Michelin Le Mans Cup
Road to Le Mans, Rd.2, 9th June 2023
Josh Skelton got Round 2 of the Michelin Le Mans Cup series underway at the legendary Circuit De La Sarthe in France. He would be lining up for the two races in P19 and P22 after some hectic qualifying sessions in the Road to Le Mans. Himself and Tony Wells would work hard to battle strongly through the field in their two 55 minute races, to see if they could recover to the points after a disappointing first round in Barcelona. Tony would start both races, before handing over to Josh for the remaining 30 minutes of each race.
Race 1, Tony had a problem on the opening lap at chicane 1 after making a great start. This would cause him to drop to the back of the full field before handing the car over to Josh. It was a great recovery drive from Josh, to climb all the way back from P43 to P18 at the flag.
Race 2, got underway on Friday morning in front of the big crowds at Le Mans. Starting from P22 the pair had a lot of work to do. Tony once again made a great start and climbed up to P12 at the pit stop window. A slight issue in the stop with radio communication meant the team dropped back to P18. However, a great job by Josh and flying pace saw them climb all the way back up to P4 at the flag, and take the fastest lap of the race.
Unfortunately a post-race time penalty for a collision between Tony and another driver dropped them back to P8. Still some great points on the board. Josh now heads to Paul Ricard for Round 3 of the Championship in the middle of June.
Josh Explained: “It was amazing to come back to this iconic Le Mans circuit, I love this place! The feeling you get is special. I had great pace every time we hit the track, and I felt at ease with the car which is very important at a circuit like Le Mans. Unfortunately, the qualifying sessions were messy for both myself and Tony, so we had a lot for work to do in the races. I was frustrated with this because the potential for pole was there.
Race 1 was disappointing as Tony had an issue on the first lap which dropped us to the back of the field. I had a great recovery drive back up the field from P43 to P18, but unfortunately still scored no points.
Race 2 was great. I managed to climb from P18 to P4 on track and set the fastest lap of the race, which really means something at Le Mans.
I’m feeling confident heading into the next round in a months’ time, and looking to carry on this forward momentum. Big thank you to all of Nielsen Racing for all the hard work.”