Champion RLR MSport launches ELMS title defence with unexpected P2 result in Barcelona

RLR MSport launched its European Le Mans Series title defence with a second-place finish for Michael Jensen, Nick Adcock and Gillian Henrion in the season-opening 4 Hours of Barcelona (4-6 April).

Away from the start, Jensen dropped a position to ninth but kept RLR MSport in contention by getting back on terms with the seventh and eighth-placed #31 Racing Spirit of Leman and #88 Inter Europol Competition cars.

Consistently quicker than those directly ahead of him, he had cleared the #88 entry by the 12th tour of Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and ascended into the top six, his efficiency in among LMP2 and GT traffic also enabling him to surge towards the fifth-placed #4 DKR Engineering Ginetta on the approach to the first driver-change.

RLR MSport chose to burn one of its mandated timed pit stops while plugging Adcock into the #15 Ligier JS P325, which tumbled to eighth as a consequence.

The British team then utilised a second-hour Virtual Safety Car (VSC) to conduct another “cheap” fuel-fill, and that meant Adcock ran on the edge of the top eight for the duration of his 60-minute stint.

Henrion, though, made an instant impact by elevating RLR MSport back up the LMP3 leaderboard to fourth, with P5 secured in a particularly impressive pass around the outside of the #12 WTM by Rinaldi Racing.

At that point, RLR MSport’s deficit to the podium places was sizeable and relatively stable at just under 20 seconds, but a welcome Safety Car condensed the entire field and brought the team into play for silverware.

French racer Henrion followed the #17 CLX Motorsport car by the #35 Ultimate to hold the runner-up spot as the 4 Hours of Barcelona entered its final quarter, and his chief task was to bridge the four seconds that stood between RLR MSport and victory.

The gap initially fluctuated between four and six seconds, but Henrion eventually made inroads and was within 1.7s of CLX Motorsport when the Safety Car neutralised the action less than 20 minutes from the finish.

The field was released with time for only two flying laps, and Henrion pushed to the very end, securing an unexpected and very welcome second-place result that kickstarts RLR MSport’s defence of the ELMS LMP3 Teams and Drivers crowns it earned in 2024.

“Credit goes to RLR MSport’s engineers and mechanics, as they worked so hard all week to improve a car that was clearly slower than many of our LMP3 rivals in The Prologue and Qualifying,” said Jensen. “The team gave us a really good car for the European Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Barcelona itself, as well as a strong strategy. I think Nick (Adcock), Gillian (Henrion) and I did a good job all week, and there’s a lot of spirit within the team. It’s a long championship and to leave Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with 18 points is a real positive.”

Adcock said: “We were 1.5s off the pace after The Prologue and managed to get that deficit down to eight tenths in Qualifying, so we didn’t have the car underneath us. We were very much behind, but RLR MSport’s engineers really worked hard and the final tweaks they made were great.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that Michael (Jensen) produced his best ever race stint. We’ve never been particularly strong at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, so for him to get up into a feisty, hard-earned sixth place while keeping the car clean was incredibly impressive. I just did what I had to do during my race run, which was interrupted by a Safety Car, but then we put Gillian (Henrion) in the car for a double stint to the end. The strategy was strong because we thought we had a car capable of a top-five finish and ended up fighting for the win. To have done that on what is traditionally a weak track for us is very motivating. The podium is unexpected and we enjoyed it very much.”

Henrion said: “We achieved P2 in the European Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Barcelona! I’m truly happy for RLR MSport and I would like to thank my teammates, Michael (Jensen) and Nick (Adcock), for producing such great race stints. On my side, I had opportunities to make some decent overtakes, but with a focus on managing fuel and bringing the car home to the finish in second place.

“I’m really happy with the result! A huge shoutout to the entire RLR MSport team for their incredible work, as they turned a brand new car into a properly competitive racing machine. We started the weekend with a few challenges but made the car competitive in time for the main event, and I’m proud of everybody involved.”