Miguel Molina’s return to action did not go as planned, but the Spaniard again displayed his fighting spirit. Back in competition after the summer break, the Ferrari factory driver returned to the European Le Mans Series at Spa-Francorchamps with the intention of building on the podium result in Imola. Despite promising practice sessions, the trio in the #74 Ferrari 296 LMGT3 saw their efforts thwarted by a collision. Yet far from giving up, Miguel Molina and teammates Andrew Gilbert and Fran Rueda leave Belgium with two points that keep them in title contention.
Reinvigorated after the summer break, Miguel Molina was back in action at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in the European Le Mans Series. His return marked his third outing of the year on the Belgian track, where he had previously competed in the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps with the Ferrari 499P and then in the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in the Ferrari 296 GT3.
On Wednesday, the Ferrari factory driver reunited with Andrew Gilbert, Fran Rueda and the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari 296 LMGT3 for the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. The trio began their in-depth work to find their marks back and fine-tune their initial setup. Second in the afternoon session, the Spanish driver confirmed his car’s potential on Friday and Saturday, making the #74 Kessel the highest-ranked Ferrari in FP1 and FP2.
After these productive tests, rain arrived for qualifying, which saw Andrew Gilbert behind the wheel of the Ferrari 296 LMGT3. In treacherous conditions, the Bronze driver quickly moved towards the top of the timing screen. Second at the start of his final attempt, he was poorly rewarded for his efforts, slipping to sixth place before being reinstated in the top five after a fellow competitor was penalised.
Sunny skies returned for the start of the race on Sunday. Andrew Gilbert was cautious in the early stages and was seventh at the end of the opening lap before settling into his rhythm until a virtual safety car period. Sixth at the restart, Andrew Gilbert then had a second stint marked by two long safety car periods in quick succession. Fran Rueda took over in fifth place. During a stint punctuated by another full-course yellow, the Spaniard pressured #55 Spirit of Race before handing over to Miguel Molina.
With just over an hour to go, the Catalan driver emerged from the pits just over 30 seconds behind the leader. Regrettably, he was quickly hit several times and spun out by the #60 Proton Competition at the Bus Stop. Relegated outside the top ten, Miguel Molina did not give up. Driving aggressively despite a damaged car, he demonstrated his speed by stringing together fast laps to move up to seventh place.
Although a late splash-and-dash dropped the crew back to ninth place, Miguel Molina showed he could match the leaders’ pace, with the gap between him and the frontrunners remaining stable after the unfortunate contact.
« It was a difficult race and, of course, a disappointing result in terms of the final position. Still, I think we showed good performance throughout the weekend. The speed was there, the car felt good, and we are definitely improving step by step. Andy is making significant progress, and Fran also did an excellent job. As a team, we feel we had everything in place to target a top-five finish today. Unfortunately, the contact compromised our race, and the result slipped away from us. It’s a shame because we had the potential to stay closer to the front, but that’s racing. Even so, the team spirit is really positive. We are having fun, working well together, and continually improving every time we hit the track. This season hasn’t always delivered the results we deserved so far, but we have to keep believing and keep pushing. The next round at Silverstone will be very special as it’s Andrew’s home race, and we’ll do everything we can to fight back and deliver the kind of result we know we are capable of. »
Despite this result falling short of expectations, Miguel Molina’s damage limitation and securing two points mean that the #74 Kessel Racing trio remain mathematically in contention for the LMGT3 title, with everything still to play for ahead of the 4 Hours of Silverstone (12-14 September). Before that, Miguel Molina will return to the #50 Ferrari – AF Corse Ferrari 499P in the FIA World Endurance Championship at Lone Star Le Mans (5-7 September), a six-hour race at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps – LMGT3 : 1. Racing Spirit of Leman #59 82 laps ; 2. Iron Lynx #63 +0.966s ; 3. Kessel Racing #57 +22.114s… 9. Kessel Racing #74 +1:04.499s…
European Le Mans Series – LMGT3 : 1. Racing Spirit of Leman #59 46 points ; 2. Iron Dames #85 45 points ; 3. Richard Mille AF Corse #50 41 points… 11. Kessel Racing #74 21 points…
Blanca de Foronda,