The no4 Nielsen Racing Duqueine-Nissan of John Melsom and Matt Bell won an incident packed race at MotorLand Aragon from a lowly 19th grid slot. Melsom made up 12 places during his stint before handing over to Bell, who forced his way to the front to bring the car home 5.8 seconds ahead of championship leader Gillian Henrion in the no16 Team Virage Ligier.
The GT3 battle was just as intense with the no86 HCR with CaffeineSix Porsche of Anders Fjordbach taking the chequered flag, but the Danish team had a five second penalty added for an earlier overtake beyond track limits. This put them back to second and the victory for the no51 AF Corse Ferrari of Hiroshi Koizumi and Kei Cozzolino, the first MLMC victory for the new Ferrari 296 GT3.
There were several interruptions during the course of the 110-minute race, with three Safety Car and one Full Course Yellow periods.
The start saw the 40 car field head down to Turn 1 led by the no22 United Autosports Ligier of Josh Cayhill. Torsten Kratz in the no48 Murphy Prototypes Duqueine, who had started on the front row, was tapped by one of the Team Virage Ligiers and this damaged the German’s rear left tyre, forcing him into the pits.
However, several cars spun at Turn 1 in a separate incident that saw the no7 Nielsen Racing Ligier of Tony Wells side-lined at Turn 2, bringing out the Safety Car before the end of the first lap.
In GT3, the no64 Team Parker Racing Porsche of Alex Martin had got ahead of the pole sitting no86 HCR with CaffeineSix Porsche of Tim Creswick, with Arnold Robin in the no10 Racing Spirit of Léman Aston Martin in third as the Safety Car was deployed.
Racing resumed after 10-minutes and the no22 Ligier pulling away from the rest of the field led by the no25 360 Racing Ligier of Mark Richards, the no59 Team Virage Ligier of Oscar Bittar and the no87 COOL Racing Ligier of Adrien Chila, with Chila gaining a place at the expense of Bittar on lap 6 at T16.
In GT3 Creswick regained the lead, the no86 Porsche passing Martin’s no64 Porsche, with the two Porsche’s well ahead of the no10 Aston Martin and the chasing GT3 pack.
Oscar Bittar was under pressure from his teammate Julien Gerbi in the no16 Team Virage Ligier, with Gerbi going up to 4thon lap 10.
The battle for the lead of GT3 was still going on and there was another change on Lap 10 when Alex Martin went ahead of Tim Creswick for the second time.
The no28 MV2S Racing Ligier of Christophe Cresp ended beached in the gravel at T12 after contact with the no77 Team Thor Ligier of Audunn Gudmundsson, bringing out the second Safety Car period of the race.
Another 12 minutes had elapsed before racing resumed, with the no30 Frikadelli Racing Team Ligier of Klaus Abbelen spinning at T1 forcing the no86 Porsche of Tim Creswick to run wide in avoidance, forcing him to drop back from the leading no64 Porsche.
However, a lap later Creswick went back into the lead in a move that went beyond track limits, which was penalised later in the race with a 5-second penalty.
The pitstop window opened, with many of the lower order cars coming in and the front runners staying out. The no22 United Autosports Ligier pitted from the lead, with Josh Caygill handing over Garnet Patterson, but a longer than anticipated stop due to the car failing to start saw the Australian rejoin down the order and out of the running for a podium finish.
Torsten Kratz stayed out in the no48 Murphy Prototypes Duqueine and held the lead for several laps after fighting his way back up from 39th after the opening lap incident. However, he had to pit and hand over the car to Will Bratt, dropping them back down the order.
This promoted the no87 COOL Racing Ligier of Cédric Oltramare into the lead, the Swiss driver being chased down by the no16 Team Virage Ligier of Gillian Henrion, the no25 360 Racing Ligier of Belen Garcia, with Matt Bell in the no4 Nielsen Racing Duqueine now up to 4th after a good run by Melsom. Garcia and Bell were battling for third, with the cars running nose to tail for several laps before Bell’s experience saw the British driver move ahead of the Spanish driver, with Henrion moving ahead of Oltramare for the lead.
In GT3 the no64 Team Parker Racing Porsche had dropped back to 5th, with the no86 HCR with CaffeineSix Porsche leading with Anders Fjordbach 4.2 seconds ahead of the no10 Aston Martin of Valentin Hasse Clot. The two AF Corse Ferraris were fighting for third with Emmanuel Collard in the no83 Ferrari and Kei Cozzolino in the no51 296 GT3 battling for several laps before Cozzolino was able to move ahead.
The Japanese driver then caught and passed the no10 Racing Spirit of Léman Vantage to take second place but was unable to close the gap to the leading Porsche, with Fjordbach knowing he needed a 5 second gap to win the race.
However, fate played its hand, and a final Safety Car closed the field up again after the no23 United Autosports Ligier of Wayne Boyd pulled off the track with smoke coming from the engine bay. Just before the Safety Car was deployed Matt Bell had moved up to second place ahead of the no87 COOL Racing Ligier and now just behind Gillian Henrion behind the Safety Car.
The race restarted with 23 minutes left on the clock, with the no4 Nielsen Racing Duqueine getting the better run into Turn 1, with Matt Bell taking the lead for the first time. Colin Noble was also on the move up the order in the no77 Team Thor Ligier and was soon up to third.
The GT3 lead was still held by the no86 Porsche but Anders Fjordbach couldn’t pull away from the no51 Ferrari of Kei Cozzolino, the Japanese driver knowing he only had to stay within 5 seconds of the Porsche to win the race. He had a 10 second advantage of Valentin Hasse Clot in the no10 Aston Martin Vantage, who in turn had a comfortable buffer to the no19 Leipert Motorsport Lamborghini of Patrick Kujala, the Finn passing the no55 GMB Motorsport Honda a few laps earlier.
At the chequered flag Matt Bell crossed the line to record the win for himself, John Melsom and Nielsen Racing, while the GT3 victory went to the no51 AF Corse Ferrari.
CLICK HERE for the result from Round 4 of the 2023 Michelin Le Mans Cup in Aragon.
