CLX Motorsport’s #37 ORECA 07 finished the second and final day of ELMS testing in Barcelona at the top of the leaderboard. The quickest lap for the Swiss team was set by Dane Theodor Jensen, a 1:30.014, as part of a productive 85-lap run for the car in the four-hour session.
That wasn’t the fastest time of the test, though; that feat went to Algarve Pro Racing’s Jake Hughes, whose 1:28.667 went unchallenged today.
The #9 Proton Competition ORECA ended the day with the second fastest lap. Ford Racing factory driver Mike Rockenfeller set the best lap, a 1:30.014.
Dan Sayers, who is overseeing the effort and the Venture Engineering staff operating the #9 this season as part of Ford’s ramp-up to Hypercar in 2027, told DSC it has been a productive two days.
“We’ve done a lot of learning, but it’s been good for the crew and the drivers to be out there with other teams to see where we are,” he said.
“We’re learning the car, how it behaves, and getting track time. For Seb and Mike, it’s been good for traffic management too, as they’re used to being overtaken all the time in a GT car. It’s going in the right direction.”
The #10 Vector Sport ORECA completed the top three. The quickest LMP2 Pro/Am car the #99 AO by TF example, ended up seventh overall, with PJ Hyett lapping within 1.3 seconds of Jensen’s benchmark time.
LMP3 was headlined by the sole Duqueine D09 in the field, entered by R-ace GP. Hugo Schwarze set a 1:37.324, which would turn out to be the best LMP3 time of the test. The fastest Ligier JS P325s were the #17 from CLX and the #35 from Ultimate in second and third.
LMGT3 saw a Ferrari emerge as the fastest car. David Perel was the fastest driver aboard a 296 in the #55 from Spirit of Race, with a 1:42162 during a brief 10-lap spell before leaving the circuit to head to the World Challenge Europe pre-season test at Paul Ricard, which begins tomorrow.
Charlie Eastwood stuck the TF Sport Corvette second in the class with a time less than two tenths off, while Daniel Serra slotted in third for Kessel, making it two Ferraris in the top three.
Across the two days, Porsche factory driver Laurin Heinrich’s 1:41.400 from the opening morning in the High Class Racing Porsche stood as the best time.
Elsewhere, United Autosports suffered a hiccup during the final session. The team’s #23 McLaren GT3 Evo caused a red flag when Australian Garnet Patterson stopped out on track with a loose wheel.
Better news, though, is that the team is hard at work on getting its #22 ORECA 07 ready for the race weekend after its fire during the morning session, the cause of which is still being diagnosed. The #22 was one of two cars that didn’t turn laps in the afternoon, the other being the GR Racing Ferrari.
Tom Hodgson, the director of customer racing at United, explained to DSC that the tub was not affected by the fire and has been signed off by ORECA for use this weekend. The car is currently being rebuilt from the bulkhead back.
“We’re fortunate that the fire occurred when it did, because we had planned to change a lot of key parts anyway between the test and the weekend. The key part we didn’t plan on changing was the engine, but Gibson has been really responsive and already supplied us with a fresh engine for the car,” he said.
“We are also extremely grateful that Griffin (Peebles) brought the car into the pits when the fire happened, instead of parking it trackside, as the damage would have been far worse or even terminal for the car. We also need to thank the members of Nielsen Racing who dashed over to assist our crew members in putting out the fire; it was a multi-team effort.”
The Le Mans Cup pre-season test day is next on the timetable tomorrow. The ELMS runners will return to action in Spain on Friday with Free Practice 1.