Race 2 ROAD TO LE MANS: victory for Léna Bühler and Mattéo Quintarelli

At the start, Louis Rousset (Ligier JS P325 #29 Forestier Racing by VPS) came to break the front row occupied by the two Team Virage Ligier cars (JS P325 #8 and #16) but he sent Sebastian Gravlund's #8 into a spin before even braking for the first chicane. Many competitors were caught out and several cars found themselves stuck in the gravel trap on the outside, including the Ferrari 296 GT3 #21 and #23 which had connected under braking. The safety car was quickly deployed by race control.

Louis Rousset was ahead of Léna Bühler (#50), Quentin Antonel (#68) and Sacha Lehmann (#16), who had started from pole position. Antti Rammo (#2) was leading the LMP3 Pro/Am class. At the restart, Lehmann was losing ground in the standings. In GT3, the men from the front row of the class were in the fight, with Heiko Neumann (Mercedes-AMG GT3 #65) ahead of Laurent de Meeus (Ferrari 296 GT3 #52). Anthony Bartone (Mercedes-AMG GT3 #14) joined the party and managed to take the lead before the end of lap 5 and the opening of the refueling window.

Logically, after its starting maneuver, the #29 Forestier Racing by VPS Ligier JS P325 received a drive-through penalty which permanently removed it from the front of the field.

After the pit stops, with the safety car out again, Léna Bühler's teammate, Mattéo Quintarelli (Ligier JS P325 #50 23Events Racing) was in the lead. He was ahead of Theodor Jensen (#37), Hugo Schwarze (#85), Vladislav Lomko (#68) and Oscar Tunjo (#70). Thomas Laurent (Ginetta G61-LT-P325-EVO #2 DKR Engineering) led the Pro/Am class field and Steve Jans led the GT3 class field (Mercedes-AMG GT3 #14 Getspeed).

At the restart, it was money time  : only 11 minutes of racing remained. Matteo Quintarelli perfectly revived the race. Refusing to be left behind, Jensen immediately spun, only to find himself going the wrong way and hitting the wall at the start of the pit straight. A new collision involving the #27 and #28 Ligier JS P325-Toyota prototypes brought out the safety car. There was only one lap left when the race was restarted for the last time. Quintarelli was forced to close all the doors in the face of attacks from Schwarze, who only let go in the Porsche corners.

The Top 5 LMP3:

1. Ligier JS P325 #50 23Events Racing (Bühler/Quintarelli), 10 laps

2. Duqueine D09 #85 R-ace GP (Schwarze/David), at 0”531

3. Duqueine D09 #70 Gebhardt Motorsport (Tunjo/Catalano), at 2”493

4. Ligier JS P325 #92 Forestier Racing by VPS (Morano/Roussanne), at 3''011

5. Ligier JS P325 #25 Reiter Engineering (Born/Valint), at 4”575

The winners of the other two categories:

• LMP3 Pro/Am: Ginetta G61-LT-P325-EVO #2 DKR Engineering (Rammo/Laurent)
• GT3: Mercedes-AMG GT3 #65 Team Motopark (Neumann/Dunner)

Superb show put on by McLeod and Noaker in the Ford Mustang Challenge

While the first race of the Ford Mustang Challenge saw Cameron McLeod win by a clear margin of more than five seconds over Sam Paley (#26) and Marco Signoretti (#97) - the second race, which started in the same order, was much more closely contested. Cameron McLeod initially built his lead before the safety car came out on the first lap: Marco Signoretti, one of the favorites, was caught in a double pileup at the Daytona chicane, his Mustang Dark Horse R suffering front and rear damage. One favorite down, and McLeod could believe his luck, as another of his rivals, Sam Paley, was hit by the Dunlop and lost his bumper.

But that was without counting on Robert Noaker. The hero of the first race – who started last and finished 6th – repeated his run. His car, bearing the #13, was already in the top 15 (out of 39 entries) after just one lap. He moved up the order as soon as the green flag was shown again, becoming the fastest on track with a time of 4:19.559, the only one under 4:20.

He overtook Belgian driver Nathan Vanspringel by overtaking on the outside at Mulsanne. Second, a good distance behind Cameron McLeod when a slow zone was triggered, Robert Noaker reacted better when it was removed... and took the lead! He, who had never driven in a race with slow zones, showed his responsiveness. Would he win by coming from the back of the grid? The two drivers, members of the Ford Performance Junior Team Drivers (a program launched by Ford to support young talents), engaged in a sublime duel. They explained themselves and offered a great spectacle to the already numerous spectators. Finally, Australian Cameron McLeod came back to the level of American Robert Noaker, for an overtaking move that took place at Indianapolis. In this clean and contactless battle, the Mustangs showed all their dynamic qualities (in addition to a good top speed) by being well driven. Noaker's final attack at the start of the Porsche bend changed nothing.

The Top 5:

1. Cameron McLeod – Ryan McLeod Racing Cars #92, 9 laps
2. Robert Noaker – Robert Noaker Racing #13, 0.174 seconds behind
3. Sam Paley – Paley Motorsport #26, 3.477 seconds behind
4. Jenson Altzman – TeamFloral #23, 3.897 seconds behind
5. Matt Nicoll-Jones – Academy Motorsport #62, 6.853 seconds behind

The winners of the other two categories:

• DHS: Tanner Foust – Spark Performance #1
• DHL: Alfonso Diaz – TechSport Racing #15