The 2023 Michelin Le Mans Cup saw another first for the series when Racing Spirit of Leman became the first team to win back-to-back titles in different categories, the Swiss team adding the GT3 title to the LMP3 crown they secured in 2022. The GT3 category was well supported with 12 full season entries that saw six different cars take maximum points in each of the seven races.
French driver pairing Arnold Robin and Valentin Hasse Clot, in the only Aston Martin Vantage GT3 on the grid, secured the Team and Driver titles with one win, four further podium finishes and one pole position from seven race starts. The final tally at the end of the season was 97 championship points, 20 points ahead of their nearest rivals.
The first race of the year saw 12 cars entered for the first of two trips to Spain.Reigning LMP3 Champions Racing Spirit of Leman got their debut GT3 season off to a great start with Arnold Robin claiming pole position in Barcelona. The French driver headed the timing screens for most of the 15-minute session but posted his best time of 1m42.444 just before the chequered flag.
At the start a multicar accident saw the Safety Car deployed on lap 1, with a second Safety Car being sent out only 3 minutes after the race went to green after another car went off into the gravel.
The pole sitting no10 Aston Martin Vantage had dropped back to sixth at the start, but once it went green after the second Safety Car Arnold Robin started to move back up the order to third before another Safety Car was deployed when another LMP3 competitor got stuck in a gravel trap.
After the pitstops Valentin Hasse Clot had moved into the lead of the GT3 category, with Scott Malvern in the no18 Team Parker Racing Porsche keeping him honest. The French driver held off the challenge to take the chequered flag eight seconds ahead of the Porsche.
The Road to Le Mans event is the highlight of the MLMC calendar and attracted an extra eight cars to join the twelve full season entries, including two Team WRT run BMW M4s, with multiple MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi at the wheel of the no46 BMW.
Race 1 ended behind the Safety Car with the no10 Aston Martin Racing Vantage finishing in third place, 8 seconds behind the no86 HCR with CaffeineSix Porsche 911, but securing nine points for second as the racing winning no31 BMW M4 was ineligible for championship points.
A disappointing 13th place in the second race of the weekend but because the podium was filled by the two non-championship scoring BMW M4s, with Valentino Rossi taking his first GT3 win, and the Team Winward Mercedes, Racing Spirit of Leman were awarded a single championship point.
Thanks to being the top finishing MLMC entry in both RTLM races, the no86 HCR with CaffeineSix Porsche left Le Mans leading the championship on 42 points, with the no10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin on 36 points.
Another podium was secured by Racing Spirit of Leman but it should’ve been another victory. Arnold Robin had secured another front row position for the race in Le Castellet, starting alongside Hiroshi Hamaguchi in the Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan, the Japanese driver denying Robin his second pole of the season by just 0.081s.
Once again, the race start was interrupted by an early incident and a Safety Car period but when racing resumed Arnold Robin moved into the lead.
After the pitstop Valentin Hasse-Clot maintained the lead given to him by his teammate, over 5 seconds ahead of the chasing pair of Lamborghinis, Vincent Abril in the Iron Lynx Huracan and Patrick Kujala in the no19 Leipert Motorsport Lambo. A stop and go penalty dropped Abril out of contention.
With 15 minutes left on the clock there was a Full Course Yellow after the 24-7 Motorsport Ligier stopped in the middle of the track.As the cars slowed down the leading no10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin stopped, Hasse Clot’s car suffering from a loss of power.He stopped, restarted the car and re-joined but Kujala had moved into the GT3 lead.
The race restarted and the chequered flag saw the no19 Leipert Motorsport Lamborghini take the first MLMC GT3 win for a German team, with the no10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin in second and the no63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini rounding out the podium places.
With the no86 Porsche finishing 9th, Racing Spirit of Leman moved back to the top of the points standings on 54 points, 10 points ahead of HCR With CaffeineSix.
Once again Arnold Robin qualified the no10 Aston Martin Vantage towards the front of the grid, starting the fifth race of the 2023 season from third behind the pole sitting no86 HCR With CaffeineSix Porsche of Tim Creswick and the no64 Team Parker Racing Porsche.
The two Porsches were fighting for the lead from the start of the race, with Robin keeping pace with the two 911s in third.
After the pitstops 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 Leman 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 due to an earlier penalty for overtaking beyond track limits.However, Cozzolino kept pace with the Danish driver and while the no51 Ferrari finished second on the road, the Japanese pairing finished first when the penalty was applied post-race. The no10 Aston Martin finished third for the Swiss team’s fourth podium finish from five races.
With the no86 Porsche finishing in second place, the championship lead held by Robin and Hasse Clot was cut to 6 points with two races in Belgium and Portugal remaining.
The penultimate weekend the 2023 season didn’t start well for Racing Spirit of Leman in qualifying when the no10 Aston Martin Vantage failed to set a time. The session was halted after two minutes when the no86 HCR With CaffeineSix Porsche spun off and hit the barriers at Bruxelles, halting the session while the car was recovered, and the damage repaired. Unfortunately, Arnold Robin’s car failed to start and was unable to rejoin qualifying until it was too late to set a time.
Starting at the back of the grid with his championship rival Tim Creswick, Robin made up some places after the start was delayed by a Safety Car on lap 1. While the leaders fought for the lead, the Racing Spirit of Leman was trying to make up ground but was thwarted by Full Course Yellows and Safety Cars.At the chequered flag Valentin Hasse Clot finished 5th, just 6.6 seconds behind the eventual winner, the no42 Steller Motorsport Audi R8.
With the no86 Porsche only scoring two points and the no51 AF Corse Ferrari scoring eight, the Racing Spirit of Leman left Belgium with a 12-point advantage in the championship standings with 26 points still to be won in Portimao.
Qualifying for the final race of the season was held on a wet track after heavy rain fell at the start of the session. The session was red flagged after the no55 GMB Motorsport Honda spun off into the barriers in the tricky conditions. Arnold Robin posted the third fastest time of the session to start at the head of row 2.
The race started behind the Safety Car as rain continued to fall. After 14 minutes the cars were released to begin the final race of the season.Tim Creswick in the no86 Porsche came through to move ahead of Arnold Robin’s Aston Martin but Creswick couldn’t shake his championship rival.
After the pitstops Valentin Hasse Clot caught and passed the no64 Team Parker Racing Porsche to move up to second, 13 seconds behind Vincent Abvil in the leading Iron Lynx Lamborghini. Another Safety Car being deployed with 33 minutes left on the clock to recover two cars that had skidded off the track in the increasingly heavy rain.
With the rain making the conditions impossible to race the final race of the season was red flagged and the result declared. Arnold Robin and Vincent Hasse Clot claimed their fifth podium finish of the season and the 2023 Michelin Le Mans Cup titles for themselves and for Racing Spirit of Leman.
CLICK HERE for the championship standings at the end of the 2023 Michelin Le Mans Cup season.
