The 3rd Road to Le Mans was an automobile endurance event composed of two 55-minute races contested by 50 teams of two drivers each racing Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) and Group GT3 (GT3) cars. It was held on 14 and 16 June 2018 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, near Le Mans, France, as a support event for the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans and the third round of six in the 2018 Le Mans Cup. The Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) organised the third Road to Le Mans race along with the Le Mans Cup promoter Le Mans Endurance Management.
A Ligier JS P3-Nissan car shared by Mikkel Jensen and Kay van Berlo of EuroInternational won the first race after starting from pole position and leading every lap. The United Autosports duo of John Falb and Sean Rayhall finished in second and DKR Engineering's Leonard Hoogenboom and Jens Petersen took third. The GT3 category was won by the AF Corse pair of Marco Cioci and Piergiuseppe Perazzini sharing a Ferrari 488 GT3 from the Kessel Racing duo of Sergio Pianezzola and Giacomo Piccini. The second race was won by the Lanan Racing team of Michael Benham and Duncan Tappy sharing a Norma M30-Nissan after overtaking Rayhall in the final three laps. Falb and Rayhall duplicated their first race result by finishing in second and the DB Autosport duo of Nicolas Schatz and Jacques Wolff completed the overall podium in third. Maurizio Mediani and Christoph Ulrich of Spirit of Race won the GT3 class in a Ferrari from Kessel Racing's Andrea Piccini and Claudio Schiavoni.
Background The Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) organised the 2018 Road to Le Mans for Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) and Group GT3 (GT3) cars along with the Michelin Le Mans Cup promoter Le Mans Endurance Management. It took place at the Circuit de la Sarthe, near Le Mans, France on 14 and 16 June 2018. This was the third running of the race, the third round of six in the 2018 Le Mans Cup and served as a support event for the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Leonard Hoogenboom and Jens Petersen led the LMP3 Drivers' Championship with 50 championship points after winning the first two races of the season at Paul Ricard and Monza. The duo were 17 championship points ahead of the second-placed James Littlejohn and Anthony Wells and 27 in front of the third-placed John Farano and Job van Uitert. Sergio Pianezzola and Giacomo Piccini led the GT3 Drivers' Championship with 51 championship points following victories at Paul Ricard and Monza, 21 ahead of Maurizio Mediani and Christoph Ulrich in second. The 3 DKR Engineering team led the LMP3 Teams' Championship with 51 championship points, leading the No. 2 Ecurie Ecosse/Nielsen squad by 17 championship points. With 51 championship points, the No. 8 Kessel Racing team led the GT3 Teams' Championship by 21 championship points over the No. 51 Spirit of Race squad.
Circuit changes After the 2017 Road to Le Mans, modifications were made to the Porsche Curves section of the Circuit de la Sarthe to increase safety. A large run-off area at the exit of the corner was constructed. The ACO also built a new starting line gantry further up the main straight to increase the capacity for cars at the beginning of the races. The changes shortened the lap distance by .
Regulations and entrants A selection committee invited all current Le Mans Cup entrants and selected one-off entries to the race. Teams competing in Le Mans-based endurance racing series such as the Asian Le Mans Series (AsLMS), the Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup, the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) and the IMSA SportsCar Championship got priority in receiving invitations. Each car was piloted by two drivers and each team had to sign a Bronze-rated driver and either a second Bronze-rated or a Silver or Gold-rated racer. A driver was permitted no more than at least 20 minutes to drive on the track and the race regulations dictated a change of driver during the mandatory pit stops. According to the race's regulations, all teams had to make a mandatory pit stop lasting no less than two minutes between the 22nd and 32nd minutes of both races. All competitors (regardless of whether they were full-time Le Mans Cup status) in both classes were eligible to score championship points provided they finished anywhere from first and below. The two pole position winners for each of the two races in each class received one championship point.
The entry list was published by the ACO on 26 April 2018. The 50-car entry list included 42 LMP3 and 8 GT3 cars, the maximum capacity for the race. In addition to the 30 guaranteed Le Mans Cup entries, there were 11 ELMS entries, two from the AsLMS while the rest of the field was filled with one-off entries only competing at Le Mans. There were 100 drivers entered by 27 racing teams from 26 different nations. There were three manufacturers represented in the LMP3 and they were Ginetta, Ligier and Norma. Many of the LMP3 entries came from the Le Mans Cup and most fielded Ligier JS P3-Nissans. The 12 non-Ligier cars were 11 Norma M30 vehicles and a single Ginetta-Juno P3-15. There were two manufacturers (Ferrari and Porsche) who were represented in the GT3 category. A total of six Ferrari 488 GT3 and one Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 and Porsche 911 GT3 R each were the three cars entered in the class.
Practice Two one-hour practice sessions were held on the evening of 13 June and the morning of 14 June. Duncan Tappy set the fastest overall lap time in the No. 25 Lanan Racing Norma car with a time of 3:54.062. He was 0.433 seconds ahead of Sean Rayhall's No. 33 United Autosports Ligier entry, the highest-placed Ligier vehicle. The No. 9 Cool Racing Norma car of Scott Andrews was third. All three drivers lapped within half a second of each other. The GT3 category was led by the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari of Marco Cioci with a lap of 4:00.215 he set in the final ten minutes. Cioci was almost a second faster than the second-placed No. 51 Spirit of Race Ferrari driven by Mediani.
