Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific Selected Driver Yifei Ye took the podium at the second round of the 2022 European Le Mans Series at Imola.
The Chinese racer, who drove for the Swiss COOL Racing team, qualified the #37 Oreca 07 in fourth place. German youngster Niklas Krütten started the four-hour race, before experienced Frenchman Nicolas Lapierre took the middle stint. Ye jumped into the car for the latter part of the race and took the lead with just over half an hour to go.
Ye looked good for victory for a late Full Course Yellow shortly after his final stop allowed other cars to take advantage of their final runs to the pit lane, gaining time and positions over the 21-year-old, who finished third in the pit lane. checkered flag picked up .
Absolute Racing’s Andrew Haryanto put in a very strong performance in Saturday’s qualifying, taking third place on the LMGTE grid. The Indonesian driver started the race and drove well until contact with another car ended the race of the #18 Porsche 911 RSR in just over an hour.
At the Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour, Ben Barker put on an excellent qualifying show to finish seventh on the grid and third in the Pro-Am class. Along with father and son duo Stephen and Brenton Grove, the trio looked good for a top-10 finish for an incident in mixed conditions late in the race.
Yifei Ye, COOL Racing #37 Oreca 07: “To finish on the podium is a positive result, but as we were leading the race it could have been more. Niklas and Nico both did well before I jumped in the car, and I was able to make a move on track to retake P1. We looked strong to win the race, but a late Full Course Yellow allowed two of our competitors to make a cheap pit stop and stay ahead of us. We shouldn’t feel too beaten up, we didn’t do anything wrong and just had a bit of bad luck. It was a very positive weekend overall, we will now try to maintain the momentum for Le Mans in three weeks.”
Andrew Haryanto, Absolute Racing #18 Porsche 911 RSR: “It’s not a good feeling, I’m really sorry for the team. They all worked so hard and deserved a better result today. Our pace was great this weekend, especially in qualifying, so we will aim to come back in the next round. †
Martin Rump, Absolute Racing #18 Porsche 911 RSR: “I am disappointed with the DNF and feel for the whole team. We had a good chance of a positive result here, but we win together and we lose together. I’m glad we showed great speed all weekend and we’re going for it again in Monza. Can not wait!”
Alexandre Gibot, Managing Director Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific Ltd.: “Congratulations Yifei, it’s great to see him on the podium after a very strong drive! The whole COOL Racing team did a great job, they deservedly led the race and looked good for the win until the late Full Course Yellow. Despite missing out on the win, there are still so many positives to take with you to Le Mans. It’s a shame for Absolute Racing that their race ended early, Andrew qualified very well in third and had a solid stint until the incident.
“In Australia, Grove Racing produced a brilliant qualifying performance at Bathurst and had a good race on the mountain. Conditions looked really tough, so it was a shame their race ended like this. The whole team can be proud of their efforts and we look forward to their next appearance in the Porsche 911 GT3 R!”
The next round of the European Le Mans Series will take place from July 1-3 in Monza.
images ©Paola Depalmas, SRO