The 2017 Michelin Le Mans Cup returns to the south of France for Round 4 at the beautiful Circuit Paul Ricard at Le Castellet. The third 2-hour race of the 2017 season will take place on Saturday 26 August and will feature an impressive grid of 20 LMP3 and GT3 machinery.
Local interest will focus on the French entries with 8 of the 60 drivers, 5 of the 19 teams and 15 chassis manufacturers all flying the French flag in Le Castellet.
In GT3 Cédric Mézard and Steeve Hiesse will be looking for their second podium of the season after the French duo secured third place at Le Mans in the no8 SVC Sport Management Lamborghini. They are currently in 4th place in the championship table on 34 points, 15.5 points behind Red Bull Ring winners Emanuele Busnelli and Fabio Babini in the Ebimotors Lamborghini Huracan.
Busnelli and Babini have an 8 point advantage over Round 1 winners Lee Mowle and Phil Keen in the no7 Mercedes with Flick Haigh and Joe Osborne on 34.5 points in third place in the no75 Optimum Racing Audi R8.
The 15 car strong LMP3 grid features 14 Ligier JS P3-Nissans and one Norma M30-Nissan but it is the Norma that is proving to be the class of the field having won the last two races in Le Mans and Red Bull Ring.
The no3 DKR Engineering Norma in the hands of Spain’s Alexander Toril and Belgium’s Jean Glorieux has scored three podium finishes in four races, including two wins, and taken three pole positions. They are currently on 61 points, 17 ahead of Round 1 winners of the all British no 79 Nielsen Racing Ligier with Tony Wells and Colin Noble at the wheel.
There are six French drivers on the LMP3 grid with Emilien Carde and Adrien Chila in the no65 Graff Ligier currently in third place on 29.5 points. The all French team scored their first podium of the 2017 season in the last race in Austria and will be looking to score another on home soil at Le Castellet.
The no99 N’Race Ligier and the no53 M.Racing YMR Ligier also feature an all French driver line up. Gaetan Palletou and Alain Costa will race for N’Race and Natan Bihel and Laurent Millara will share the driving duties for M.Racing YMR.
The grid will also feature two further French teams. Cool Racing by GPC will run their Ligier JS P3 for Swiss duo Alexandre Coigny and Iradj Alexander, while Duqueine Engineering will feature an all American crew in their Ligier of Joel Janco and Gerry Kraut.
CLICK HERE for the provisional entry list for Round 4 of the 2017 Michelin Le Mans Cup in Le Castellet.
