The 2015 European Le Mans Series season was the twelfth season of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest's (ACO) European Le Mans Series. The five-event season began at Silverstone Circuit, in conjunction with the FIA World Endurance Championship, on 11 April and finished at Autódromo do Estoril on 18 October.
In the lead LMP2 class, three teams did battle for the championship title; Greaves Motorsport, Thiriet by TDS Racing and Jota Sport. Jota Sport, and drivers Filipe Albuquerque, Simon Dolan and Harry Tincknell led the standings into the final race at Estoril, having won previously at the Red Bull Ring. However, it was Greaves Motorsport with the triumvirate of Gary Hirsch, Jon Lancaster and Björn Wirdheim who won the championship title; after winning at Silverstone, and Le Castellet, the trio finished second to Thiriet by TDS Racing in Estoril to secure the title by two points. Thiriet by TDS Racing's victory in Portugal – the team's second after a previous win at Imola – also allowed them to move ahead of Jota Sport in the teams' standings, with Ludovic Badey and Pierre Thiriet finishing as runners-up in the drivers' championship standings. Badey and Thiriet's victories were shared with Tristan Gommendy at Imola and Nicolas Lapierre at Estoril. In the new-for-2015 LMP3 class, Lawrence Tomlinson's Team LNT outfit won four of the five races during the season; three of which were won by former cyclist Chris Hoy and his teammate Charlie Robertson as they won the championship title with a round to spare. Hoy and Robertson finished 35 points clear of another Team LNT driver Gaëtan Paletou, who won the final race of the season with Mike Simpson at Estoril. Third place in the championship went to SVK by Speed Factory, and their drivers Konstantīns Calko and Dainius Matijošaitis. LNT's only defeat during the season occurred at Imola, when Morten Dons and Rob Garofall won for the University of Bolton team.
Successive victories at the Red Bull Ring and Le Castellet allowed the Formula Racing team with drivers Johnny Laursen, Mikkel Mac and Andrea Rizzoli to clinch their respective LMGTE championship titles. They won the championship by four points from the BMW Sports Trophy Marc VDS outfit of Henry Hassid, Jesse Krohn and Andy Priaulx, who were the race winners at Estoril. Third place in the championship went to the AF Corse team of Duncan Cameron, Matt Griffin and Aaron Scott. Two other teams won races during the season; Gulf Racing UK won on home soil at Silverstone with an all-British crew of Adam Carroll, Phil Keen and Michael Wainwright, while AT Racing won at Imola with the father-and-son crew of Alexander Talkanitsa Jr. and Alexander Talkanitsa Sr. along with Alessandro Pier Guidi.
While in GTC, TDS Racing finished 20 points clear of their closest rivals to take the respective titles in the class. The all-French crew of Eric Dermont, Dino Lunardi and Franck Perera won two races at Silverstone and at Le Castellet, and sealed the title with second at Estoril. Second place in the championship went to another crew that won two races during the season; Francesco Castellacci and Stuart Hall won successive races at Imola and the Red Bull Ring for AF Corse, sharing victories with Rino Mastronardi (Imola) and Thomas Flohr (Red Bull Ring). Another AF Corse crew finished in third in the drivers' championship, as Francisco Guedes and Mads Rasmussen were able to fend off Marco Cioci, Ilya Melnikov and Giorgio Roda for the position despite the latter trio winning the final race at Estoril.
Regulations The 2015 season saw the introduction of the new LMP3 class, which was announced by the ACO during the 2014 season. The aim of the new class was to introduce young drivers and teams to endurance racing before they progressed to the higher classes of prototype racing, LMP2 and ultimately LMP1.
The chassis, which could be built by any constructor, was powered by a 5-litre normally-aspirated V8 Nissan VK50 engine, producing 420hp. Gearboxes were provided by Xtrac. The approximate running costs for a car over the course of the season was estimated to be between 350,000 and 400,000 euros.
Calendar The provisional 2015 calendar was announced at the final round of the 2014 season in Estoril. The calendar once again comprised five events, featuring the same five circuits that hosted events in 2014. For the third consecutive season, Silverstone hosted the opening rounds of both the European Le Mans Series and the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Rnd Race Circuit Location Date 1 4 Hours of Silverstone Silverstone Circuit Silverstone, United Kingdom 11 April 2 4 Hours of Imola Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari Imola, Italy 17 May 3 4 Hours of Red Bull Ring Red Bull Ring Spielberg, Austria 12 July 4 4 Hours of Le Castellet Circuit Paul Ricard Le Castellet, France 6 September 5 4 Hours of Estoril Autódromo do Estoril Estoril, Portugal 18 OctoberSource:
Entry list The entry list was announced on 5 February 2015.
