The European Le Mans Series race appeared to be a done deal Sunday afternoon at 16.00 local time, but the stewards were called back into work on Sunday evening, when the scrutineers found some non-conformance at Duqueine Engineering #29.
The team finished second in the LMP2 category in the race yesterday, but they were taken with some fuel in the tank, that didn’t correspond to the rules in the ELMS.
Photo: JJ Media
There is one common fuel company delivering all the fuel for the FIA WEC, ELMS and actually also the Asian Le Mans Series. It’s been Total who has had that deal since the start of the 2018 season. So there is absolutely no doubt about the specification that the fuel has to be.
That resulted in a disqualification from the race yesterday, were Pierre Ragues, Nicolas Jamin and Nelson Panciatici originally had taken a well earned second place.
The team has made an announcement today, explaining exactly what went wrong, plus they are taking the full responsibility for it.
Duqueine Engineering also helps Cool Racing in the Michelin Le Mans Cup. That team was racing in the Road to Le Mans Race one month ago with it’s LMP3 car. For that race only, the fuel was ELF 102 octane.
There was an open test day last Wednesday for the Michelin Le Mans Cup cars, and Cool Racing was participating in that one, and they ran with the last bit of fuel that they had purchased at Le Mans, since the choice of fuel was open that day.
Photo: JJ Media
There was a little bit left in the fuel rig from last Wednesday, getting mixed up with the Total 102 octane used at the Red Bull Ring this weekend, giving the wrong numbers, when the scrutineers checked the fuel.
It’s a very clumsy mistake for the team to make, and that has cost them third place in the LMP2 Standings for now. The team is however ready to bounce back, when the next round is run in just short of four weeks’ time at Silverstone in Great Britain.