The second practice session took place in dry but cloudy weather conditions. Laurents Hörr was the fastest driver overall with a lap time of 3:50.599 he set in the No. 30 CD Sport Norma car. The No. 11 EuroInternational Ligier entry of Mikkel Jensen was second-fastest, 0.924 seconds slower than Hörr. Jensen demoted Andrews's No. 9 Cool entry to third overall. The quickest GT3 car was the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari of Piergiuseppe Perazzini with a lap time of 3:58.166. Perazzini was 0.130 seconds quicker than the second-placed No. 54 Spirit Ferrari of Frédéric Vervisch. Practice was stopped seven minutes early to allow marshals to recover a car stopped on the circuit.
Qualifying There were two 20-minute qualifying sessions held on the afternoon of 14 June to set the starting order for both races. The first session saw any one driver be allowed by their teams to participate to determine the starting grid for the first race and each team's Bronze-rated driver partook in the second session to set the starting order for the second race. Jensen ran cleanly and lapped fastest overall in a time of 3:51.315 in the No. 11 EuroInternational Ligier car to secure pole position for the first race in the LMP3 category. Andrews qualified the No. 9 Cool car in second, 0.110 seconds slower. Littlejohn put the No. 2 Ecurie Ecosse/Nielsen Ligier entry in third, followed by Matt Bell's No. 22 United Autosports entry in fourth. The No. 1 DKR Norma vehicle of James Winslow completed the top five. Qualifying was stopped with 8 minutes and 20 seconds remaining because Niclas Jönsson's wheel detached from the No. 15 M.Racing - YMR Ligier car. Cioci's No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari took the GT3 pole position with a lap time of 3:55.867, more than a second faster than Vervisch's No. 54 Spirit Ferrari. The session was ended early with a minute and four seconds to go when Ivor Dunbar's No. 75 Ecurie Ecosse/Nielsen car went off the circuit and into the Porsche Curves gravel trap.
Slow zones stopped drivers from setting competitive lap times for most of the second qualifying session. The No. 39 Graff Norma entry of Eric Trouillet set the fastest lap time to claim pole position in the LMP3 class with a lap time of 3:54.192. Anthony Pons was second in the No. 30 CD Norma car to secure a front row lockout for Norma vehicles, 0.696 seconds behind. The third-place qualifier was the No. 11 EuroInternational Ligier entry of Kay van Berlo. He was followed by the No. 3 DKR car driven by Petersen in fourth position. The No. 75 Ecurie Ecosse/Nielsen car lost its front-right wheel but managed to return to the pit lane. The No. 44 SPV Racing Ligier entry ran off the track at Dunlop corner and went into the gravel trap, ending the session prematurely. In GT3, the No. 8 Kessel Ferrari of Pianezzola set a lap time of 4:01.382 to achieve pole position in the category, more than a second faster than any other driver. Perazzini's No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari was second in class.
Qualifying results Teams who set the pole position lap time in each class in the two qualifying sessions are denoted in bold and by a .
First qualifying session +Final classification of the first qualifying sessionClassTeamQualifying 1LMP311 EuroInternational3:51.3151 2LMP39 Cool Racing3:51.4252 3LMP32 Ecurie Ecosse/Nielsen3:52.0793 4LMP322 United Autosports3:52.4514 5LMP31 DKR Engineering3:52.5515 6LMP333 United Autosports3:52.6516 7LMP332 United Autosports3:53.1537 8LMP319 Ultimate3:53.4018 9LMP317 RGP Motorsport3:53.8089 10LMP379 Ecurie Ecosse/Nielsen3:53.81410 11LMP398 Motorsport 983:54.03411 12LMP365 Graff3:54.31312 13LMP314 RLR Msport3:54.38113 14LMP316 M.Racing - YMR3:54.54714 15LMP399 N'Race3:54.60715 16LMP376 Ecurie Ecosse/Nielsen3:54.75916 17LMP33 DKR Engineering3:54.83617 18LMP35 NEFIS By Speed Factory3:54.87118 19LMP372 TFT - SO243:54.89119 20LMP374 Ecurie Ecosse/Nielsen3:54.93020 21LMP325 Lanan Racing3:55.20521 22LMP359 RLR MSport3:55.57222 23GT371 AF Corse3:55.86723 24LMP324 Cool Racing3:55.88924 25GT354 Spirit of Race3:56.95525 26LMP345 SPV Racing3:57.01926 27LMP390 AT Racing3:58.66627 28LMP360 CD Sport3:59.02628 29GT351 Spirit of Race4:00.16229 30LMP344 SPV Racing4:02.49330 31LMP323 United Autosports4:03.76231 32LMP396 TKS4:05.57932 33LMP330 CD Sport4:05.63333 34LMP321 DB Autosport4:06.16934 35GT388 Ebimotors4:12.17435 36GT369 StileF Squadra Corse4:17.49136 37LMP327 Cool Racing4:20.71837 38GT350 Kessel Racing4:24.13138 39LMP34 Brookspeed InternationalNo time39 40GT38 Kessel RacingNo time40 41LMP312 EuroInternationalNo time41 42LMP315 M.Racing - YMRNo time42 43LMP320 DB AutosportNo time43 44LMP339 GraffNo time44 45LMP340 GraffNo time45 46LMP349 Win MotorsportNo time46 47LMP355 Spirit of RaceNo time47 48LMP373 TFT - SO24No time48 49LMP375 Ecurie Ecosse/NielsenNo time49 50GT377 Kessel RacingNo time50Source: Second qualifying session