Andrews Tops Le Mans Cup Barcelona Test

United Autosports driver Scott Andrews set the fastest time of the 2023 pre-season Michelin Le Mans Cup test at Barcelona today, as the field assembled for the first time this season.

The Australian toured the circuit in 1:36.355 during the morning session in the #22 Ligier JS P320, a time which wouldn’t be eclipsed in the afternoon. Andrews’ 1:36 was 0.143 faster than the second-best time of the day, which was set by Cedric Oltramare in the #97 Cool Racing Ligier during the afternoon.

Matt Bell was the fastest of the Duqueine M30 runners during the first three-hour run, in the #4 example run by 2021 champion Nielsen Racing. His time was a 1:36.686 making him the only driver to set a time under 1:37 in the M30.

Kirill Smal ended up fourth in the combined times in the #2 CD Sport Ligier, with a time marginally faster than David Droux i the #97 Cool Racing Ligier, which completed the top five in the end-of-day timesheet.

The top five drivers were the only ones to set times in the 1:36s on the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya, which is being used in the traditional configuration by the Le Mans Cup and ELMS this season, without the final chicane.

Further down the order in the combined times, reigning champion Racing Spirit of Leman ended the day with the 10th fastest time set by Ralf Kelleners, a 1:37.334.

In the GT3 class, which is 12 cars strong and features teams from six different manufacturers, Danish racer Anders Fjordbach topped the times in the #86 HCR With CaffeineSix Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Fjordbach, whose High Class Racing team is based in the technopark behind the circuit, set a 1:41.680 in the afternoon. This was just 0.096 quicker than the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin’s best time, which was set by Valentin Hasse-Clot, also after the lunch break.

Unlike LMP3, all the fastest times for the GT3 teams came in the afternoon, the top 11 times in the combined results all coming in the second three-hour session.

Third in the times was Gerhard Watzinger, who reeled off a time in the #70 Leipert Motorsport Lamborghini that was half a second off Fjordbach.

Five of the six different GT3 chassis featured in the top five. The #51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 ended up fourth, with Le Mans Cup newcomer Steller Motorsport slotting in fifth with its Audi R8 LMS.

The Steller crew will head into the weekend relieved to have an undamaged R8 LMS for the track action to come though, after a scary moment in the Afternoon session which brought out red flags.

James Wood suffered a stuck throttle (at 93 per cent) caused by hot rubber getting lodged in the pedal box, which forced him to take evasive action at Turn 1. Thankfully Wood managed to miss one of the GMB Motorsport NSX GT3s up ahead when he went off and kept the car out of the barriers.

The opening round of the 2023 Michelin Le Mans Cup season is set to run this weekend, April 21st and 22nd at Barcelona.

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Images courtesy of Le Mans Cup