The grid for the 4 Hours of Imola (July 5-7) will include 128 drivers, including five recent winners of the 24 Hours of Le Mans: Nicklas Nielsen (Ferrari AF Corse – Hypercar), Oliver Jarvis (United Autosports – LM P2), Bijoy Garg (United Autosports – LM P2), François Perrodo (AF Corse – LM P2 Pro/Am) and Nico Varrone (AF Corse – LM P2 Pro/Am).
For the third round of the 2024 season, the grid will be made up of 22 LM P2 cars (14 in LM P2 and 8 in LMP2 Pro/Am), 10 LM P3s and 11 LMGT3s. The 128 drivers and 28 teams will represent 30 different nations. For the first of two visits to the Boot, with the first ELMS race at Mugello in September, Italy will be represented by four teams and seven drivers. This is the first time since 2022 that the continental championship has visited Imola.
LM P2: The winners of the Castellet race lead the title race
With the 24 Hours of Le Mans not part of the European Le Mans Series, 4 Hours of Le Castellet winners Sebastian Alvarez, Vlad Lomko and Tom Dillmann (Inter Europol Competition) head to Imola with a seven-point lead at the top of the LM P2 standings on 33 points. The next seven cars are separated by just 12 points, with the No. 22 United Autosports Oreca of Filip Ugran, Marino Sato and Ben Hanley in second on 26 points.
Lorenzo Fluxa and Malthe Jakobsen, winners of round one in Barcelona, will head to Imola with 25 points and will be joined by former ELMS champion Paul-Loup Chatin in the No.37 COOL Racing Oreca, replacing Ritomo Miyata , retained by Formula 2 at Silverstone. 19-year-old Thai driver Carl Wattana Bennett, starter in the WEC Hypercar category with Isotta Fraschini, will make his ELMS debut alongside Ferdinand Habsburg, returning from injury, and Frederik Vesti at the wheel of the COOL Racing Oreca 47.
Hypercar winner at Le Mans, Nicklas Nielsen will race in LMGT3
In a state of grace with consecutive victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Ferrari then at Watkins Glen in LM P2, Nicklas Nielsen will drive this time in LMGT3, he who won the 4 Hours of Barcelona with the father-son duo Johnny and Conrad Laursen. The trio will once again drive the No. 50 Formula Racing Ferrari 296 LMGT3.
In the championship, 4 Hours of Le Castellet winners David Perel, Duncan Cameron and Matt Griffin hold a slender two-point advantage at the top of the standings with 35 points on the clock in the No. 55 Spirit of Race Ferrari 296. Italian team Iron Lynx are in second place with 33 points after two podiums in the team’s Lamborghini Huracan driven by Hiroshi Hamaguchi, Axcil Jefferies and Andrea Caldarelli.
The entry list for the 4 Hours of Imola 2024:
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