LMP2 Entrant/Team Car Engine Tyre Drivers Rounds Algarve Pro Racing Ligier JS P2 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 25 Michael Munemann 3–5 Andrea Roda 3–5 James Winslow 3–5 Pegasus Racing Morgan LMP2 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 29 David Cheng All Léo Roussel All Jonathan Coleman 1, 5 Julien Schell 2–3 AF Corse SMP Racing AF Racing Oreca 03BR Engineering BR01 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 David Markozov All Maurizio Mediani All Nicolas Minassian All Mikhail Aleshin All Kirill Ladygin All Anton Ladygin 1–3 Viktor Shaytar 4–5 Eurasia Motorsport Oreca 03R Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 33 Nick de Bruijn All Pu Jun Jin 1–3, 5 Richard Bradley 4 Jota Sport Gibson 015S Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 38 Filipe Albuquerque All Simon Dolan All Harry Tincknell All Krohn Racing Ligier JS P2 Judd HK 3.6 L V8 40 Niclas Jönsson All Tracy Krohn All Oswaldo Negri Jr. 1–2 Julien Canal 3 Olivier Pla 4–5 Greaves Motorsport Gibson 015S Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 41 Gary Hirsch All Jon Lancaster All Björn Wirdheim All Ibañez Racing Oreca 03R Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 44 Yutaka Yamagishi 1–3 Michele La Rosa 1 Pierre Perret 2–3 45 Ivan Bellarosa 1–3 José Ibañez 1–3 Pierre Perret 1 Thiriet by TDS Racing Oreca 05 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 46 Ludovic Badey All Pierre Thiriet All Tristan Gommendy 1–4 Nicolas Lapierre 5 Murphy Prototypes Oreca 03R Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 48 Nathanaël Berthon All Michael Lyons All Mark Patterson All Nick Yelloly was scheduled to compete for Jota Sport, but withdrew prior to the start of the season. He was replaced by Harry Tincknell.
LMP3 Entrant/Team Car Engine Tyre Drivers Rounds Team LNT Ginetta-Juno LMP3 Nissan VK50VE 5.0 L V8 2 Gaëtan Paletou All Mike Simpson 1–2, 4–5 Mark Shulzhitskiy 3 3 Chris Hoy All Charlie Robertson All Villorba Corse Ginetta-Juno LMP3 Nissan VK50VE 5.0 L V8 5 Roberto Lacorte 2–5 Giorgio Sernagiotto 2–5 University of Bolton Ginetta-Juno LMP3 Nissan VK50VE 5.0 L V8 7 Rob Garofall 1–2 Jens Petersen 1 Morten Dons 2 Graff Ligier JS P3 Nissan VK50VE 5.0 L V8 9 Thomas Accary 5 Garry Findlay 5 Eric Trouillet 5 Lanan Racing Ginetta-Juno LMP3 Nissan VK50VE 5.0 L V8 11 Alex Craven 1–2 Joey Foster 1 Charlie Hollings 1 Mark Shulzhitskiy 2 SVK by Speed Factory Ginetta-Juno LMP3 Nissan VK50VE 5.0 L V8 15 Konstantīns Calko All Dainius Matijošaitis All Jesús Fuster 1–3, 5 Mirco van Oostrum 4
LM GTE Entrant/Team Car Engine Tyre Drivers Rounds AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 Ferrari F136 4.5 L V8 51 Matteo Cressoni All Peter Mann All Raffaele Giammaria 1–3, 5 Andrea Bertolini 4 55 Duncan Cameron All Matt Griffin All Aaron Scott All 81 Rui Águas 1 Michele Rugolo 1 Stephen Wyatt 1 BMW Sports Trophy Marc VDS BMW Z4 GTE BMW P65B44 4.4 L V8 52 Henry Hassid All Jesse Krohn All Andy Priaulx All AT Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 Ferrari F136 4.5 L V8 56 Alessandro Pier Guidi All Alexander Talkanitsa Jr. All Alexander Talkanitsa Sr. All Formula Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 Ferrari F136 4.5 L V8 60 Johnny Laursen All Mikkel Mac All Andrea Rizzoli All JMW Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 Ferrari F136 4.5 L V8 66 Robert Smith All George Richardson 1–3 Sam Tordoff 1–3 Rory Butcher 4–5 Jonny Cocker 4 James Calado 5 Gulf Racing UK Porsche 911 RSR Porsche M97/80 4.0 L Flat-6 86 Adam Carroll All Michael Wainwright All Phil Keen 1–2, 4–5 Daniel Brown 3 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR Porsche M97/80 4.0 L Flat-6 88 Christian Ried All Khaled Al Qubaisi 1 Klaus Bachler 1 Richard Lietz 2–5 Marco Mapelli 2, 4 Sebastian Asch 3, 5 Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin Vantage GTE Aston Martin AM05 4.5 L V8 99 Jonathan Adam 5 Andrew Howard 5 Alex MacDowall 5
GTC Entrant/Team Car Engine Tyre Drivers Rounds TDS Racing BMW Z4 GT3 BMW P65B44 4.4 L V8 59 Eric Dermont All Dino Lunardi All Franck Perera All AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 Ferrari F136 4.5 L V8 62 Francesco Castellacci All Stuart Hall All Thomas Flohr 1, 3–5 Rino Mastronardi 2 63 Marco Cioci All Ilya Melnikov All Giorgio Roda All 64 Francisco Guedes All Mads Rasmussen All Filipe Barreiros 1–3, 5 Adrien De Leener 4 Massive Motorsport Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 Aston Martin AM28 5.9 L V12 68 Casper Elgaard All Simon Møller All Kristian Poulsen All TF Sport Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 Aston Martin AM28 5.9 L V12 77 Euan Hankey 5 Richie Stanaway 5 Salih Yoluç 5 Gulf Racing UK Lamborghini Gallardo LP560 GT3 Lamborghini 5.2 L V10 85 Daniel Brown 1 Roald Goethe 1 Archie Hamilton 1
Season results
Circuit LMP2 Winning Team LMP3 Winning Team LMGTE Winning Team GTC Winning Team Results LMP2 Winning Drivers LMP3 Winning Drivers LMGTE Winning Drivers GTC Winning Drivers 1 Silverstone No. 41 Greaves Motorsport No. 3 Team LNT No. 86 Gulf Racing UK No. 59 TDS Racing Report Gary Hirsch Jon Lancaster Björn Wirdheim Chris Hoy Charlie Robertson Adam Carroll Phil Keen Michael Wainwright Eric Dermont Dino Lunardi Franck Perera 2 Imola No. 46 Thiriet by TDS Racing No. 7 University of Bolton No. 56 AT Racing No. 62 AF Corse Report Ludovic Badey Tristan Gommendy Pierre Thiriet Morten Dons Rob Garofall Alessandro Pier Guidi Alexander Talkanitsa Jr. Alexander Talkanitsa Sr. Francesco Castellacci Stuart Hall Rino Mastronardi 3 Red Bull Ring No. 38 Jota Sport No. 3 Team LNT No. 60 Formula Racing No. 62 AF Corse Report Filipe Albuquerque Simon Dolan Harry Tincknell Chris Hoy Charlie Robertson Johnny Laursen Mikkel Mac Andrea Rizzoli Francesco Castellacci Stuart Hall Thomas Flohr 4 Paul Ricard No. 41 Greaves Motorsport No. 3 Team LNT No. 60 Formula Racing No. 59 TDS Racing Report Gary Hirsch Jon Lancaster Björn Wirdheim Chris Hoy Charlie Robertson Johnny Laursen Mikkel Mac Andrea Rizzoli Eric Dermont Dino Lunardi Franck Perera 5 Estoril No. 46 Thiriet by TDS Racing No. 2 Team LNT No. 52 BMW Sports Trophy Marc VDS No. 63 AF Corse Report Ludovic Badey Nicolas Lapierre Pierre Thiriet Gaëtan Paletou Mike Simpson Henry Hassid Jesse Krohn Andy Priaulx Marco Cioci Ilya Melnikov Giorgio RodaSource:
Championship Standings
Points system
Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Other Classified Points 25 18 15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1 0.5
Teams Championships
LMP2 Team Car SIL IMO RBR LEC EST Total 1 No. 41 Greaves Motorsport Gibson 015S 1 4 4 1 2 93 2 No. 46 Thiriet by TDS Racing Oreca 05 3 1 2 6 1 91 3 No. 38 Jota Sport Gibson 015S 2 3 1 3 4 89 4 No. 40 Krohn Racing Ligier JS P2 4 5 5 5 8 46 5 No. 21 AF Racing BR Engineering BR01 2 3 33 6 No. 33 Eurasia Motorsport Oreca 03R 5 7 8 Ret 6 28 7 No. 48 Murphy Prototypes Oreca 03R Ret 2 6 Ret Ret 26 8 No. 20 AF Racing BR Engineering BR01 4 5 22 9 No. 37 SMP Racing BR Engineering BR01 8 3 19 10 No. 45 Ibañez Racing Oreca 03 7 6 9 16 11 No. 29 Pegasus Racing Morgan LMP2 Ret 9 7 7 Ret 14 12 No. 25 Algarve Pro Racing Ligier JS P2 10 8 7 11 13 No. 32 AF Corse Oreca 03 6 8 14 No. 34 AF Corse Oreca 03 8 4 No. 44 Ibañez Racing Oreca 03 Ret Ret Ret 0 No. 27 SMP Racing BR Engineering BR01 Ret Ret 0Sources:Bold – Pole
LMP3