Danish squad GMB Motorsport dominated the 2022 Michelin Le Mans Cup with the team’s three Honda NSX GT3s taking the top three championship positions at the end of the season and claiming the automatic invitation to the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Five of the seven races held in 2022 - Le Castellet, Imola, Road to Le Mans 2, Monza and Spa-Francorchamps - were won by GMB Motorsport, with Ebimotors winning the first Road to Le Mans race in June and AF Corse finishing the season with victory in Portugal.
GMB Motorsport had secured the team title in Belgium with one race to spare, but which of the three crews – Kasper Jensen and Kristen Poulsen or Lars Pedersen, who raced with Jan Magnussen for the final two races of the year, or Gustav Birch and Jens Moller - would claim the drivers’ crown would have to be decided at the last race in Portugal.
LE CASTELLET
The opening 110-minute race of the year saw the GMB Motorsport team take a 1-2 finish on their Michelin Le Mans Cup debut, the Danish team also claiming a historic victory with the first win anywhere in the world for the Honda NSX GT3.Kristian Poulsen and Kasper Jensen brought the no55 Honda home, nearly a minute ahead of the pole sitting no44 Honda of Jens Moller and Gustav Birch after Moller was handed a drive through penalty for jumping the start.
IMOLA
In a race interrupted by multiple Safety Car and Full Course Yellow periods, the no44 GMB Motorsport Honda NSX finished over 11 seconds ahead of the rest of the GT3 field to take the class win, and the championship lead, for Gustav Birch and Jens Moller.The no55 Honda finished fifth, one place behind the no88 NSX of Lars Pedersen and Mikkel Pedersen.
ROAD TO LE MANS – RACE 1
The GT3 battle in the first Road to Le Mans encounter was very close with the no46 Ebimotors Porsche of Fabio Babini and the no34 Team WRT Audi of Arnold Robin going door handle to door handle.The Porsche was pushed by the Audi all the way to the finish, taking the chequered flag with just 0.6 seconds splitting the two cars.The battle for third place was just as fierce with the no55 GMB Motorsport Honda NSX of Kasper Jensen and the no61 AF Corse Ferrari of Andrea Montermini split by just three tenths, with the top 4 cars split by just 1.5 seconds at the chequered flag.Because the no34 Audi was not a full season entry, Kristian Poulsen and Kasper Jensen gained 9 points instead of 7 for third place.
ROAD TO LE MANS – RACE 2
The second 55-minute race of the Le Mans weekend saw the no55 GMB Motorsport Honda of Kasper Jensen and the no34 Team WRT Audi of Maxime Robin side by side for most of the final few laps.Robin tried to take the lead several times with the cars running door handle to door handle in a fantastic display of race craft, with Jensen holding on to claim the win.The no99 Bullitt Racing Aston Martin was third, and, like the first race, the top three covered by just 1.5 seconds.
Kasper Jensen and Kristian Poulsen stood on the top step of the podium, with Poulsen adding a RTLM victory to the two 24 Hours of Le Mans class wins in 2009 and 2014.
MONZA
Another incident packed race, with two Safety Cars and six Full Course Yellows, saw the no88 GMB Motorsport Honda NSX of Lars Pedersen and Mikkel Pedersen take the victory, the Danes starting the race from the back of the grid to eventually make their way to the top step of the podium, finishing nearly a minute ahead of their teammates Kristian Poulsen and Kasper Jensen in the no55 Honda NSX.
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS
A weather induced, incident packed race at Spa-Francorchamps saw GMB Motorsport secure their first 1-2-3, with the no44 Honda of Gustav Birch leading home his two teammates to secure his and Jens Moller’s second win of the season.
The podium lockout meant that the Danish team were 2022 Michelin Le Mans Cup Team Champions and secured the automatic invitation to the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans.18 points covered the three Honda NSXs at the top of the driver championship standings, with Kasper Jensen and Kristian Poulsen 17 points ahead of Gustav Birch and Jens Moller.
PORTIMAO
In a red flag shortened race at Portimao after an accident on the start finish straight that took 95 minutes to repair.The race was restarted behind the safety car and the remaining competitors were released for a 21-minute dash to the flag.
The no44 Honda NSX of Gustav Birch failed to finish the race after contact between the no8 Mercedes and the Honda. With both cars stopped, a Full Course Yellow was declared with 10 minutes on the clock.
The race went green with just under three minutes left and the leading no99 Aston Martin was given a drive through penalty for causing an earlier collision, which put the no51 AF Corse Ferrari into the lead, with Kei Cozzolino holding off a determined challenge from Jan Magnussen in the no88 GMB Motorsport Honda after the Dane had got past his teammate Kasper Jensen in the no55 Honda NSX.
By finishing third, Kasper Jensen was confirmed as the 2022 Michelin Le Mans Cup GT3 Drivers Champion alongside his teammate Kristian Poulsen.
CLICK HERE for the final Michelin Le Mans Cup points standings
