The TDS Racing squad claimed its first outright European Le Mans Series race win since last year’s Silverstone season opener with victory at Imola.

Tristan Gommendy’s off at Acque Minerali in qualifying meant that the team’s ORECA-Nissan 05 started down in ninth place, but Pierre Thiriet quickly climbed to second during the opening stint.

The team’s cause was aided by a safety-car period after 19 laps triggered by gravel being dragged onto the track by Henry Hassid, who was recovering from an excursion in the LM GTE-class Marc VDS BMW Z4 GTE.

This eradicated a lead of almost 19 seconds that had been built by Harry Tincknell, who started first after teammate Filipe Albuquerque put their Jota Sport Gibson-Nissan 015S on pole.

Ludovic Badey, who took over from Thiriet, took the lead when Simon Dolan later brought the Jota car into the pits from the lead under the second safety car thanks to shedding a chunk of front-left bodywork after hitting a curb in traffic.

At the restart, Badey immediately pulled out a 20-second lead thanks to Gary Hirsch, who was in second place in the Greaves Motorsport car that had been started by Bjorn Wirdheim, spun emerging from the last corner as the race got back underway.

Badey pitted to hand over to 2002 Macau Grand Prix winner Gommendy with 90 minutes remaining, allowing the team’s platinum-rated driver to complete the maximum allowed stint to the finish of the race. The Frenchman easily controlled the lead in the closing stages, crossing the line 12.140s clear of the Murphy Prototypes ORECA-Nissan O3R.

The Murphy entry started second in the hands of 63-year-old American Mark Patterson, who held second in the early laps before being shuffled backward. But a strong double stint from Michael Lyons and Nathanael Berthon’s rapid run to the flag allowed the car to finish in second place.

Jota took third place, with Albuquerque handling the car to the finish – holding onto the position despite having to dive into the pits at the start of the final lap.

Jon Lancaster brought the Greaves car home a lapped fourth, with the time lost to Hirsch’s spin combined with a slightly offset strategy thanks to having stopped under the first safety car leaving the Silverstone-winning car outside of the top three.

The GTE class produced a dramatic battle that went down to the wire, with Alessandro Pier Guidi securing victory for the AF Corse-run AT Racing Ferrari squad with less than 15 minutes remaining.

Pier Guidi, sharing with Alexander Talkanitsa Sr and Jr, battled passed the Formula Racing Ferrari driven by Andrea Rizzoli, who then almost immediately slipped to third after being passed by Marco Mapelli’s Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR.

In the second race for the new LMP3 category, again populated exclusively by Ginettas, the University of Bolton machine driven by Rob Garofall and Morten Dons took the spoils.

AF Corse won the GTC class for GT3 machinery with Rino Mastronardi, Francesco Castellacci and Stuart Hall taking victory in their Ferrari 458 Italia.

RESULT – 138 LAPS