nielsen Racing Oreca-Gibson.
With Racing Team Turkey finishing 9thin class, the no83 AF Corse Oreca left Aragón at the head of the championship standings with a three-point lead over their Turkish rivals.
Round 4 of the 2023 ELMS was held at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, with François Perrodo setting a time of 2m08.104 to claim 7th place on the LMP2 Pro-Am grid for the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. Salih Yoluç claimed his fourth pole from four attempts for Racing Team Turkey.
In the race the no37 COOL Racing Oreca took the LMP2 Pro/Am victory, with Malthe Jakobsen taking the chequered flag in 2nd overall, less than two seconds behind Alex Lynn in the winning LMP2 class no25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca at the end of the four-hour race.
The no83 AF Corse and no34 Racing Team Turkey Orecas were battling for the minor podium places, with Matthieu Vaxiviere getting ahead of Louis Delétraz to put the AF Corse Oreca second in class and third overall.
However, the celebrations at AF Corse were short lived when the no83 AF Corse Oreca-Gibson was given a 4-second time penalty for not respecting the speed under Full Course Yellow, having accelerated too soon. This dropped AF Corse back to 4th place behind Racing Team Turkey and the no21 United Autosports.
In the championship standings Racing Team Turkey went back to the top of the table on 74 points, with AF Corse on 70 points with two races in Portugal remaining.
Another third row start for François Perrodo in the first of the two 4-hour races at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve as the French driver posted a 1m59.912 in difficult track conditions after heavy rain. There was some comfort when Salih Yoluç failed to extend the championship lead by one point, with Alexander Mattschull in the no19 Team Virage Oreca taking his first ever pole in an LMP2 car.
The 4 Hours of Algarve took place on Friday afternoon with the wet and windy weather providing an extra challenge.
At the start Salih Yoluç went to the front of the LMP2 Pro/Am grid after Alexander Mattschull spun in the pole sitting no19 Team Virage. Rodrigo Sales was second in the no24 Nielsen Racing entry, with Tom Van Rompuy in the no3 DKR Engineering Oreca in third. François Perrodo was up to 5th, slowly moving up the order as the race progressed.
Salih Yoluç went off the road at Turn 8 and with the car stuck in the gravel unable to move, the Safety Car was deployed, this promoted Rodrigo Sales into the lead of the LMP2 Pro/Am class.
Perrodo handed over to Ben Barnicoat, the British driver getting onto terms with Ben Hanley in the no24 Nielsen Racing Oreca after a Safety Car period. Barnicoat took the lead at Turn 1 on the restart before handing over to Matthieu Vaxiviere for the final stint.
The no83 AF Corse Oreca was holding the class lead with Malthe Jakobsen closing the gap in the no37 COOL Racing Oreca. Mathias Beche was moving up in the no24 Nielsen Racing Oreca to challenge for the lead, with Jakobsen dropping back to third when the Dane was pushed into a spin by a backmarker.
The no83 Oreca tried to hold onto the lead by Beche found a way past but had clipped the AF Corse car on the way past, which would eventually cost the Swiss driver the class win. Jakobsen was recovering from his earlier spin and took second place from Vaxiviere.
The no24 Nielsen Racing Oreca of Mathias Beche took the chequered flag 8 seconds ahead of Malthe Jakobsen in LMP2 Pro/Am, but the Swiss driver was issued a 10 second penalty for the earlier collision with the no83 AF Corse Oreca, dropping him back to second place ahead of AF Corse.
With Racing Team Turkey finishing 6th, AF Corse went back into the championship lead on 85 points, just 2 points ahead of the no37 COOL Racing and another point ahead of Racing Team Turkey, setting up a grandstand finish in the final race of the season, the 4 Hours of Portimão.
Qualifying for the 4 Hours of Portimão was just as tricky as the previous qualifying session due to slippery track conditions. François Perrodo would start the final race of the season in 7th, with the no34 Racing Team Turkey Oreca on the front row in second place, Salih Yoluç denied another pole by Giorgio Roda in the no99 Proton Competition Oreca.
Heavy rain forced the race start to be delayed by 90 minutes and then start behind the Safety Car. After two laps the race was red flagged, with another 45 minutes of waiting for the rain to ease before the season finale finally got underway.
The first stint was all about keeping out of trouble as others slid off the track and François Perrodo did exactly that before handing over to Matthieu Vaxiviere. As the race progressed the conditions improved and for the final stint Ben Barnicoat was pushed all the way to the chequered flag after a late Full Course Yellow period by their championship rivals in the no37 COOL Racing Oreca, with Malthe Jakobsen crossing the line just 0.631s behind the no83 Oreca.
The final championship standings saw AF Corse on 110 points, COOL Racing on 101 points and Racing Team Turkey, who had finished the 4 Hours of Portimao in 4th place, on 94 points.
François Perrodo and Matthieu Vaxiviere were declared 2023 European Le Mans Series LMP2 Pro/Am Drivers’ Champions.
CLICK HERE for the final championship standings in LMP2 Pro/Am.
