4 HOURS OF BARCELONA - BACK 2 SCHOOL, BACK 2 THE WIN

After the summer break, we finally are back on the track! This time the ELMS circus travelled to the sunny and cozy Barcelona, where the 4 Hours of Barcelona was held. And this “back 2 school” weekend couldn’t have been better for Lou, Ferdinand and Lorenzo. Yes, they won.

In the first stint, Ferdinand started P6 and managed to take the lead of the race before giving the seat to Lorenzo, who raced in the second stint and saved the fuel wisely. Finally, Lou raced in the last stint and made a fantastic, perfect job taking the Prema LMP2 car to the win. Congratulation to this fantastic guys, who showed once again their closeness!

And the next adventure? Well, it will be for WEC, and will take place in a country I really love. I let you guess which one is it!

6 HOURS OF MONZA - A NOT-SO-SERIOUS REPORTAGE FROM THE FIELD

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Monza for the WEC 6 Hours! Oh, well, it took place yesterday, but I came back home at around 7:30 PM and I was too tired to write the review. It was my first time attending a WEC race, and I can say it was an unforgettable experience. But let’s start from the beginning.

My dad and me left our house at 7:45 AM and arrived to Monza Circuit at 9:00 AM. I bought the VIP ticket, so I was allowed to enter the paddock, while my dad remained on the tribunes. In the paddock I met some of my friends from Instagram who are into motorsport too, such as Lisa and her husband Davide, Silvia, Jasmine and Deborah. There also were many people from all over the world: Mexican, Polish, Japanese, French, American and many others. It was like travelling all around the world in an only place! 

Then the pit walk with the autograph session started: the most “sieged” drivers were RobKub and Fisico, but there were many other former Formula One drivers such as Paul DiResta, JEV, Kamui Kobayashi, Séb Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Kazuki Nakajima. Lou was very nice and available towards the fans; despite I was wearing a face mask (Covid, here you are again) he recognized me at the first sight and made a big smile. My friends and me succeeded to get many autographs and gadgets!

I watched the race both from the stands with my dad and from the FanZone with my friends. It was full of crashes and yellow flags; the most scary one was when, during the second racing hour, Henrique Chaves lost his Aston Martin’s control and ended up upside down, luckily he was not hurt. Prema Orlen Team ended the race in 9th overall position and 6th in LMP2; Lou had an excellent first stint, he also managed to get the lead of the race after battling with William Owen.

Fun fact: a few minutes before the end of the race, my friends and me managed to shake our hands with Jim Glickenhaus, a movie producer which created an endurance racing team. He’s such a character, he always wears a cowboy hat, you should get to know him 🤠 

The winners of the race were Alpine for the overall classification and Corvette for GT class; my friends and me went under the podium to attend the ceremony, it was fantastic to sing national anthems of France and United States as well as funny (and refreshing!) to be sprayed by champagne.

My first ever WEC experience didn’t disappoint me at all I definitely need to be back next year!

Before saying you goodbye, I post you two of the many pics I took yesterday:

Despite the crowd, I managed to take a pic of Lou’s car 😊

Vicky with Lou himself! He looks surprised, isn’t he?

So, now definitely I have to say you goodbye! 👋🏻 See you at the next post 😉 

4 HOURS OF MONZA - FROM 6 TO 3 THROUGH 10”

Good late afternoon! As you know, this weekend Lou and his merry companions Lorenzo and Ferdinand were committed in the Monza 4 Hours for ELMS, where they started the race from P6. The Safety Car interrupted the race at least four times, which is a sign that during the race there were some troubles, but these interruptions helped to change the first positions quickly.

Ferdinand had a good first stint, while Lou, unfortunately, was given a 10” penalty due to an infraction during his pit stop; however, in the last race minutes, he managed to overtake Mühler Motorsport’s Oreca. 

The winners of the race are, for the Idec Team Lafargue, Chatin and Pilet, while our heroes’ Prema ended the race on the lowest step of the podium. Good job to everyone! See you in Monza next weekend, and when I say “see you in Monza” I mean it in the literary sense of the term 😉 

6 HOURS OF WATKINS GLEN - IMSA LEADERS!

Good evening! I’m updating the blog a bit late than usual, you know, when it comes to American races the time zone is different eheheh 😜 

This time Lou was in Watkins Glen, a circuit in the State of New York which is well-known by vintage Formula One fans as it hosted a F1 Grand Prix back in the 70s. Plus, it’s close to Seneca Lake, a natural paradise I would love to visit!

However, let’s focus on the race. After 6 hours of epic racing, Lou and his teammates Rui Andrade and John Farano took the Tower Motorsport team to P2, and above all they reached the leadership of the IMSA championship!

The next races will be in Monza, and probably I will attend one of them! If you know my university commitments, you will easily understand which one 😉

2022 24 HOURS OF LE MANS - NIPPON POWER

Good Sunday late afternoon! This was not only the weekend of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, won by Max Verstappen, but also the weekend of Le Mans 24 Hours, in which Lou was sharing his Prema LMP2 car with RobKub and Lorenzo Colombo. 

Let’s go over this legendary race again, starting from what happened during the qualification session last weekend. The pole position was taken by the “little Samurai” Kamui Kobayashi, and the crew Lou-RobKub-LorCol qualified P10 in the general classification and P6 in LMP2. During the race, our heroes kept fighting between P8 and P2, and ended P6 (P2 in LMP2). Huge congratulations to Toyota, for winning the race with Buemi, Hirakawa and Hartley, as well as for P2 with Kobayashi, Conway and Lopez! 

See you for the next race, which will be in Watkins Glen, near New York! By the way, did you know that some weeks ago Lou got lost in NYC? 😉 

4 HOURS OF IMOLA - FORMULINO PUTS A PAW IN IT

Welcome to Imola, Formulino’s kingdom! As a cat lady, how couldn’t I love Imola and its sweet kitty? Lou is a cat lover too, and surely Formulino brought him good luck. His teammates Lorenzo and Ferdinand and him had such a perfect race, as they stayed P4 for a long time and finally gained the tallest step of the podium in both general classification and LMP2. Congratulations boys for your 2nd victory in a row!

Next ELMS race? Monza, on July 3rd! It’s close to where I live, and I couldn’t be happy to be back to the track, or better, to my second home, after two years of pandemic. The only problem? It’s period of uni exams. I will see how I will manage the situation.

SPA 6 HOURS - WHAT A MESS!

Rain, red flags, battles, crashes: this was the 2022 Spa 6 Hours. Toyota lived a double-faced weekend: I’m happy that Kamui Kobayashi won the race, but on the other hand I’m a bit sad for Séb Buemi who had engine issues. And Lou? His teammate Lorenzo Colombo was 4th in the general classification, but unfortunately our Swiss chocolate broke the front end and Prema ended up 10th in the general classification as well as 7th in LMP2 class.

Cheer up Lou, Rob and Lorenzo, your next race will be better!