Breaking news
European Le Mans Spielberg
Minassian joins G-Drive for next two ELMS races
Former Peugeot LMP1 racer Nicolas Minassian will replace Toyota development driver Ryo Hirakawa in the G-Drive LMP2 squad in the next two rounds of the European Le Mans Series.
Gary Watkins
Edited: Jul 10, 2017, 7:36 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The 44-year-old will move over from his management role with the DragonSpeed team, which operates G-Drive's ELMS entry, for next weekend's Red Bull Ring round and the Paul Ricard event in August.
He will share the squad's #22 Oreca-Gibson 07 LMP2 with three-time Daytona 24 Hours winner Memo Rojas and Frenchman Leo Roussel.
Minassian is standing in for Hirakawa because the Japanese driver is unavailable courtesy of his commitments in the Super GT Series with the TOM'S Lexus team.
"I’m really excited to get back behind the wheel of a prototype and race in such a competitive series," said Minassian.
"I did a few laps at the Le Mans test when Elton [Julian, team boss] gave me a run with four-stint old tyres and a full tank of fuel, so I already have a feel for the new-for-2017 LMP2s."
Minassian said his job would be "to assist Leo and Memo in scoring two good results and valuable points" after they moved into contention for the championship with victory at the most recent ELMS round at Monza in May together with Hirakawa.
Minassian will also contest the Spa 24 Hours at the end of this month at the wheel of a Pro-Am class Ferrari 488 GT3 entered under the Spirit of Race banner by AF Corse.
He will share the car in the Endurance Cup round of the Blancpain GT Series on July 29/30 with Davide Rizzo, Alex Demirdjian and a yet-to-be-determined fourth driver.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article United Autosports remain well-placed in ELMS championship after challenging Italian race
Next article ELMS continues for United Autosports at Red Bull Ring
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Gary Watkins
When Can-Am made its controversial comeback
General
When Can-Am made its controversial comeback
More from
Nicolas Minassian
Top 10: Ranking the best F3000 non-champions
General
General
Top 10: Ranking the best F3000 non-champions
Spectacular season finale: 25 nationalities present for inaugural 24H COTA USA
Endurance
Endurance
24 Hours of Cota USA
Spectacular season finale: 25 nationalities present for inaugural 24H COTA USA
Honda Prototype sets fastest lap in final minutes of Roar Before The Rolex 24
IMSA
IMSA
Honda Prototype sets fastest lap in final minutes of Roar Before The Rolex 24
More from
G-Drive Racing
G-Drive withdraws from WEC, Le Mans over FIA’s Russia code of conduct
WEC
WEC
G-Drive withdraws from WEC, Le Mans over FIA’s Russia code of conduct
Ex-F1 racer Kvyat joins G-Drive for 2022 WEC season
WEC
WEC
Ex-F1 racer Kvyat joins G-Drive for 2022 WEC season
Rast reunites with G-Drive Racing for Rolex 24 at Daytona
IMSA
IMSA
Rast reunites with G-Drive Racing for Rolex 24 at Daytona
Latest news
Sammy Smith just pulled off a rare Talladega feat not seen in over twenty years
NASCAR O'Reilly
NOAP NASCAR O'Reilly
Talladega II
16 min
Sammy Smith just pulled off a rare Talladega feat not seen in over twenty years
Supercars Gold Coast: Broc Feeney converts Race 2 pole to win after Saturday defeat
Supercars
SUPC Supercars
Gold Coast 500
1 h
Supercars Gold Coast: Broc Feeney converts Race 2 pole to win after Saturday defeat
Marc Marquez: Track conditions were “acceptable” despite Australian GP cancellation
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
1 h
Marc Marquez: Track conditions were “acceptable” despite Australian GP cancellation
Aprilia unsure whether Australian GP cancellation good or bad for the team
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
2 h
Aprilia unsure whether Australian GP cancellation good or bad for the team
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe