Oversubscribed Imola Entry Leaves FLM Teams In The Cold

A quick look at the provisional Le Mans Series entry list for the next race at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola revealed a rather interesting and potentially championship deciding entry in the Formula Le Mans category.

With a limited track capacity at Imola and the Le Mans Series and Intercontinental Le Mans Cup once again racing together that weekend, the organisers have decided to accept only the top three in the Formula Le Mans category; Pegasus Racing, Genoa Racing and Neil Garner Motorsport.

Hope Racing, stripped from its class win at the 1000 KM of Spa for a technical infringement, and JMB Racing have not been granted an entry (yet) and are currently conditional entries under article 75 of the International Sporting Code.

The article in the FIA regulations states that "entries shall be accepted under certain well specified conditions as for instance in the case of a limitation in the number of starters, when a vacancy occurs among the other competitors entered."

After two rounds JMB Racing is fourth in the Formula Le Mans category, twelve points behind championship leaders Pegasus Racing. Hope Racing only has one point so far. With a maximum of sixteen points per race (fifteen for a victory and one for pole position) both JMB Racing and Hope Racing would still be able to fight for the championship, but if they are forced to sit out the Imola race with their rivals scoring maximum points this could well be an impossible task. It remains to be seen what the teams will do for the remainder of the Le Mans Series season should they not be able to race at Imola.

There are four other entries currently not accepted; Guess Racing Europ (Lola B09/80 Coupé), Pegasus Racing (Courage-Oreca LC75), Gruppe M-Eterniti Racing (Porsche 997 GT3 RSR) and JMB Racing (Ferrari F430). The decision not to accept these entries is a logical one, as none of these four have actually shown up at Paul Ricard or Spa. 

The Imola race track can only accept 53 cars. In the Le Mans Series regulations it is said that the starters of the 6 Hours of Imola would be designated by elimination of the teams classified in the last positions in the Team Classification in each category, according to the following order: FLM, GTE Am, GTE Pro, LMP2 and LMP1.

Should any of the currently accepted entries drop out before June 20th one of the conditional entries from the same category will be invited to take its place. If more cars from one category are withdrawn the organisers will invite a team from a different category, according to the following priority: LMP1, LMP2, GTE Pro, GTE Am, FLM.