South Africa’s Gavin Cronje is proving to be one of the stars of the new Formula Le Mans Cup series for prototype sports cars. The 30-year-old from Johannesburg and his Belgian co-driver Nicolas Verdonck won the second round in France on Saturday in a 12-lap curtain-raiser to the famous Le Mans 24 Hour race around the 13,629-km Le Sarthe circuit.
Cronje, who set the second quickest lap time in qualifying on Friday to put the #8 DAMS Formula Le Mans car on the front row of the grid, drove the first stint and handed over to his team-mate on lap nine with an eight-second lead.
Driving magnificently in his first visit to the historic and daunting French circuit, Cronje survived a frightening moment when he was pushed on to the grass at over 250 km/h in his battle with pole sitter Mathias Beche (Hope Pole Vision Racing) for the early lead. Beche received a stop and go penalty and Cronje took over the lead on lap six.
Verdonck maintained the DAMs team’s lead to the finish and took the chequered flag 27 seconds ahead of Mathias’ team-mate Valle Makela (Hope Pole Vision Racing) and 29 seconds ahead of Natacha Gachnang/Christophe Pillon in a second Hope Pole Vision Racing entry. The second DAMS entry of Vincent Capillaire and Fabien Rosier was fourth, 1 min 5 sec behind the winners.
Following their success in the opening round in Belgium five weeks ago, when they won both races at the famous Spa-Francorchamps circuit, Verdonck and Cronje have extended their lead in the championship and now have 61 and 60 points respectively. The Belgian has one more point than his South African team-mate courtesy of a fastest race lap in Belgium. Third-placed Beche has 43 points (including a bonus point for pole position at Le Mans) and Makela is fourth with 42.
“It was a truly great experience racing at Le Mans,” said Cronje. “The circuit is out of this world and you can just feel the history. It’s long and very challenging and you get up to top speeds of around 280 km/h. The DAMS team prepared a great car and Nicolas and I combined well to bring the team its third successive victory. To win races at two of the world’s most famous and challenging circuits back to back is something I will never forget, and to do it in front of all the Le Mans 24 Hour race teams makes it extra special.
“I feel very proud to be a South African racing driver today,” he added.
The new monotype formula, which is aimed at drivers and teams wanting to get started in prototype sports car racing before graduating to the longer endurance races, features a carbon fibre monocoque sports car penned by ORECA and powered by a 6,2-litre V8 engine from General Motors that delivers 430 bhp and 630 Nm of torque.
Cronje, Rotax Max world karting champion in 2001 and a former rookie driver in South Africa’s entry in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, is the reigning domestic Formula Volkswagen champion and has secured a deal with the topflight French DAMS team to contest the entire 12-race Formula Le Mans Cup series. The next round is at the new Algarve circuit in Portugal on July 31 and August 1 and 2.
- Peter Burroughes Communications
- Photography: Danie Van Jaarsveld, Motorpics
- Photograpy: formulalemans.com
