Conditions were good for the first outing in free practice at Le Mans and the Lincolnshire/French team went well to set the fifth fastest time of the session with a 1m 45.493s. Later in the day, despite the sun being low Ellis and Clement went out in the first of two qualifying sessions and although they encountered some handling problems with the new machine in left hand cornering they still managed to set the third fastest time of 1m 44.435s.
In final qualifying they shaved another two tenths from their fastest time with a 1m 258s and were set to start the first race, an 11 lap Sprint from a fifth place grid
As the race got under way it was Payne/Rousseau who took the lead on the long drag up to the first corner, Schlosser/Schmidt were tucked in behind, Paivarinta/Christie were next up with Sam and Tom Christie right beside them on the inside, Ellis and Clement were next up and they made a superb move into the chicane which took them up into second place behind Payne/Rousseau.
They remained right behind the leaders until the half way stage of the race when they were caught and passed by Schlosser/Schmidt. As the race wore on the Christie brothers began to reel in Ellis and Clement eventually overtaking them and demoting them to fourth position where they remained to the chequered flag.
There was drama at the start of the Feature race when the pole sitters Payne/Rousseau encountered a problem with their machine and were wheeled off the grid. A delay followed to allow track marshals to inspect the track for oil and this resulted in the race being reduced from 18 to12 laps.
When the race finally got underway Schlosser was quick to get away and was able to pull well away from the pursuing pack. There was a scramble for position between Christie, Paivarinta, Ellis and Laidlow for second place and with less than a second covering all four outfits it proved to be an exciting race between them. Eventually Paivarinta pulled away and the gap between Christie and Ellis grew to over a second. In the final few laps Christie established a two second lead leaving Ellis and Clement to follow home in a comfortable fourth place.
The Championship now heads to Estoril, Portugal, next weekend (April 26/27) for round two.