It has been a troubled 4 Hours of Le Castellet for Oregon Team at Circuit Paul Ricard, as the Italian squad lined-up for the fourth out of six rounds of the 2017 European Le Mans Series. Unfortunately, the Norma M30 LMP3 racecar shared by Dario Capitanio, Davide Roda and Andrés Méndez was forced to retire with just 10 minutes left on the clock.
After a great qualifying performance by Capitanio, who recorded the eighth fastest lap of the LMP3 class on Saturday and was really close to the marks set by the frontrunners, today’s race proved more challenging with several unforeseen circumstances that penalized the team along the way.
The first racing stint saw Capitanio in the car. The Italian adopted a conservative strategy losing some positions in the process. In the second hour it was Roda to drive, but he was involved, at the end of his stint, in a contact that led to a drive-through penalty which was later served by Méndez. The Colombian was then rear ended and had to stop one more time for repairs.
Then Roda made it back behind the wheel but an engine alarm coming on while the car was around P10 in class persuaded the team to stop for good.
“Of all the rounds we entered so far, this one has probably being the most complicated – said Jerry Canevisio – Despite the fact that we had to retire, I can say that the car’s performance is still on a positive trend of growth as we continued to work hard. We are definitely on the right path”.
The next round for the ELMS Championship will be on the next 23rd and 24th of September at Spa-Francorchamps, but Oregon Team will be back on-track two weeks earlier for the fifth round of the Clio Cup Italia championship to be held at the roman track of Vallelunga.
