ELMS - Barcelona: Prologue
The new European Le Mans Series season starts at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with the official tests Wednesday and Thursday and the first round from Friday to Sunday with free sessions, qualifying and the 4 Hours of Barcelona Sunday.
π· Β© Luc Warnotte at Barcelona. Contrary to the previous three categories (LMP2, LMP3 and LMGTE), there will be four categories, with LMP2 (top left) and LMP2 Pro/Am (top right) becoming two distinct classes with separate qualifying sessions that are joined by the LMP3 (bottom left) and LMGTE (bottom right) cars.
There are 7 cars in the LMP2 category, 11 in the LMP2 PRO-AM category, and 12 in each of the LMP3 and LMGTE categories.
Beyond the trophy, what teams are also going for is the automatic invitations for the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans which will be granted to
LMP2: 1st and 2nd placed competitors in the overall classifications will receive invitations.
LMP2 Pro/Am: 1st placed competitor in the overall classifications will receive an invitation.
LMP3: 1st placed competitor in the overall classifications will receive an invitation.
LMGTE: 1st placed competitor in the overall classifications will receive an invitation.
The two days of official tests were split into four-day sessions and a one-night session. The teams concentrate their effort essentially on the set-up of the cars. Therefore the lap time may not be considered as a clear indication of the hierarchy in each class.
Here are the top 3 lap times per category for the combined sessions during the two days of official tests.
LMP2
The fastest lap of the two days official test were set the morning of the first day with #25 Algarve Pro Racing being the only one below 1:30.