DKR Engineering claimed victory in the second Road to Le Mans race ahead of this weekend’s Le Mans 24-Hours as Australian Greg Taylor ended the 55-minute race sixth.
The race winning #3 Norma-Nissan LMP3 entry headed the race in the early stages before dropping to fourth when Jean Glorieux spun at the start of the fourth lap, prompting a charge from co-driver Alexander Toril in the second half of the race.
Glorieux extended a five-second advantage on the opening lap, holding a comfortable advantage before his mistake before Toril scythed through the field to dominate the second half of the race.
In second place was Sean Rayhall and John Falb in the United Autosports Ligier-Nissan, who crossed the line 17-seconds adrift of the race winners and 26-seconds ahead of third placed Yann Ehrlacher.
A spin from Colin Noble at Tertre Rouge on the final lap promoted Ehrlacher onto the podium, the #19 Norma-Nissan having climbed up the order following the pit stop cycle.
Having started 13th, Taylor handed the #89 GRAF Ligier-Nissan to co-driver James Winslow in 16th when he served his compulsory pit-stop shortly after the pit window opened.
The Englishman was soon making progress through the field, climbing to ninth place on his first lap out of the pits before ending the race sixth.
There were nervous moments in the closing stages, as Winslow put a strong move on the #6 Norma Nissan at Indianapolis before a near miss with a backmarker saw the former Australian Formula 3 champ nurse the wounded car around the final lap.
Ricky Capo’s race ended on the opening lap with damage to the front left of his Ligier-Nissan, the former Australian Formula 3 race winner eliminated after a melee in the middle of the pack.
John Corbett and Scott Andrews were also early casualties, taking three of Australia’s four representatives out before a single lap had been completed.
The leading the GT3 car home was the #97 Aston Martin Vantage over the #24 Garage 59 McLaren 650S GT3 and the #8 Lamborghini Huracan rounding out the class podium.
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