Faultless RLR MSport gets hard-earned ‘Spa break’ after taxing week in Belgium

Unwavering determination and a faultlessly executed strategy saw RLR MSport, Michael Jensen, Nick Adcock and Gillian Henrion to an improbable second-place result in the topsy-turvy European Le Mans Series (ELMS) 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (23-25 August).

There was a mountain to climb before the Spa weekend had even begun, RLR MSport’s mechanics putting in a Herculean effort to rebuild the #15 Ligier JS P325 LMP3 after it struck a loose drain cover at the top of Raidillon during Wednesday’s official test.

The impact caused irreparable chassis damage, but the team successfully constructed a brand new car around a replacement tub in quick-time, ready for Friday’s first free practice session.

While losing several hours of testing was costly, the car ran flawlessly and with pace while RLR MSport tried a range of medium and high-downforce setups, the team placing second in the FP1 times.

However, it could go no better than seventh in the rain-affected Qualifying and expected the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps to be an uphill struggle, even though conditions were set fair on race day.

In the opening salvos, RLR MSport’s starting driver Jensen relinquished track position and had a good tussle with the #88 Inter Europol Competition, which eventually prised open the door to eighth place.

The #35 Ultimate, on the other hand, was unable to mount a challenge, so Jensen held station in P9 until a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) pit stop on lap 17 propelled him into the top six.

In fact, there were consecutive VSCs, Full Course Yellows (FCY) and Safety Cars, and RLR MSport was the only LMP3 team to execute its first driver-change as soon as the field was released from the second neutralisation.

That decision meant Adcock was a little detached in ninth during the earliest phase of his stint, but the South Africa-domiciled driver cycled up into the lead as others boxed, either for standard pit stops or to serve penalties.

RLR MSport then inserted Henrion into the cockpit of the #15 Ligier on lap 45 and, out of sequence with the opposition, he also exited the pits in a distant P9, some 35 seconds adrift.

However, the rapid Frenchman brought the gap down and forced his way back into podium contention by lapping at the leaders’ pace, emerging from the final round of fuel-fills in fourth.

Later, RLR MSport was elevated onto the podium when the championship-leading #17 CLX Motorsport skittered into the gravel and caused an FCY.

The British team moved up even further once back at full racing speed, but overturning a 20-second shortfall to the #8 Team Virage in P1 with only a 15-minute sprint to the chequered flag was a bridge too far.

Nevertheless, second position is a very welcome ‘Spa break’ in what has been a turbulent 2025 ELMS campaign for RLR MSport, which completed a full rebuild, delivered a competitive race car and worked the strategy brilliantly during a taxing week in Belgium.

“After a freak accident in Wednesday’s official test, RLR MSport did an amazing job to rebuild the #15 Ligier JS P325 LMP3 ready for Friday practice,” said Jensen. “We missed out on a lot of valuable testing miles due to the incident and, after a difficult qualifying session, it looked like we might have a rough time of it in the European Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps itself. However, Nick (Adcock), Gillian (Henrion) and I all kept it clean, doing a good job to achieve a much-needed, well-deserved P2 result.”

Adcock said: “It feels really great to have achieved a second-place result in the European Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps after a tough week that featured a change of chassis and setup travails. RLR MSport came good and this important podium finish is dedicated to each team member who went the extra mile to rebuild the car and then worked a great strategy in a fast-moving theatre of Virtual Safety Cars, Full Course Yellows and Safety Cars. Michael (Jensen) drove as capably as ever, while Gillian (Henrion) caught everybody’s eye with his incredible pace and faultless execution. Onwards to Silverstone!”

Henrion said: “I’m very happy with the way we finished the European Le Mans Series race week at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. RLR MSport had to change our car’s chassis, and the team stayed united and worked extremely hard to get it ready. We had a great strategy, even though luck wasn’t really on our side with the race incidents, all working together to achieve this amazing P2 result.

“I want to thank every RLR MSport team member for their commitment, as well as Michael (Jensen) and Nick (Adcock) for their great work and for trusting in me. We’ll keep working very hard for the next race at Silverstone, in the hope of delivering another strong performance.”