First Michelin LMC victory of the season

Nielsen Racing secured its first victory of the Michelin Le Mans Cup season in style, taking the top step of the podium at Le Castellet after a great drive from Tony Wells and Colin Noble. The winning margin was slight, but both drivers enjoyed their most competitive race of the season at Circuit Paul Ricard.

The win was courtesy of great strategy and pace from the #7 Ligier JS P320, with Colin moving to the head of the field following an audacious pass at the three-quarter distance on the then race leader Matt Bell in the #69 Cool Racing entry.

The final stops closed the field up, but Colin was able to record the fastest lap of the race and subsequently take the chequered flag a second ahead of Bell. The result is the first win in the Michelin Le Mans Cup since Portimao last year and the team’s first overall victory since the penultimate round of the Asian Le Mans Series in Abu Dhabi.

Sunday’s European Le Mans Series round meanwhile saw the #7 pairing finish a fine fifth, while the sister #6 car of Nick Adcock, Austin McCusker and Max Koebolt suffered from damage and was forced to stop in the final laps. The team return to the series next month at Monza.

Colin Noble

“Nielsen Racing gave us a great car and we could both really charge hard. It was a mega stint, but then I got traffic on my in-lap for the third and final stop and that’s why it got a little close at the end.

“Through the middle of the stint we were really quick, our pace was great, so we were able to come through the pack quite easily. We didn’t mess around and then it was a case of trying to build a gap.

“Tony had climbed up a good number of places at the start and handed over to me in a great position, that was the foundation for the race win.”

Tony Wells

“The car was tremendous; we could rally race it. I started a bit further down than the car was capable of, but I got a good start – there was chaos to the left, so I was able to gain some place there. I was then on a good run and the Safety Car came out and that changed a few things. Following that, there was plenty of overtaking and it was good fun, thoroughly enjoyable!”