108 drivers are set to hit the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari this weekend, with 38 cars being confirmed for the 2014 European Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Imola.
The bulk of the entries for this weekend is in GTC, with 15 cars set to hit the track, including three SMP Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3’s. The #57 SMP Ferrari is set to be driven by Boris Rotenberg, who is currently under US and EU Sanctions over Ukraine, with the Russian being joined by Mika Salo and Maurizio Mediani. This entry provided much confusion at the Silverstone round, with the team having to withdraw the car after Rotenberg failed to show up. There is another seven Ferrari’s alongside the SMP cars this weekend in GTC, with Team Sofrev-ASP, Team Ukraine and Formula Racing each running a single car, with AF Corse fielding another four.
One car that won’t be running in GTC this weekend will be the Sebastien Loeb Racing Audi R8 LMS, despite the French trio of Henri Hassid, Mike Parisy and Olivier Lombard finishing sixth in class at Silverstone.
In LMGTE 14 cars are set to take to the track, with all but one team running three drivers with a handful set to take part in Le Mans next month. The main marque once again in the class is Ferrari, with nine of the Prancing Horse’s set to take part. The first three 458’s are of AF Corse, who this weekend are running Piergiuseppe Perazzini, Marco Cioci and Michael Lyons (#54) with Duncan Cameron, Matt Griffin and for this event Mirko Venturi, who replaces Michele Rugolo, in the #55 and Peter Mann, Lorenzo Casé and Raffaele Giammaria in the #65.
Team Sofrev-ASP, JMW Motorsport and AT Racing are all set to run a single car each, with Kessel Racing running two cars for Michael Broniszewski and Giacomo Piccini in the #80, with the #81 being driven by Kolawole Aluko, Thomas Kemenater and Matteo Cressoni.
In LMP2, the smallest field this weekend, there are nine entries, with Sebastien Loeb Racing, Race Performance and Murphy Prototypes running Oreca 03-Nissan’s for Vincent Capillaire and Jan Charouz (#24 Sebastien Loeb Racing), Michel Frey and Franck Mailleux (#34 Race Performance) and Rodolfo Gonzalez, Karun Chandhok and Nathanael Berthon (#48 Murphy Prototypes).
JOTA Sport returns to ELMS action this weekend as they continue to build up to Le Mans, with Simon Dolan and Harry Tincknell being re-joined by Filipe Albuquerque after he raced with Audi during the Spa WEC round. They are one of two Zytek Z11SN’s racing this weekend, with Newblood by Morand Racing running Christian Klien, Gary Hirsch and Romain Brandela in the #43.
Another entry to look out for this weekend is German team Pegasus Racing, who are making their ELMS debut this weekend, with Julien Schell, Nicolas Leutwiler and Jonathan Coleman taking the wheel of the #29 Morgan-Nissan.
The action kicks off on Saturday, with FP1 starting at 1015 local on Saturday, with the race and qualifying all on Sunday, with qualifying starting at 0945 Local and the race at 1400 Local.
