Michelin Le Mans Cup

Rd.1, Le Castellet, Race Report

It was great to finally get back out in a car and get this season underway at Paul Ricard last weekend. We had very productive test sessions, gathering valuable data over the two days, displaying pace heading into the Saturday. In FP1 we ended P2, and FP2 P6, so things were looking extremely positive. Jacques was improving every outing in the car, and which bode very well heading into qualifying. Jacques went on to qualify the car in P17 for the race on Saturday.

Heading into the race, Jacques would take the helm initially, following which I would take over the reins just before the halfway stage. Unfortunately after gaining two places in the opening stages, he had contact with another car, resulting in a puncture and some damage. We lost quite a large amount of time as a result, and by the time I jumped in the car we were six laps down. I was very happy with my stint considering the damage we had endured, the pace was great and very consistent, so there are positives to take forward into Rd.2 in Imola next month. I would like to say a big thank you to the Racing Spirit Of Le Mans team for all the hard work and everyone else involved.

Announcement

Racing Spirit of Lé Man Team for 2022

I am delighted to announce that I will be teaming up with the Racing Spirit of Lé Man Team for 2022 season. Together we will be competing in the Michelin Le Mans Cup, where I’m very much looking forward to sharing the car with Jacques Wolf. Racing Spirit of Lé Man are a great team, and I strongly believe we will be able to achieve some excellent results this year!

After having a great season last year – gaining good experience and having strong pace – I’m now looking forward to building upon the 2021 season, and aiming to achieve some brilliant results. I’m look forward to working with the team immensely, and can’t wait to get started!

I would also like to say a big thank you to the guys at Greenlight Sports Managment, and everyone else for making this happen.

Michelin Le Mans Cup

Rd.6, Portimao, Race Report

A bit of a frustrating weekend overall for the final round of the Michelin Le Mans Cup at the Portimao circuit. We always knew it was going to be difficult, as we had an 80 second extra pit stop time penalty allcated to us following the race at Spa. However, we had me had mega pace in testing, working together with the team and improving the car balance session by session. This was another new circuit for myself, but it was one that I very much enjoyed with all the elevation changes and blind corners.

In the bronze qualifying session Antoine did a solid job, placing our car on pole for the final race of the season. Unfortunately, before the race had started we lost any chance of claiming a good result due to a few miscommunications, as a result we didn’t make it out of the pits in time before the lights turned red. This sadly, meant we could not take up our pole position slot, and had to start the race a lap and a half behind the leading car. Once Antoine was underway, he made an unfortunate contact coming through the field whilst unlapping himself, resulting in a drive through penalty. We then had to serve the 80 second extra pitstop time during the pitstop where I would take the wheel. I just focused on bringing the car home and unfortunately we ended the race over two laps down. Overall, I’ve really enjoyed my switch to sports car racing this season, and I’m happy with the speed I’ve shown. I would like to say a huge thank you to the whole of Cool Racing for all of their hardwork and dedication this season.

Next up Motul Petit Le Mans 11,12,13 November.

Motul Petit Le Mans with WIN Autosport

Josh: “I am delighted to be making my North America debut with Win Autosport at the forthcoming Petit Le Mans, I have thoroughly enjoyed my transition to sports car racing this season in the the Michelin Le Mans Cup, and with Cool racing winning the last round at the amazing Spa circuit. I am thrilled to have this opportunity to join Win Autosport, along with Naveen and Matt, who I know very well from racing with in Europe. I have heard so many great things about racing in IMSA and I cant wait to get going!”

Greenlight Sports Management confirms Josh Skelton for Motul Petit Le Mans with WIN Autosport

Daily Sports Car.com

Racer.com

Michelin Le Mans Cup

Rd.5, Spa, Race Report

Rd.5 of the Michelin Le Mans Cup took place this weekend at the legendary Spa Francorchamps cicruit. I was very much looking forward to be heading to Spa to race for the first time, it is such a cool circuit with both high and low speed corners, and also the famous Eau Rouge. During the two test days we experienced both dry and wet conditions, but the all important race day was dry. I was very excited to get going and see what we could achieve.

Antoine took place in his qualifying session and completed an excellent job to get the car onto P3 on the grid for the race later in the afternoon. The 2 hour race would take place Saturday afternoon at 4pm local time. We knew we both had great race pace so it was heads down and focus on the job we had in hand. Antoine took the start and made it out of turn one on the first lap in the lead. From this point on it was heads forward and focus on trying to build a gap on the car behind.

At the 50 minute mark he had managed to pull out around a 12 seconds gap before he boxed whereupon I took to the wheel. I just had to focus on hitting my marks and looking after the tyres whilst maintaining the gap behind. There was a few FCY’s througout my stint and I had to deal with the lapped traffic, but in the end we managed to bring the car across the line to win the race with a 35 second lead and a Cool racing 1-2. It’s amazing to finally get the result we deserve after a difficult few races and bad luck. I would like to say a huge thank you to the whole of Cool Racing for all their hard work and dedication, and it is great to reward them with a result. Now full focus on the final round in Portimao!

Michelin Le Mans Cup

Rd.3, Monza, Race Report

Free Practice: Thursday and Friday.

Thursday was disrupted by the weather conditions sadly. Our morning session saw team mate Antoine Doquin, do the bulk of the running, with no afternoon particpation for the team due to the bad conditions. Friday however, we completed FP1 and FP2 . FP1 went very well both myself and my team mate, having very good pace and with the car feeling very good to drive and we ultimately ended the session in P2. FP2 focussed on the race pace, with heavy fuel loads and longer runs. We ended the free practice session P2 overall, with everything looking positive heading into race day on Saturday.

Qualifying would take place Saturday lunchtime. My team mate managed to put together a good lap – on the very last lap – of a messy qualifying session which was interrupted by several red flags. The two hour race would start at 5 o’clock local time in Monza, and we were confident we could pull out a good result from this weekend, even though we had to serve a twenty second penalty in the pit stop because of the bronze driver penalty. Antoine got off to a good start and maintained his position. There were several safety cars and Full Course Yellows (FCY’s) which hurt us as the gaps were automatically back down to nothing every time the race was interrupted. Not long before the end of his stint, a following driver misjudged his braking into T1, hitting straight into the side of our car causing a large amount of damage. Luckily we were able to continue and didn’t loose to much time.

At the 50 minute mark I jumped in the car for the final 1 hr 10 minutes of the race. There was a big amount of damage to the car which made it pretty tricky to drive, and also there was part of the damaged bodywork covering the windscreen hindering my view. All being considered, our pace was still pretty good. I managed to gain several of the positions that we had lost due to the extra time required in the pitstop, and were running in P3 until the final 10 minutes of the race. I came in for the final pitstop, and just after I made the stop a FCY came out and I lost a huge amount of time. We eventually crossed the finishing line in P8, however, a podium was definitely on the cards. I would like to say a huge thank you to all of Cool Racing and everyone else involved, and now we switch our full focus over to Rd4 at Le Mans at the end of August.